Like any other Los Angelino and Times reader – not to mention any southwestern American who lives fairly close to the Mexican border — I am acutely aware of the extreme violence being perpetrated on the Mexican populous by the drug cartels.
But I am forced to laugh-out-loud when I read articles, or, watch the nightly news (I love KCAL 9 with its stellar line-up of babes delivering the news) and hear American military minds (is this an oxymoron?), or other political pundits expound on the ineffectiveness of the Mexican army and the corruption endemic in Mexican politics that has led to growth and strength of the Mexican drug cartels.
How many more times will we be having our ethnocentric, myopic pots — calling the kettles of others — “black”? Let’s face it – the big pink elephant (er, the red, white and blue one) in this picture is: the insatiable American desire to partake of drugs. If the cartels weren’t making money off of the American drug consumer – then over 28,000 Mexican civilians (since 2006) might not have died over the American proclivity to get high.
American habits kill innocents.
And where do the cartels get most of their guns? From the U.S. of course! Which is a great shot in the arm for U.S. weapons manufacturers. In fact – it’s great for these manufacturers whenever the CIA can get mini-wars going around the globe – or, fuel a civil war, ala the Mexican cartels vs. the Mexican public and the Mexican army (who knows what side the Mexican government is on?).
And speaking of the “globe” – elsewhere I’ve written about the creation of warlords vis-à-vis oil companies that protect their cheap extraction from countries too small, too poor, and too weak to do much about it. But many locals that try to sabotage the oil vampires do end up dead. This has been going on long enough so that at least 15 countries are suing some of the oil behemoths in the International Court at the Hague – but these suits have been going on for awhile – and oil still gets sucked out of their countries. But every time I see a NASCAR or Formula One promo, I think of those who have died putting gas into the tanks of these cars. Every time I learn of an air show or missile launch – I feel the same way. Every empty motorized bus also reminds me of the needless killing that feeds our gasoline habit.
Whenever I say: “If it needs gas to make it happen, then it’s not a sport” – I draw the ire from American ears. But truly, motorized “sports” are bourgeois uses of a commodity that thousands around the globe have died – so that such sports might live – I, for one, remain cognizant of this.
Sure, I put plenty of gas into my Jeep Compass, and even more in my gas guzzling Vanagon – but I do respect and honor those who have died so that I can survive and pay the bills in the contemporary U.S.A. whenever I fill up my tank (like the Native Americans did when they killed their food).
I doubt Americans will ever give up their killer habits, but perhaps, they might pay a little respect to those who have died for the modern American to indulge his/her habit. I was “shocked and awed” by a statistic I once read – that once-upon-a-time – 15 million buffalo roamed the U.S. – and that White hunters slaughtered them down to a mere 500. If this doesn’t get you pondering American excess and extremes, I don’t know what will. But as we all know, habits are very tough to kick – particularly when they become addictions…