General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When Men Hate Women: Femicide in Ciudad Juarez [View all]loose wheel
(112 posts)I know this will probably get me flamed, but I'll press on because it helps make some sense of things.
The problem with Mexico is an Arabized culture that is mixed with local beliefs and a rather amazing level of racism.
Arabic culture stemming from the middle east was essentially a warrior culture in the seventh century. Those at the top of the social hierarchy didn't farm, they raided farms and took what they wanted. They didn't build things, though they may have commissioned them, the building was done by slaves. Manual labor was something to be done by the lower classes and slaves. Women fell into two classes, wives or concubines. Wives were for reproduction and concubines were as much about wealth and power as they were about pleasure. Concubines and slaves were equally disposable.
This culture spread eventually to Pakistan and India (rejected by the enslaved hindus), north as far as Georgia, and west as far as Spain initially. It took on a different aspect in Spain and then spread to the New World and into Mexico with it's conquest. Look up reports from the Spanish conquest. Spanish soldiers took on multiple wives and concubines from the tribes they conquered, that wasn't a Catholic ideal even if they claimed to be converting heathens. In the process the indigenous cultures were either destroyed or dominated. It probably gave the survivors and their descendants a massive inferiority complex.
Take a look at Mexican culture now, in general. A woman, especially a darker skinned or lower class woman, walking unescorted is viewed as little more than meat to be used by a man who wants to take her. That should sound familiar. The Upper class may commission new buildings, but they have little actual input, the manual labor is done by a lower class that is largely regarded as disposable. The Upper class of Mexico has waged war on numerous occasions against it's neighbors to take land and resources. It will also make war against anyone in the country that doesn't want to pay patronage to the upper class. The entire country is owned by something like 45 families.
Add in a drug trade crossing through from South America, which doesn't require much manual labor and you get cartels to add to a general lawlessness. Concentrate all of this in Juarez and you have a situation where law enforcement is so busy fighting to maintain some control that killers can work without getting noticed.
It's ugly as hell. Doesn't mean it isn't mostly the truth, but the truth isn't always beautiful.