the suppliants

Gotta Love Those Mexico References in the Popular Media...

 From the HBO Series Generation Kill, season one pilot episode aptly entitled, "Get Some."  The following exchange takes place in a Humvee in the opening invasion of Iraq: 

CPL Person:  "How come we can't ever invade a cool country - you know - with chicks in bikinis?  ... This whole thing comes down to *babes* (slightly edited).  In the opinion of this Marine this war's about the *lack of babes*.

Evan Wright (embedded reporter):  "So it's not about oil or WMD's and it's not even about Saddam?"

CPL Person:  "No, Saddam's just part of the problem.  Look, if Saddam invested more in the *babe* infrastructure of Iraq than he did on his f*cking gay ass army, then this country would be no more f*cked up than, say, Mexico."

SGT Colbert:  "Ray!  Please shut up.  Thank you."

A little tour of the republic...

The seemingly endless school year (extended b/c of the swine flu) finally ended during the first week of July and so the wife and I decided to do a "second honeymoon" (18 yrs!) tour down to some of the colonial cities of central and southern Mexico.  So after spending two nights in the stunningly romantic city of Guanajuato we headed south to a convention - taking a route through the state of Michoacán.  As we entered, we saw convoys of army trucks full of soldiers heading into the state.  I've been aware that Michoacán's been a a bloody, embattled place for several years in the Drug Wars (the "Family" controls the state - for example, in May ten mayors were arrested for being La Familia operatives), but, seeing this ramped up army presence, I figured that something must be up.  Not having seen the news for several days, I was unaware that things had only days before heated up there when the Mexican government arrested the operations boss of the Michoacán-based La Familia cartel.  The cartel response was violent and immediate - within 45 minutes of the arrest, armed cartel units hit various police stations and sub-stations in eight cities and towns in the state.  They even tried (unsuccessfully) to spring their boss from the well-protected convoy rushing him out of the state!  But what really brought the iron heel of the government down was this:  on July 14, the cartel tortured and murdered twelve Mexican federal agents (eleven men and one being a woman - the murder of the female officer has the country in an outrage) and dumped the bodies along the side of a mountain highway.

So there we were right in the middle of it all.  I knew better than to snap pictures (even discreetly) of the troops so I didn't.  But driving behind the transports and passing them we saw the soldiers' faces - young men cradling their assault rifles in their arms, some of them smoking, some listening to iPods, some staring off to the beautiful green hills and mountains...entering a hostile, unforgiving state in their own country - where maybe they'll go toe to toe with armed cartel commando units - who strike suddenly with incredible force and with arms much better than these FAL-armed soldiers...

The best news article I've seen on these recent developments:  Drugs 'Taliban' Declares War on Mexican State

Stratfor's July 29 article "The Role of the Mexican Military in the Cartel War"

Amusing Ourselves to Death...Graphic Short

Years ago when I was a high school Lit teacher I had my students read George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" in order to contrast these two dystopian views of the future.  In Orwell's view, everyone will be controlled by exterior force - FEAR- embodied by an authoritarian, ever-watching Big Brother.  This is contrasted by Huxley where everyone will be controlled by interior force - PLEASURE - embodied in legal drugs, virtual reality movies, orgies, and the like.  To see which dystopian view has emerged in our times, check out this splendid graphic short (12 panels) by Stuart McMillen, entitled, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" which also is the title of Neil Postman's classic 1985 best-seller.

The link again:  Stuart McMillen's "Amusing Ourselves to Death."   Read it!!!

This idea can also be found in Chuck Palahniuk's "Lullaby":

"The sound shivers through the walls, through the table, through the window frame, and into my finger. These distraction-oholics. These focus-ophobics. Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother's holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed... and this being fed, it's worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what's in your mind. With everyone's imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world."