4 ms·

Its crazy that one of the most dysfunctional third world countries borders the most powerful and prosperous. Weird huh?

sol_remmy 9y ago
Mexico is really not that dysfunctional. Mexico is not even third world. We just hear a disproportionate of news from Mexico because of how close it is.
- balthasar 9y ago
  its just sensationalist nonsense.
- always_good 9y ago
  On one side, I [selfishly, unfairly] like that Americans are conditioned by the media to be so scared of Mexico. I almost never see other Americans here. I meet a lot of people day to day who just haven't spoken to an American that wasn't a Mexican-American. Those experiences are some of the most interesting you can have when traveling. But on the other side, that's not healthy for the people of either country. For example, I regularly meet Mexicans that think Americans hate them. And comments from the people who post in /r/the_donald regularly have me shaking my head muttering "poor sheltered bastard." Even HN commenters will talk about how they want to pull the trigger on leaving their boring office job and move to Chiang Mai, but that's a pretty incredible move. It's far away and with a much different culture and language, which is a cool thing but increases the chances that you just won't do it. Meanwhile I'd say I have a pretty exotic lifestyle living on nothing and I'm just a 2 hour flight from my family in Austin.
- nordsieck 9y ago
  Mexico, which is not part of NATO and not subject to Russian hegemony, is by definition part of the Third World [0]. Colloquially, judging by its per capita GDP [1] and intentional homicide rate [2] it seems to fit right in with what people think of when they use the term "Third World". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...
microcolonel 9y ago
Not really, they have always been more dysfunctional. The southern border of the U.S. is basically there to separate America from that dysfunction. Now, for what it's worth, the dysfunction is far less pronounced further away from the border. It's quite a developed country, aside from the sorts of places where you can be raped and murdered for criticizing the wrong people. This is largely despite the state though, which is why you'll probably see more secession.
- balthasar 9y ago
  they are truly disgusting.
  - microcolonel 9y ago
    Who/what is? The Mexican government? The cartels?
- aylmao 9y ago
  Gee, I wonder if having the largest consumer of drugs on the northern border contributes to this dysfunction. That same northern neighbour whose ambassador is attributed as having a key role in the assassination of the ideological leader and president after the last revolution, and brought the country back into 4 more years of violence and fighting [1]. Or that same northern neighbour who swept in and took almost half its land after Mexico had just come out of a war against Texas and another against France. Historically the US has been the prime benefactor of not only Mexico, but all of Latin America being dysfunctional, which is why the CIA has been involved in destabilizing the region for years. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lane_Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lane_Wilson
  - tolger 9y ago
    Agreed. Most Americans are unaware how destabilizing US policies have been to Latin America in general. From toppling democratically elected leaders, to supporting corrupt murderous regimes during the cold war.
hashkb 9y ago
Yeah Canada must hate having us so close.
- balthasar 9y ago
  nice
dragonwriter 9y ago
That sentence might make some sense and be arguably relevant if you replaced “third” with “first”. (As written, it suggests that the most powerful and prosperous third world nation is bordered by the most dysfunctional third world nation, and that this is somehow relevant to a story about Mexico, which is, for starters, not a third world nation.)
- balthasar 9y ago
  yr right they are a very stable and egalitarian power house.
elboru 9y ago
Mexico's history is really complex, way before the US was a thing, New Spain (today's Mexico) was heading to become one of the most powerful and prosperous regions. It was right in the center between Asia and Europe, New Spain's silver currency was used in both continents as exchange currency, New Spain along with the whole Spanish Empire had to fight British pirates in our seas, there were expeditions to Alaska to prevent Russian colonizations in our territory, the first universities in The Americas were born here. But then the Spanish Empire collapsed, just at the moment when the US emerged strong. US governors did the best for their people and took advantage of this collapse, implementing strategies like the Monroe Doctrine, controlling the whole region. I'm not trying to justify our current situation or blaming the US for all our problems, but it is impossible denying the US has had a big part in Mexico's current state (losing half of the territory in the US-Mexico war, influencing in elections, empowering certain groups and fighting others, and more recently giving tons of guns and money to the cartels).
bilkoo 9y ago
This is such an interesting question so I made a blogpost about it: https://medium.com/@kwbil/the-poor-are-shunned-even-by-their-neighbors-but-the-rich-have-many-friends-fba1db04c779 https://medium.com/@kwbil/the-poor-are-shunned-even-by-their...

Mexico is really not that dysfunctional. Mexico is not even third world. We just hear a disproportionate of news from Mexico because of how close it is.

balthasar 9y ago
its just sensationalist nonsense.
always_good 9y ago
On one side, I [selfishly, unfairly] like that Americans are conditioned by the media to be so scared of Mexico. I almost never see other Americans here. I meet a lot of people day to day who just haven't spoken to an American that wasn't a Mexican-American. Those experiences are some of the most interesting you can have when traveling. But on the other side, that's not healthy for the people of either country. For example, I regularly meet Mexicans that think Americans hate them. And comments from the people who post in /r/the_donald regularly have me shaking my head muttering "poor sheltered bastard." Even HN commenters will talk about how they want to pull the trigger on leaving their boring office job and move to Chiang Mai, but that's a pretty incredible move. It's far away and with a much different culture and language, which is a cool thing but increases the chances that you just won't do it. Meanwhile I'd say I have a pretty exotic lifestyle living on nothing and I'm just a 2 hour flight from my family in Austin.
nordsieck 9y ago
Mexico, which is not part of NATO and not subject to Russian hegemony, is by definition part of the Third World [0]. Colloquially, judging by its per capita GDP [1] and intentional homicide rate [2] it seems to fit right in with what people think of when they use the term "Third World". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...

microcolonel 9y ago

Not really, they have always been more dysfunctional. The southern border of the U.S. is basically there to separate America from that dysfunction. Now, for what it's worth, the dysfunction is far less pronounced further away from the border. It's quite a developed country, aside from the sorts of places where you can be raped and murdered for criticizing the wrong people. This is largely despite the state though, which is why you'll probably see more secession.

balthasar 9y ago
they are truly disgusting.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  Who/what is? The Mexican government? The cartels?
aylmao 9y ago
Gee, I wonder if having the largest consumer of drugs on the northern border contributes to this dysfunction. That same northern neighbour whose ambassador is attributed as having a key role in the assassination of the ideological leader and president after the last revolution, and brought the country back into 4 more years of violence and fighting [1]. Or that same northern neighbour who swept in and took almost half its land after Mexico had just come out of a war against Texas and another against France. Historically the US has been the prime benefactor of not only Mexico, but all of Latin America being dysfunctional, which is why the CIA has been involved in destabilizing the region for years. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lane_Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lane_Wilson
- tolger 9y ago
  Agreed. Most Americans are unaware how destabilizing US policies have been to Latin America in general. From toppling democratically elected leaders, to supporting corrupt murderous regimes during the cold war.

hashkb 9y ago

Yeah Canada must hate having us so close.

balthasar 9y ago
nice

dragonwriter 9y ago

That sentence might make some sense and be arguably relevant if you replaced “third” with “first”. (As written, it suggests that the most powerful and prosperous third world nation is bordered by the most dysfunctional third world nation, and that this is somehow relevant to a story about Mexico, which is, for starters, not a third world nation.)

balthasar 9y ago
yr right they are a very stable and egalitarian power house.

elboru 9y ago

Mexico's history is really complex, way before the US was a thing, New Spain (today's Mexico) was heading to become one of the most powerful and prosperous regions. It was right in the center between Asia and Europe, New Spain's silver currency was used in both continents as exchange currency, New Spain along with the whole Spanish Empire had to fight British pirates in our seas, there were expeditions to Alaska to prevent Russian colonizations in our territory, the first universities in The Americas were born here. But then the Spanish Empire collapsed, just at the moment when the US emerged strong. US governors did the best for their people and took advantage of this collapse, implementing strategies like the Monroe Doctrine, controlling the whole region. I'm not trying to justify our current situation or blaming the US for all our problems, but it is impossible denying the US has had a big part in Mexico's current state (losing half of the territory in the US-Mexico war, influencing in elections, empowering certain groups and fighting others, and more recently giving tons of guns and money to the cartels).

bilkoo 9y ago

This is such an interesting question so I made a blogpost about it: https://medium.com/@kwbil/the-poor-are-shunned-even-by-their-neighbors-but-the-rich-have-many-friends-fba1db04c779 https://medium.com/@kwbil/the-poor-are-shunned-even-by-their...