Clueless gringos: exhibit “A”

I won’t turn the person in, but, my God, this actual post, on a real English-language Mexican message board, confirms my faith in the enduring bone-headedness of clueless gringos:

I must admit that I have little understanding of current Mexican politics, so I read these threads with great interest. Not that I can vote with an FM3, mind you, I just like to know what’s going on around me, and try to stay situationally aware. Plus, I am an admitted and unrepentant political Junkie.

As an aside, the lamp post directly outside my front door gets plastered almost everyday with new political posts. Because I am selfish and hate the flapping sounds these great plastic posters make, I get out the scissors and cut them down everyday.

Bad me. But honestly, these politicos do stay ON the job! They are replaced every day!

The thread in question was about a governor’s race… one in which dirty tricks (like destroying each others’ signs… not to mention lobbing molotov cocktails at one of the party’s headquarters) have become a regular feature on the local news.  One would assume a “unrepentant political Junkie” might know something about politics … and the taboo on foreign interference — which is not so much illegal (although it is, and can lead to immediate deportation), as it is just plain stupid:  given Mexican (and Latin American) history, rife with U.S. and other interference in internal matters, any hint of political interference by foreigners is going to be played up by the opposition for all it’s worth.

But, never assume… it makes an ass of “U” and me, as the saying goes.  Taking down some candidate’s sign hardly amounts to the type of political activity that got this legal restriction added to the Mexican Constitution… little things that have rather annoyed the Mexicans over the years,… like the U.S. intervention of 1848, or the U.S. financing of Porfirio Diaz’ coup in 1874, or Henry Lane Wilson’s “Embassy Pact” of 1911, or William Buckley and friend’s financial support for the  Cristero terrorists, or the CIA assistance given to Diaz Ordaz in 1968, or the U.S. Republican Party’s “aid” in the 2000 and 2006 election campaigns, or, for that matter, the “embedded units” of U.S. intelligence services in the Mexican military and the U.S. financing of the narcotics cartels.    Maybe because I’ve lived in Texas, where stealing yard-signs from the opposition is a time-dishonored sleazy political ploy (and usually the sign of a desperate candidate), it’s hard to imagine anyone thinking that robbing party propaganda is acceptable behavior.

Let me see if I understand the logic:  because a “flapping sound” bothers the person, she goes around destroying other people’s property, and at the same time, claiming to be an “unrepentant political Junkie” but demanding whatever it is that lifts her luggage (floats her boat, gets her off, rings her chimes…)  occur without any inconvenience, however slight, to herself.   Would she think of destroying other people’s properties, especially when admitting not a clue as to what it means, or whose property it is in her own country?  I don’t think so.  I certainly hope not.

There is no more interest in Mexican politics at work here than there is interest in Mexican folk-ways by those gringos who say they are looking to live in a “quaint Mexican village” — and expect to find not just a furnished apartment (over the internet), but one with an all-electric kitchen within a fifteen minute drive of a with a WalMart stocking Cheerios and a Starbucks. And — if it interferes with others — fuck ’em.

And, consider the tolerance level.  The “flapping sound” has to be destroyed… daily.  Election day is less than a month away, and, those cute little “elections” interfere with what the “unrepentant political Junkie” wants, and wants NOW.  So, expecting… demanding… instant gratification, she turns to vandalism.

The arrogance of the “unrepentant political Junkie” is breath-taking.  What these kind of people want is not to live in Mexico, but to live OFF Mexico.  That is, the Mexicans and Mexico exists only to satisfy these people’s own selfish ends.  Oh, they can have their cute little “elections”, but not if it means annoying “flapping sounds”.

I will give her credit for two true statements:  “I have little understanding…” and “I am selfish…”  The rest of her post was extraneous.