a lucid explanation

idealogical alienation is difficult in chicago. luckily, it's magnified furthermore in mexico by cultural differences. it's not that bad. well, kind of. i tend to get along better w/ the residents than w/ the "nortenos," (northeners)that's what the residents call them. the nortenos return to their hometowns around this time of year, basically, to party. it's their triumphant return home. their "look, i left poor and miserable and now i can afford to pay $1000 to a mariachi to follow me around for 5 hours". that literally happened, it was my uncle. there is an abundance of big trucks w/ chromed rims, tinted windows, sound systems playing the latest mexican hit, usually in 3/4 time. bottles of tequila and corona flow day and night, mexican-american kids walk in droves, speaking english, horrible spanish or a combination of both. immigrants and their children come dressed like exaggeratedly wealthy cowboys or exaggeratedly wealthy americans. materialism. plain and simple. the residents hold some resentment towards them, i really don't blame them. some can't wait until the fiestas are over in order to have their sleepy little town back, their quiet "jardines" (gardens) in peace(at least the ones w/out a business, of course. businesses cater to the returning immigrant: peanut butter, skky vodka, micheladas, etc. that's just good business, right?) one can't really blame the norteno immigrants for their over-the-top, tackiness, given the stories they insist on recounting to each other about growing up playing w/ rocks,toiling the soil from sun up to sun down at the age of 10, of ridicule for not having material, in an attempt to validate themselves. keep in mind that most of the adults in these horatio alger-success stories are in their late 40's to late 50's, and they reflect on these days long gone w/ a certain nostalgia of simplicity, "we were poor in wealth, but rich in values." this town first received electricity in 1960, many of these immigrants still remember the day. now they can have it all, and so can their american children. that privilege isn't only reflected in their children's clothes, but also in their attitudes. they start fights amongst each other, they drink themselves into oblivion, discharge firearms. they parade around like they own the place. actually, given the buying power of the american dollar, they almost kind of do. the town is returning to normal as of late. most everyone is heading back to their real lives in appleton, wisconsin; whiteton, california. las vegas. chicago. not mexico. is this directly the average americans fault? no. could this be a result of disparities in wealth? i'm betting more likely than not. most would place the blame solely on the mexican gov't for it's peoples plight. consider one of the major concerns of american policy in latin america: "to install governments that favor private investment of domestic and foreign capital, production for export and the right to bring profits out of the country." the best thing out of all of this for me: no one has told me any of it, i've seen it w/ my own eyes.

books:
anarchism and other essays- emma goldman
what uncle sam really wants- noam chomsky