|
Some cultures are doomed to fail
by Mark Andrew Dwyer - 11/10/02
There are societies that learned how to not waste the chances that were given to them by history and capricious fate. They knew how to capitalize on trends of prosperity, which helped them to face the challenges of turbulent times of downturn and turmoil. Their collective wisdom that allowed them to survive for centuries, despite adverse conditions and deadly threats from their enemies, crystallized in a form of culture that was a source of inspiration and continuity for their civilizations. The U.S. is a nation that belongs to that category, and the American culture is congruent with success and well being, and with appreciation of goodwill of others.
But there are also societies that didn't learn that much from the past. They either ceased to exist or required a constant assistance of others, without which they would not be able to support their growing populations. Their cultures, being a reflection of their failed national customs and dysfunctional social structures, didn't help them too much in their constant struggles to survive. On the contrary, their cultures seemed to reinforce the societies in their relentless desire to continue with a stream of mistakes and wrong choices that they were so good at making in the past. And in their blind stubbornness, they were first to blame and attack others, including those who were helping them, for their failures.
Take, for example, our Southern neighbor, Mexico. We offered them a chance of partnership both in economic and political terms. They depend on us with their millions of jobless, low skilled workers who, mostly illegally, cross the American border to find a source of income that is about ten times of the one in Mexico should they ever find a job there. That mass "migration", encouraged by Mexican government and its agencies in the U.S., translates onto billions of dollars paid in remittances to their families - an injection of cash that keeps the Mexican economy afloat. Yet they don't seem to be able to appreciate being rescued from inevitable collapse, and instead of being grateful, they will not miss a chance to play hostilities against the U.S., their benefactor.
For instance, on November 6, 2002, Bloomberg reported that Mexico's Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, siding with Iraq during recent controversy about approval of U.S. draft of resolution by the U.N. Security Council, said "smaller countries on the United Nation's Security Council should tie up the U.S. to bring it in line with their views." Castaneda was quoted saying: ``I like very much the metaphor of Gulliver, of ensnarling the giant. Tying it up, with nails, with thread, with 20,000 nets that bog it down: these nets being norms, principles, resolutions, agreements, and bilateral, regional and international covenants.'' The above clarification by Mexican top official doesn't leave much doubt about Mexico's real intentions towards the U.S.
This kind of shortsighted political self-centrism, that Thomas Sowel refers to as "tribalism", is idiosyncratic to Mexican culture, and it is hopeless to think that it will ever change. Bad judgment and wrong decisions, literally, thousands of them, are the root causes of Mexico's political and economical decay, and there are no indications that that country learned from its past mistakes. Given American assistance, be it remittance money, state of the art technology, or political help, they will just use it to continue with their failed tribal agenda, and even try to swallow us in the process. President Bush should keep this in mind and think twice before implementing his plans of making it easier for millions of Mexican "migrants" to flood the United States. Unless he doesn't mind these "migrants" to become a part of the giant net that bogs the American Gulliver down.
[Link added by AmericanPatrol.com]
