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Malamut - With the protesters, you're taking a small subset of the population and extrapolating it to the majority. That's THE definition of stereotyping. Do the majority of illegals want US citizenship? Who knows - nobody ever surveys them because they tend to make a point of not letting people know they're illegal!
Illegals come to the US because it's a rich country. Were Mexico located where Argentina is, there wouldn't be a problem with illegal migration, period. I don't wish to say that the Mexican economy is rocking and everybody is doing fantastically, but that's absolutely not true. The Mexican economy has a bevy of problems, the biggest one being that it's unable to create decent jobs for all of the people in its workforce. But overall, Mexico is in the top top tier of the developing world and there are few people there starving (except in Chiapas, but that's a different story).
Mexico has lots of other problems and there are no easy solutions for any of them, but I don't think that it's problems are any worse than many other countries. Americans hear more about it because of proximity, and fear journalism.
Malamut - With the protesters, you're taking a small subset of the population and extrapolating it to the majority. That's THE definition of stereotyping. Do the majority of illegals want US citizenship? Who knows - nobody ever surveys them because they tend to make a point of not letting people know they're illegal!
Illegals come to the US because it's a rich country. Were Mexico located where Argentina is, there wouldn't be a problem with illegal migration, period. I don't wish to say that the Mexican economy is rocking and everybody is doing fantastically, but that's absolutely not true. The Mexican economy has a bevy of problems, the biggest one being that it's unable to create decent jobs for all of the people in its workforce. But overall, Mexico is in the top top tier of the developing world and there are few people there starving (except in Chiapas, but that's a different story).
Mexico has lots of other problems and there are no easy solutions for any of them, but I don't think that it's problems are any worse than many other countries. Americans hear more about it because of proximity, and fear journalism.
I realize that Mexico has a growing middle class and is among the world's wealthier nations. But you see, I live near Juarez and all we get here are the people pouring out of Mexico. Before the violence, their excuse for leaving was money - hundreds would die trying to cross the border for the money of the USA, rather than stay and work on problems in their own country/city/village, they just want to come here and then insist that they can not be sent back home. They protest by the thousands for their easy USA citizenship and they are what makes a bad image for their country - more than anything.
My point is that the average American doesn't encounter the good hard working people of Mexico who love their country and stay there, working hard to make it a better place. The average American tends to encounter only those who abandoned Mexico yet insist they're proud of it so they wave their Mexican flags and wear the colors like some gang symbol and demand they never be returned home.
But I fully realize that in Mexico, if someone stays in school, delays having kids until they've completed their education, obtained a job and some job skills and marries before starting a family, limit family size to what they can afford, they will join the growing middle class. It's not that hard - but instead many choose to drop out, have children at a very young age and have them one after another, have no job skills but head over to the USA for "their better life". Having the better life in Mexico of course takes some personal effort.
I think we do tend to paint Mexico in a bad image because it is competitive. It is the only country that can trully compete with us in this part of the world. I mean sure we have Canada up north but it really isn't competitive. It is too cold and it has a smaller population than the state of Texas. And everything else in North America is composed of small countries. Even in all of the Americas there are only what 3 maybe 4 relevant economies. Their biggest city is bigger than our biggest city and we compete for jobs and so forth. Look at all the jobs that they have gained in the automotive sector and look at all the ones we have lost.
One sector we have dominated for decades and will continue to do so is the entertainment and media sector. The whole world looks at our movies and wants to know what's going on in the USA. We use this to our advantage and showcasing Mexico in a bad way is one of them to help detour investment here.
Let's compare a couple of countries. Russia has been fed to us by the media as a strong, powerful, ambitious, militarized country. Australia in our heads is a smaller sister country of USA with sprawling McMansions, clean cities, prestine beaches and a great quality of live. South Korea is seen as Japan junior, innovative, technologically advanced with large modern cities. Mexico on the other hand is portrayed as a 3rd world country, dirt roads mainly used by burros, garbage ridden, and crime everywhere. There are no large cities in Mexico in the media because everyone lives in small towns and it is so poor and unorganized that it is uncappable to form a military.
In reality however Mexico has a bigger economy than Australia and South Korea and almost en par with Russia. And it is much denser in population than the US, Russia, or Australia so it is hard to believe that everyone lives in small towns and rides burros.
I think we do tend to paint Mexico in a bad image because it is competitive. It is the only country that can trully compete with us in this part of the world. I mean sure we have Canada up north but it really isn't competitive. It is too cold and it has a smaller population than the state of Texas. .
Texas has 25 million people and Canada has 33 million. The state of California, however, does have more people than Canada.
I think we do tend to paint Mexico in a bad image because it is competitive. It is the only country that can trully compete with us in this part of the world. I mean sure we have Canada up north but it really isn't competitive.
Not competitive? Canada's GDP is ranked 10th, Mexico is ranked 14th. Mexico dominates the entertainment and media sector? Please post where the facts are to back this statement up.
Quote:
In reality however Mexico has a bigger economy than Australia and South Korea and almost en par with Russia.
Australia's GDP is ranked 13th, South Korea is ranked 15th and Russia's is 12th. (Mexico was 14th, remember?)
America has it's problems but blaming (even partially) America for how Mexico is perceived in the world is a real stretch.
BTW, one of today's headlines: (not from an American source)
MEXICO CITY – Armed men rumbled into a gritty neighborhood of the Mexican capital Thursday and gunned down six men hanging around a convenience store, fueling fears that one of the world's largest cities is falling prey to the cartel-style violence that has long terrorized other parts of the country.
Not competitive? Canada's GDP is ranked 10th, Mexico is ranked 14th. Mexico dominates the entertainment and media sector? Please post where the facts are to back this statement up.
My friend look at my user name: dollaztx. I live in Dallas, TX. By we dominate the media I meant the US not Mexico. Gives my post a whole different perspective doesn't it?
I've always thought of Mexico as one of the more developed Latin American countries... I do think there's a *smaller* middle class than in, say, the US (in general, people tend to associate a lack of a middle class with less developed nations), but there obviously would be a very significant (and growing) one.. especially when you compare Mexico to the entire rest of the world, not just the US & Canada, Europe, parts of East Asia, and Australia/NZ.
When I went to Mexico I was actually surprised to see skyscrapers and expensive cars in Mexico City, and things like good intercity transport and some nice neighbourhoods, because all I had to go on was the idea the US media likes to show of it all being murders, donkeys, drugs etc and a story from an American studying here in the UK about how he'd gone to Mexico in Spring Break and done drag races on the highways and paid off a policeman with a $10 bill. Even in Chiapas it seemed more developed/safer than I'd thought. Guatemala on the other hand...
When I went to Mexico I was actually surprised to see skyscrapers and expensive cars in Mexico City, and things like good intercity transport and some nice neighbourhoods, because all I had to go on was the idea the US media likes to show of it all being murders, donkeys, drugs etc and a story from an American studying here in the UK about how he'd gone to Mexico in Spring Break and done drag races on the highways and paid off a policeman with a $10 bill. Even in Chiapas it seemed more developed/safer than I'd thought. Guatemala on the other hand...
All one has to do is look at all the incredible PHOTOS posted on this site to grasp that Mexico has many, many old, impressive and fully developed large cities on a par with other cities in the developed world. Unfortunately, too many people rely soley on the soundbite media to base their opinions, rather than take time to do a little research!
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