Comments on: The Context of Corruption; A Backdrop of Oppression

By: pokerbutt

pokerbutt — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:19:35 +0000

This is an excellent article.

I’ve always been interested in Mexican politics and history, since I was an exchange student (Mexico City). This was a while ago, but even then as a teenager, I was shocked at how different things were when I was there as opposed to all the crap you learn in the U.S. I was there when de la Madrid took over and there were lots of winds of change then it seemed like.

Still it is amazingly difficult to put together the news and context as you point out (even when one does understand Spanish). Someone referred to the El Planeta above, I’ll have to start looking at that.

Oh, yes, and add your own blog to my rss feeds! Thanks again…

By: RC

RC — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:52:52 +0000

Stating the obvious, most of the South and Central American Daily Press is available on line for free. Of course it is in Spanish, but as others here have noted, the perspective is entirely different, and for regular US mainstream press readers who are used to weak commentary and laissez faire opinions, the experience of reading the editorials from south of the US will be shocking.

By: Nymphalidae

Nymphalidae — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:43:22 +0000

The only place I learned any history or read any of the literature of Central/South America was in Spanish class.

The other day in guild chat in World of Warcraft one of the Quebequois was like “How much do you Americans know about Canada anyway?” and I realized that I don’t know anything about Canada. Canada is at most 5 or 6 hours away from where I grew up. And we didn’t learn any Canadian history in school.

By: Nezua

Nezua — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:44:03 +0000

yeah, that’s what i think, srl. i hear you…reading spanish news compared to our news of the same events is really eye-opening. ESPECIALLY when you put it all together with our social/political events. again, the context….

By: Nezua

Nezua — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:35:58 +0000

midwestern transport, i join you in cursing work! GrrrRRr!

thank you. i’m glad to hear it.

By: » The Natives Are Restless: Another Attack on Mexico’s Natural Gas Pipeline - By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:47:47 +0000

[...] ck=”javascript:urchinTracker (‘/outgoing/www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/07/11/5217/’);” href=”http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/07/11/5217/”>Nezua provided insight on how the mainstream media is trying to spin this story as being p [...]

By: srl

srl — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:33:03 +0000

Nezua, thanks for this post. I've recently realized how difficult it is for US-raised, English-only people to get good, detailed, no-US-spin-applied news about the Spanish-speaking world. Recently, I've started reading El Planeta in preference to the local English-only free papers, and it's made a significant difference in how I see things. I didn't start learning Spanish until I was almost 30, and I think that simple linguistic isolation (encouraged by the US school systems) is part of why most Americans outside of heavily-Latino areas don't know a single true thing about Mexico or the rest of the Americas.

By: midwestern transport

midwestern transport — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:21:49 +0000

nezua, i really dig this post. i can’t read all of it at once (curse you, work!) but i’m gonna keep coming back to it.

By: Nezua

Nezua — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:55:00 +0000

Thanks for the reinforcement, Holly. I fully agree with your thoughts on this.

By: Holly

Holly — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:29:41 +0000

It’s absolutely necessary and important to make posts like these and use the internet and blogs for what they’re good for — spreading information, getting the word out, around the totally ridiculous self-censorship of the mainstream media. The only way I ever hear about what’s going on in Oaxaca and Querétaro and elsewhere is through forwarded e-mails and occasionally on websites — so thank you. This is important work, communication work, and the spread of knowledge is vital for freedom. (Not the Bush administration kind of freedom — real liberty.)