Texas views on border "chaos" (Austin, Laredo: sex offenders, violent crime)

[BooneTX]

I wanted to drop a thread in here in discussion of the views other Texans have on the border "problem" that is the drug trade and seemingly dangerous border. I posted this in the Austin part of the Texas thread to get a diverse readership and response.

I'm a Junior at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. Of course many of our instructors are not indigenous to Laredo, and many professors that are from Texas that come to Laredo have a predisposed notion that Laredo is a very dangerous city, and is "almost like living in Mexico itself."

I don't find this offensive at all, but rather, I find it amusing to know how people are so unaware of how it is in our realm of the border. As of lately the other side of the border, Nuevo Laredo, has been pretty quiet. This is in part due to the government and local media suppressing the actual events that are going on over there. But does everyone really think of Laredo as a dangerous town? One that is over taken by drug related crimes and chaos? I know the actual overall aura of the city and how quiet or loud it is and can be. We have our share of crimes, believe me. But nothing like what the professors from east and north Texas have described.

One professor from east Texas told me that her friends and family were fearful of her being in danger by coming to Laredo and how "chaotic" it is with the craziness happening just right across the border. But in all honesty it is black and white when it comes to Laredo and Nuevo Laredo.

What does everyone else think? What are your views on the situation on the border and what you've heard about Laredo?

[mlassoff]

I think people are generally idiots and make wild assumptions about places they have never been based on what media figures say.

I never assumed for a minute that living in Nuevo Laredo was all that different from living in any other hellistically hot small city. My mother thinks that you can get killed going to the mall in Phoenix by "all the gangs." Too much MSNBC, Glen Beck and not enough "seeing for yourself."

It's kind of like people who think that riding the subway in NYC is taking your life in your hands. Ignorant.

[BooneTX]

I guess you are right. The media is what hypes it up to be this jumble of chaos with guys running out of cars and shooting up places and driving off without getting caught. It's funny to imagine my hometown as a wild west of some sort.

[Nor Cal Wahine]

I think the media has created a generation of hysteric scaredycats. The chances of an innocent person being the victim of a violent crime in a Mexican border town are probably (and I say probably because I'm way too lazy to look up factual data ... lol) are about the same as in Detroit.

My husband and I were in Acuna recently and talked to a couple shopkeepers and taxi drivers about the so-called dangers and they all agreed on one thing: the fearmongering has really, really hurt their livelihood. The town was virtually empty while we were there. One of the taxi drivers we spoke to said it best: "If you are here to make trouble, it's easy to find it. If you come in peace, you will leave in it".

Your average every-day citizen and tourist need not worry nearly as much about violence as a member of a drug cartel or street gang IMO.

[mlassoff]

Yes but fear-mongering = scared citizens = more power for the government = often foolish choices

I'm afraid Gay Marriage will destroy my family. (Baloney)
I'm afraid of Mexican border towns (Baloney)
I'm afraid of all these sex offenders going around murdering kids (Rare to the point of infanticimle chances)
I'm afraid of all these people trying to steal my identity! (Almost never happens)
I'm afraid of gangs driving around with their lights off and shoorting at people (Urban legend)
I'm afraid of drunk drivers. They're everywhere. (A problem, but exaggerated)


MORE LAWS! MORE LAWS!

[mimimomx3]

I wish we had a better border and immigration policy.
I think the 'violence' on the border is related to the drug trade; I wish we had a better drug policy in which drug usage were decriminalized.

[Nor Cal Wahine]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

I'm afraid of gangs driving around with their lights off and shoorting at people (Urban legend)

Haha! reminds me of a great scene from the Ben Stiller film Flirting With Disaster, when his hysterical uptight Jewish parents (played by George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore) warn him of the dangers of driving in Southern California ...

"The gangsters are all carjackers out there. They bump you, then they mutilate you".

[Nor Cal Wahine]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

I wish we had a better border and immigration policy.
I think the 'violence' on the border is related to the drug trade; I wish we had a better drug policy in which drug usage were decriminalized.

You must spread around reputation before giving it to mimimomx3 again.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

You must spread around reputation before giving it to mimimomx3 again.

I feel it!

[orbius]

Mexico is a narco state period, owned and run by the worst criminal scum you can imagine. Calderon is 100% corrupt and is simply going after the rivals to the leading cartels in Mexico. The people who own him.

Not that the US isnt corrupt. Its a bad joke to think that we spend billions on 'the war on drugs' and we know where 95% of these drugs come into the country.(via Mexico) Yet we stop a miniscule fraction of it. Obviously the corruption isnt just in Mexico.