result of the war on drugs-'We're bloodthirsty … and like to kill'

[Sunlei]

The musical form called the narcocorrido glamorizes gangsters, guns and the bloodthirsty killing that has racked Mexico in the past decade.

The narcocorridos are widely popular in Mexico’s north, and portray regional gangsters as iconic outlaws worthy of admiration.

Some of the biggest narcocorrido stars operate out of southern California, which certainly raises questions of ethics (Imagine paeans to Osama bin Laden being written in Tijuana). But the reality is that a grim economic situation, a lack of social mobility and an unquenchable appetite for drugs north of the border have contributed to the rise of a culture that glorifies crime figures.


The popularity of the narcocorridos may seem shocking, but reflect a reality in many cities in Mexico. This Al Jazeera America article quotes an acquaintance, Sandra Rodriguez, who for years was a journalist in Ciudad Juarez and is now on a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard:


“For me, it’s a symptom of how defeated we are as a society,” Rodriguez told Al Jazeera. “The kids want to look like narcos because they represent an idea of success and impunity and limitless power.”

[libdem4life]

1. It breaks my heart. Went to Tijuana 40 years later...nothing had changed.

It is an agricultural country from which the US buys a lot of food, but it's mostly Big Agriculture that makes it up here. There is plenty of land to grow their own food and sell at their local markets, which their extended family system supports. But it's not attractive to many of the younger generation. Very similar to the US city/rural transition that began around the Industrial Revolution in slowed time and without the literal engines that started up and drove the American Empire.

The legal prescription drug business...1/10 the cost of American prescriptions, has been shut down, I hear. The border-crossing network still pays well, if one survives. There are few middle class jobs, few corporations, few large cities, often local "stalls" represent retail stores, poor schools, although average health and dental care. And their 1% under any comparison, is really, really rich. The comparison of profits/wages at the top vs. the workers used to be astronomical compared to ours.

Probably the largest single business, paying a significant legal income other than the subject at hand, at least in TJ, is the taxi industry at the border. Then tourism...starting with the traffic jam of parked taxi cabs at the border. Drivers know where Everything is that the Gringos come looking for, which is seldom a retail shopping spree. The police downtown drive around in unmarked, heavily shaded, mega black SUVS. They are pretty obvious, nonetheless. I've never been to one of the large cities, but I understand it is even worse.

Their version of "corporate donations/political funding" is "narco donations/political funding." There is no middle class, to speak of. I'll bet they would gladly host any number of our unpopular corporations, as does China. And I'm going to even go out further on a limb and say that the TPP may, rather than be wholesale economic treason, a way to keep American corporations and what little manufacturing is left, here. The US tried to keep Mexico and Canada Out, as per the Wiki description. Mexico for immigration and Canada for dairy. That's very interesting. Know I need to learn a lot more, and despise the secrecy, as well.

And the "music"? In the video, I heard/saw pretty much US inner city rap which seems to be oozing out into the suburbs and rural area, just with mariachis as backup. Remember Tipper Gore/lyrics? She lost, too.

So, it's Hollywood. Pretty much, ethnocentrism as usual.