Media, Statistics, and the Mexican Monopoly

You all have heard the news, it's everywhere. You can't hardly find a media source now days that doesn't include the latest and greatest headline such as "Mexico on Path to becoming biggersecurity threat than Iraq", "Mexican Drug War Violence Spilling Over to U.S.", and "Mexico: Police Corruption Rampant".

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It would probably be safe to say that every person in America, if not the world, could state the following three media headlines as facts when questioned about Mexico: More than 200 Amerian citizens have been killed in Mexico since 2004, Mexico's violence is spilling over into the United States, and more people were killed in Mexico's drug war in 2008 than the entire U.S. soldier death toll from the war in Iraq.

Surely with so much ink and cyber hours spent by media; so many stories, photos, and blogged hours of chaos, lawlessness, and dismay Mexico must have a copyright on violence, corruption, and drug trafficking, right?

Come on people, get your heads out of your asses; wake up. Does Mexico have problems? Damn straight, Si' Señor. Do we have corruption amongst poltical, judicial, and police officials? Without a doubt, Por Supuesto! Is there violence and death caused by President Calderon's crackdown on drugs? Without a doubt, Pues, Obvio, no? But really, do we deserve the media bashing we're receiving? I don't think so, ¡Claro que No!

You've got to understand, we're putting it all on the line here. President Calderon has gone where no previous President dare go. He has launched and all points attack on corruption, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and violence while implenting new employment programs, education reforms, and social funding in efforts to keep Mexicans in Mexico and employed in honest jobs that will feed their families. There's no magic here, there's no 24 hour miracle solution, what took decades to create will not disappear overnight.

We are deemed corrupt for allowing the traffickers to gain the power they have. That is true, years of corruption paved the way for Cartels to rise and take our country hostage. No one has ever denied this truth. But at the same time we are deemed violent and lawless as our soldiers combat cartels, head on. Damned if we do, Damned if we don't.

The negative press is to be expected, after all, in media scandel, chaos, blood, and violence sell. Mexico sells.

Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexico's most famous writers recently came to our nation's defense in stating:

Mexico does not hold the world monopoly in neither violence nor corruption, one must view what is happening in other nations as well. The violence in Mexico is, if one would compare, much less than the American intervention in Iraq. There is corruption and violence everywhere, on all sides. If one would like to talk corruption, let's use the example of how the world's economic crisis generated in the United States; it seems there were a great number of people cheated by (Bernard L.) Madoff, seems as if these people involved were much more corrupt than any other people.

-Carlos Fuentes

Violence? American intervention in Iraq? What was that statistic that has been used a million times over in reference to the amount of people killed in Mexico's drug war in 2008? More deaths in Mexico's 2008 drug war than the entire American soldier death toll of the Iraq war, are we missing something? Wouldn't it be more realistic to state both sides of the statistics. We have the combined deaths of drug traffickers, police, military, and American and Mexican civilians killed in Mexico in the year 2008 alone: 5639; but what about how many civilians, military, and police were killed by American troops since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Ouch! We probably shouldn't even touch that figure, might not look good in statistics.

This isn't a He Said, She Said war. What is happening in Mexico is tragic, but what is more tragic is the lack of true attention. People are trapped in media spun sensationalist headlines and are not seeing the truth. We've laid our souls on the line for one last chance to turn back time and make things right. We have admitted our faults, we are paying for our past crimes of ineptness, betrayl, and deceit; but we were not alone in creating this monster. We were not alone in it's creation, but we stand before you, alone, in our fight of it's destruction.