today: nacos and other concerns of fellow Mexicans
today, when i went to the chiropractor because my neck is bothering me terribly, i saw a friend i hadn't seen in a while. she shared an article with me and asked for my opinion; she said she agreed with some of it. It was written by an Ingeniero Javier Navarro, and it was an opinion piece that basically complained about the 'quality' of mexicans that came to the US nowadays.
According to him, the Mexicans that had come in the 50s were much more respectable and hard-working, honest people than those who come today. He, being Mexican himself, was embarrased of the mexicanos that were so uproarious and irresponsible, that even politicians like Jeb Bush and Senator Kennedy criticized us for "las horribles conductas de mexicanos que huyen de Mexico, cruzan las fronteras y se meten ilegalmente para establecerse en ciudades americanas se han vuelto tan vergonzosas, tan odiadas que ya ni los negros nos aguantan." Does this sound a-la-Fox or what? The man sounds terribly ignorant for criticizing his own people with little more reason than his personal dislike of mexicans who do not behave with 'class'; he superficially goes on to describe them as 'nacos', and is worried about what others view us as: "invasion de mexicanos ignorantes, feos, mal educados, violentos y borrachos."
talk about worried about self-image, this is self-hate. He goes on to justify that some well-educated mexicans insist on living among "barrios blancos elegantes" and now he understands this well: "no soportaban estar entre esta 'mugre' de inmigrantes feos, mal vestidos, los clasicos Nacos que tanto nos averguenza a los que si seguimos amando a Mexico y a este noble pais donde vivimos."
He then concludes that: "Por esas conductas destructivas ya nadie nos aguanta. Y todavia Vicente Fox se pone a exigir amnistia! Porque no los retuvo en Mexico ofreciendoles mejores oportunidades en su propio pais?"
And what conductas destructivas can he be talking about? He mentions the loud parties "con musica de tamborazo", la gente que satura las calles con sus tantos hijos, carros viejos, puestos de chicharrones, balaceras de noche; He mentions the driving of people without licenses that put others at risk. He then goes on to say that they go around with this dangerous behavior "y si se les pone dificil huyen y se largan a sus ranchos de Mexico, de donde nunca debieron de haber salido."
I was disturbed that the writer of the article was a Mexican himself, and an "educated" person, at that. I also wondered about his criteria for criticizing his own people: he equates physical attributes (feos, mal vestidos, etc), things that are out of control for people, with destructive behavior and ignorance and "mugre." How logical is that? and how offensive to have this come from a Mexican. How can you put yourself on the sides of politicians who have essentially little but self-interest invested in our communities to judge us by? How can you come to believe that you have more of a right to be in this country than a fellow national, simply because you believe you have the "educational" and "class" criteria. In the end, his concern was that a few bad Mexicans were spoiling the bunch of 'good' ones.
I have no doubt that he is definitely in that rotten batch.
According to him, the Mexicans that had come in the 50s were much more respectable and hard-working, honest people than those who come today. He, being Mexican himself, was embarrased of the mexicanos that were so uproarious and irresponsible, that even politicians like Jeb Bush and Senator Kennedy criticized us for "las horribles conductas de mexicanos que huyen de Mexico, cruzan las fronteras y se meten ilegalmente para establecerse en ciudades americanas se han vuelto tan vergonzosas, tan odiadas que ya ni los negros nos aguantan." Does this sound a-la-Fox or what? The man sounds terribly ignorant for criticizing his own people with little more reason than his personal dislike of mexicans who do not behave with 'class'; he superficially goes on to describe them as 'nacos', and is worried about what others view us as: "invasion de mexicanos ignorantes, feos, mal educados, violentos y borrachos."
talk about worried about self-image, this is self-hate. He goes on to justify that some well-educated mexicans insist on living among "barrios blancos elegantes" and now he understands this well: "no soportaban estar entre esta 'mugre' de inmigrantes feos, mal vestidos, los clasicos Nacos que tanto nos averguenza a los que si seguimos amando a Mexico y a este noble pais donde vivimos."
He then concludes that: "Por esas conductas destructivas ya nadie nos aguanta. Y todavia Vicente Fox se pone a exigir amnistia! Porque no los retuvo en Mexico ofreciendoles mejores oportunidades en su propio pais?"
And what conductas destructivas can he be talking about? He mentions the loud parties "con musica de tamborazo", la gente que satura las calles con sus tantos hijos, carros viejos, puestos de chicharrones, balaceras de noche; He mentions the driving of people without licenses that put others at risk. He then goes on to say that they go around with this dangerous behavior "y si se les pone dificil huyen y se largan a sus ranchos de Mexico, de donde nunca debieron de haber salido."
I was disturbed that the writer of the article was a Mexican himself, and an "educated" person, at that. I also wondered about his criteria for criticizing his own people: he equates physical attributes (feos, mal vestidos, etc), things that are out of control for people, with destructive behavior and ignorance and "mugre." How logical is that? and how offensive to have this come from a Mexican. How can you put yourself on the sides of politicians who have essentially little but self-interest invested in our communities to judge us by? How can you come to believe that you have more of a right to be in this country than a fellow national, simply because you believe you have the "educational" and "class" criteria. In the end, his concern was that a few bad Mexicans were spoiling the bunch of 'good' ones.
I have no doubt that he is definitely in that rotten batch.
posted by guiam at 6:22 PM
8 Comments:
Whoa!
Where did you find this article?
I'm thinking Mr. Navarro is one of those Mexicans that joined the Minutemen.
i have no idea what magazine this came from. i only have those details (she gave me a copy)... but yeah, i got that same gut feeling. scary!
I agree he has some self-hate issues going. Mexicans are working just as hard today in this country. If the Mexican government would get their shit together maybe we'd all be there enjoying our propio pais.
Tan educado el cabron y tan pendejo!! Doesn't he realize that in all cultures you are going to get folks that for whatever reason are violent or drunk. Let's come up with more positive solutions instead of this guy talking out of his ass. sorry for the rant...
it was disturbing to read this....some people think they are better than others because they can afford fancy clothes, cars, "stuff".
i meet plenty of good folks at my clinic on a daily basis....many immigrants who i wouln't call lazy or an embarrassment to my race.
how dare he criticize these Mexicans for being "ugly" and "poorly dressed"...damn bastard!
more from me:
ugly - because they are too Indian looking and not white enough? Must we have blond hair and blue eyes and light skin to be beautiful? is that what he is implying?
We all can't afford Prada, Chanel, Gucci, either...but such is the case, in an economically lopsided country/world.
a disturbing article indeed. who agreed to publish it?
I was born in Mexico and have lived in Mexico half my life, in addition to having lived in half a dozen other L. American countries. I currently live in Mexico, and expect to end my days here. Few people tolerate a criticism well, and are able to step back calmly and impartially and see if the person has valid points to make. Of course it is difficult to generalize about a collectivity numbering millions of people. Like everywhere else, there's good, bad and indifferent. Having said that, it has to be admitted that Mexican culture has greatly degenerated in certain respects--although it is hardly the only one that has done so. Alcoholism, of the weekend variety, is one of the great problems in this country, and its famous rather aggressive machismo gets exacerbated by it. This alone accounts for a lot. Then there is the entry of the drug trade and all that that implies. These two things alone account for many of the most distressing and even dangerous aspects of Mexican immigration and also problems within their own country. Another great cause of problems has been the destruction of Mexican agriculture by the entry of the transnational corporations. As a result, millions have been driven off the land and have had to pile up in urban slums, which are not exactly wholesome places to raise families, and as a result of which much culture is simply destroyed, creating legions of rootless and badly raised people, often with dysfunctional families (add the other two factors mentioned above to this one). That's enough for now. But there is no question that a lot of negative factors have entered and strongly affected Mexican culture and have even destroyed a large portion of what was best in it. And one has a right to notice this and take it into account, as well as to find it tragic, and also on many occasions distasteful. But this does not give one the right to fall into hatred of people.
Personally, I also find the insults hurled by certain people commenting on this post, as well as some of the language used, to be deeply distasteful and regretable.
This post is interesting. I am looking for some material on Mexican colonial mentality and the buying into "whiteness" by Mexicans living in the United States (and some now in Mexico). Whiteness is associated with modernity, shopping malls, life styles, and products that for some reason "los nacos" do not know how to use, or live, or if they use the products or adopt the customs, somehow "se les ve lo naco" people would say. The article by Navarro illustrates that mentality well. Mexico is a cast-divided country. I have heard terrible racist comments directed to the poor and indigenous looking people (commonly named "nacos" and people denying their racism arguing that in reality "naco" is not a racist term. I guess Mexicans both in Mexico and abroad need to come to terms with racist and classist attitudes. For Navarro´s knowledge, Mexicans in the 50´s emigrating to the U.S. were as poor and in need of better lives, as Mexicans now. People forget their origins easily in order to put others down, and feel better. Again, that is the colonial mentality.
Thanks for the posting.
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