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25 de Septiembre, 2006
The Love-Struck Locust
Categorized under Hipnotismo , Medios | Tags:
AND THAT'S JUST WHAT AMERICA DOES—like some infatuated locust who destroys the very things she preys upon. You see it time and time again. Part of our process in learning about and appreciating any other culture also involves devaluation and denigration and domination of that same culture. We'll pick, peck, and paw at the sweet little sugarsprinkle morsels of your kind, box it all up and Happymeal 'ya—and at the same time perpetuate racist memes, or even actively persecute the people, themselves. It's almost as if Americans simply don't understand how to give attention and appreciation to another culture until we can bomb them, or force them to submit, or (of course, concurrently) make money off of them.
Blacks, we'll cram you into a boat, whip, chain, murder humiliate, degrade, and enslave you...and then we'll take some hip-hop, some blues (which we'll alter in a nice, rockified-white manner), some Marley (One Love, brother), and let you join the military and fill the fast food joints with minimum wage workers. Hell, we'll even let you dance around on MTV (but we'll still rape you with plungers in police bathrooms). Chinese, please build our railroads, and if you bring our eggrolls, wonton soup and ten trucks of transistors, we'll tip extra nice. Japan, we'll sprinkle you with some mushroom clouds and forbid you from ever holding weapons again while we snatch, hmm...the geisha icon; the sushi, and a fistful of anime. Native Americans? How about some genocide in exchange for eternally exploited reservations and oppressed future generations; your crying Indian actor; feathers; the words kemosabe, geronimo, and how; and the Pocahontas icon. Sweet! Kay, next....Iraq? Afghanistan? Well, we're not quite done tallying up your check, but it's a big one. For that, we'll allow some sitars into our eclectic hip-hop mixes, the burqa into our porn movies, the turban into a few comedy shows, and the words allah akbar, shiite, and sunni into our vernacular. Mexicans? How about half your land while you support America's cheap and hazardous labor needs; die on the double-bind border; live in economic shackles and never rise to be equal in worth...in exchange for Corona beer, the Burrito Boy® chain, Trips to Cancun Hotels, the words hombre, amigo, vato, señorita, and gracias; and now: MTV's HOTTEST NEW PRODUCT, MTV Tr3s!
Don't ask me why America cannot naturally be fascinated by other cultures, or practice emulation without subjugation; without first bringing some kind of violence or denigration, first. Does the heart need to be hollowed out, so that the commerce and fickle American attention span can swoop in?
Will I enjoy watching MTV's new MTV Tr3s, and being one of their sought-after viewers, while I also know that mainstream bookstores are giving a venue to Mexican-hating racists; while I know that our own corporate state is, one hand, not only soliciting cheap labor from Mexicans while criminalizing and punishing them for accepting the offer; while I have to read and hear the hate for the Brown in papers, ads, and online at the same time? No. I won't. I don't have television hooked up in my home, and I don't want it. Not that I don't understand wanting to feel hooked into to the sounds and colors and words we associate with Latino culture. I do!
But a good example of what bothers me about this parasitic behavior of American culture and media—because I know some Latinos might say oye, vato, at least we're gettin' our own people and cultura into the mainstream!—is the way the pecking, pawing, and pimping will be done. As I stated above, (and this corresponds to my recent critiques on Mel "Ossified Liver" Gibson): it's never a matter of opening the doors to what a culture finds important. It's more a matter of selecting the parts that appeal immediately to the dumbified whimsical poptart masses, and the resultant selections (and their implications) are superficial, insulting, and damaging to a culture that the mainstream doesn't know enough about. It's a little like building a towering and extremely expensive resort hotel on a land, and pulling in tons of bucks from tourists who want to come and "see the people and the culture," but letting the "people" starve only miles away. It's exploitation and prostition.
Market research has consistently shown that while the American-born generations increasingly speak only English, they preserve a pride and sense of uniqueness based on their Hispanic heritage. [...]
'In people, in money and in time, MTV Tr3s is part of the MTV brand in the biggest way that we can think of.'"
—Christina Norman, the president of MTV, Focusing on an Attitude Rather Than a Language
Focusing on an Attitude Rather Than a Language. It's a clever title for an article, and it avoids saying what the article is really saying. Because what the article is saying is that MTV is going to de-emphasize the Spanish Language part (O, except for a light smattering of vidas and vozs to keep that authentic flava), and emphasize the trappings of Americanized "Latino" culture. So expect lots of Low Riders, decals of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Cholo dress and maybe even references to Dora the Explorer, to thread along the kids who grew up watching TV.
But don't keep your eyes peeled for hungry farmers in Chiapas whose land is no longer viable, or Mexicans living to the North and dying to find a job they can live on. Don't expect to get the point of view that Lopez Obrador espouses to his poor, hungry, tired supporters. Don't expect to see respect and care given to our lineage or our struggles. Or any part of "Brown culture" that really does deserve a spotlight right now.
The insidious part of marketing ploys like this (which are bound to be very effective on and popular with Americans) is that this jukebox approach to culture—while it appears to be supportive of the Brown—will do harm, not help. Even in the initial agenda, you can see a dangerous design. And it's one that even Lou Dobbs would approve.
It is obvious that whatever it is at the core of feeling Latino is not just about language, it really is about identity.”
—Carl Kravetz, chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies
What does this mean? What is my Chicano/Latino identity without the Spanish language? I'm guessing this is a personal question. But part of my own loss of cultura was the Spanish language disappearing from my household at about 5. And now, I've had to put in work and time and money to get that back. I've got a ways to go. But it's very important to me. And it's very important to our culture, I'd bet, too. Or else you wouldn't read about so many Haters of the brown crying about hearing Spanish in public; advising locking Spanish-speaking people up in barbed wire cages.
Mr Kravetz is an advertising man. He is advertising with this quote. And he is trying to hypnotize you and I; telling us (as if he is our papá) that we don't need to cling on to our language. That we can let that slip away, like blood in the cleansing waters of the Rio Grande. Just let it wash away. You'll still have Low Riders! You'll still have your Aztec tattoo! And you'll still be "connected" to raza with MTV Tr3s!
Again, there is no Chicanismo Decider. If there were, it surely wouldn't be me! But for myself, I feel my way. I have my own roles, my own ideas, my own dreams, my own agenda on this path. And my agenda says that the language is important, it is not to be washed away; nor is knowledge of the Mexica, the Maya, the Tarahumara, the Toltec, the Olmec, Tenochtitlán, the Spanish Invasion, the North American Invasion, the EZLN, the fields of crops and those people who work them, and the history and traditions of the non-commercial aspects of my heritage are not to be substituted with hot cathode colorization and Spanglish taught to me by Veejays on MTV who are lookin' to make the new buck. Hammer us with one hand, solicit our cash with the other?
Who you callin' puto, cabrón? Who you callin' vendido?
The potential audience is huge. About one in five Americans aged 34 and younger is of Hispanic descent, and MTV executives cite Census Bureau estimates that say by 2020 the Latino teenage population is expected to have grown 62 percent, compared to 10 percent for teenagers over all."
—Focusing on an Attitude Rather Than a Language
It tells you something, eh? Dig: They tie their excitement for their audience numbers to the notion of how many "Hispanics" there are in this nation (numbers causing our people grief as all the Michelle Malkins and Pat Buchanans and John Gibsons of the world react to them). The label "Hispanic" denotes only a shared language. Yet, that is the one part of Brown culture they are leaving by the wayside in the planning of their new tasty format.
There is another very important part of our culture that is being left by the wayside, as well. And even ten channels on American television won't change that.
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Comentarios (16)
turtlebella dijo:
But part of my own loss of cultura was the Spanish language disappearing from my household at about 5. And now, I've had to put in work and time and money to get that back.
Man, me too! My parents wanted me to be able to fit in with the dominant culture (which actually since my dad was caucasian American he already did) and then I ended up not quite fitting in cos I was still the 'other' and different but I didn't have my Mexican identity either. It sucked.
And can I just say, I really hate how the Virgen de Guadalupe image gets co-opted all the time by white American culture who find it charming or something?
09.25.06 - 12:53 pm
Palabras por turtlebella spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 09:58 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Yes, my mother is European-American. I think it's very hard for those of us with a border running right through our genes. Of course, that is a border that is about as real as the ones we claim lie over the land, only to be seen on maps. It is in the mind, mostly. And the Mexicano/Mestizo identity is one of the border-ed experience as it is. An identity of split identity...
But I agree...being split between cultures makes it even harder to feel not accepted by both sides. Especially when some of the Brown culture is missing from your life, but visible from your outward appearance. You can get stuck in a chasm.
It is a journey to find out what identity makes you feel whole. That is the core of what motivates this blog. I'm glad you can relate. It's a long read, but I have written a two-part series that deals with my own coming to consciousness on this issue. Maybe when you have time you might enjoy it, tho it's not for everyone. It's very long, and personal. Perhaps not a typical "blog" entry.
American culture appropriates all kinds of jazzy items from where it wants. This culture is a very simple and primitive one: easily attracted, easily bored, quick to violence. Grabs at shiny objects like a crow might. Leaves carcasses in the dust without remark. But they can't take that one from me...its one of the few Mexican icons that stands out strong from my childhood.
09.25.06 - 1:19 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:02 AM
Leesee dijo:
Those of us who are third generation have already had an experience with the white race becoming part of the family. There is no way to avoid it.
We have decided being Chicano could be about blood but it is also about soul, just cause you look white doesn't necessarily mean you are and just because you look brown doesn't mean you identify as brown.
You are correct to say being a member of the raza could be a fortunate birth choice or you can just join it, that's right you can join in.
That's the beauty of this club anyone can become a member, all you need is ganas.
09.25.06 - 3:31 pm
Palabras por Leesee spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:04 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Hi Leesee. I agree with the philosophical part. And for me (for me), there must be blood, there must be language, there must be knowledge of history, there must be empathy, and concern, and affiliation. I think it is part of even long-time residents of Mexico makeup to be mixed. And I don't know that I need anyone else to look just like me! But I feel good about brown eyes. And I feel good about the way I look. And I want to feel good about that, and that it is primary, and not second-best.
I think we move into an area, here, that is very dependent on personal journey and story. For me, this journey is very much about looking at parts of myself and my history that I have not had; getting some of what I didn't and should have, and thus, grew up feeling less than whole. It's about addressing the conflicts I felt inside being a duckling raised by geese. Or vice versa. That's my story.
That's all. To see all of myself, to own all of myself, to face that feeling of the incomplete, which has already been greatly satisfied just by turning and looking and saying "wow, here is this other part; and that is why this is, and that is why that is. And there are others like me."
And not to measure myself against a yardstick that would end up telling me to fix my nose, or bleach my hair, or grow taller, etc. I don't know about any club, but I don't want to feel shame for being made of Mexico in a land that is happiest with those who resemble something else. I want to celebrate that which celebrates me. And I don't want to forget where my people came from and what their struggle was, nor what Mexicans' struggle is today. There are other parts of my makeup, but they don't trouble me. And all my life, this half of me has. That's why I'm coming round to it until I can feel it all naturally. No more denying, no more skulking, no more excuses, deflections, or summations.
That's me. My story is not necessarily yours, or exactly anyone elses, but I'm betting there is a lot of overlap. I think when we gather, it is good to find that overlap.
09.25.06 - 4:20 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Leesee dijo:
Oh alright, we'll draw some blood if you insist!
I have three children, SBD, (second born daughter) looks white, she's fair skinned and has green eyes, FBD (first born daughter)looks more like me however I'm a bit darker, more Indian looking. Gee is a stone Indio through and through as is his father, he is brown, you can't call it any other shade.
They all possess affinity, concern, empathy, and affiliation, only one has the language. I blame myself, my Spanish is Pocho Spanish and can certainly be improved. My sister's spanish is better than mine.
I guess what I'm saying is they were all raised as Chicanos,what they do with it is up to them. So far so good, but then what happens to the next generation? It's not an easy path, sometimes the choice is made for you depending upon how you are perceived.
Each of us must make our own way.
09.25.06 - 7:37 pm
Palabras por Leesee spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:07 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Absolutely. I'm not judging you. I didn't mean for you to have to feel you had to put any of that forth, though I appreciate your trust, Leesee. I am only writing what I feel I need to return to the self I want to be...or maybe not to return, but go to a new place. And then beyond. Somewhere else. This is a journey within a journey for me. It's not about me knowing what other people's children need, that's for sure. And I think that sounds great for your kids!
My youngest daughter has the benefit of being just a baby while I am aware of all of this. This blog is not that old. And my new awareness is not that old. Not all my children are near my youngest child's age. My oldest hijo is 18, now. And only my youngest lives with me. I am here for them to tell them how I feel and what I have learned, and am learning, and Who I feel I am, and what people I have come from, but I can hardly tell them who they should think of themselves as.
This is all a very personal journey for me. When I'm done with the biggest peaks and valleys, I'll know more of what to give my children of it. But again, while so much of this has lived within me, always fluttering about and shifting, I really only turned to it relatively recently.
I totally agree: each of us must make his or her own way. I'm figuring it out as I go.
Thanks as always, for your thoughtful comments.
---
COMMENT UPDATE:
Leesee, I don't think I've been clear if you feel inspired to defend your bloodline. My children's mothers have all been Euro-Americans. So I am not coming at this the way you may imagine.
I think this has been a good inspiration for me to write another post. Perhaps some things that I know I think, feel, or believe in are not understood by readers here, and need to be. Perhaps some of the things I am saying and doing to find my way to something are being interpreted or misinterpreted as definitive declarations of knowledge, or absolutes. I don't intend any of that, really. I just write with a dramatic flair, I can't help it.
09.25.06 - 8:03 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:08 AM
reenee dijo:
I just want to find a good garden burger and curly fries while you two lighten up.
In the end, it's all good.
We are who we are period, we need to simply drift instead of struggle.
Yanno?
09.25.06 - 8:44 pm
Palabras por reenee spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Richard Grabman dijo:
Carta Blanca used to run very funny commercials, selling their beer's "Norteño" image. In one, the shy guy wants to talk to the girl in the bar and can't figure out how. His buddy yells out "¡Cartas por la raza!"... followed, of course, by a scene of happy shy guy talking to pretty girl, as they imbibe Carta Blanca.
"Raza" is "the people"... It's not "race" like we use it in the U.S. It's ironic that the only one who comments here who lives in Mexico -- or has lived in Mexico -- is güero. The Mexicans never held it against me (and isn't it a bit presumptious to assume "Chicano" ... or "Latino" is any one "race"?
09.25.06 - 8:51 pm
Palabras por Richard Grabman spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:10 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
First, I guess you know you have to lighten up when Reenee is the one telling you to do it! I'm just trying to cut through miscommunication, my friend. I'm just trying to speak clearly. Don't want to be misunderstood.
Secondly, I know the meaning of "raza," ricardo! I think I've been over that a few times here. And I think you know how I feel. I don't think we're in opposition. Though I do think you are one bold güero at that to suggest a definition of Chicano for me. :) You don't need to worry about what it defines. No problem at all for you. Because whatever it means, I know it doesn't mean "Caucasian Who Lives in Mexico"—and no, I don't think that's presumptuous. So don't sweat it! (And please don't suggest I hold anything at all against you. You are what you are. And I am what I am. We don't have to be at odds just because I am working out my own puzzles, right?)
As I said, it's my journey I'm writing about. No offense. But I'm just trying to get clear here with all my talking and writing and thinking and feeling. I know it's rocky from time to time. I'm glad you guys allow me that. I'm glad you understand the journey I have to make.
09.25.06 - 9:04 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:12 AM
Leesee dijo:
The first sentence of my second post was said in humor, certainly not anger. I do not take anything you say in anger, I feel you like a brother, and it is so good to have a forum for a continuing conversation about what being Chicano/Chicana is all about.
My sister and I grew up in the same house and we have radically different ideas about identity and labels; sometimes I am quite serious about it and other times not so serious and maybe silly.
I don't care about bloodlines and further I don't care if someone is half white or half black or even Puerto Rican (just kidding!), what I care about is identification, affiliation the stuff you talked about yesterday.
When I described my children physically it was not a defensive gesture it was merely to illustrate all the colors of the rainbow the so-called "Raza Cosmica" has running through its veins. DNA, it's a mystery.
Your blog is one of the places I visit daily, it is good to have a site that takes pride in the daily struggle of refining and understanding what is is to be a Chicano/Chicana, it's a place of strength.
Spirited interaction and conversation is a way to bring clarity to who I am and what I am, I so appreciate the opportunity to have a refuge from the daily grinding I get through mainstream culture.
I agree it is quite presumptuous to have a guero define what being a Chicana is all about, sheesh!
09.26.06 - 1:17 pm
Palabras por Leesee spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:13 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
I appreciate you coming around, Leesee, really. You add a lot here. And you have added more with this comment. Thank you.
Richard means well. I think it can be hard to see what is appreciated and what is not by those of us in the middle of this journey. But we all have a part to play. Thank you, again.
09.26.06 - 1:20 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Richard Grabman dijo:
Sorry guys (in the generic, non-sexist sense... maybe I should say güeys?), but I was a leeetle testy last night -- nothing to do with y'all, but "race" and "raza" does set me off.
I used to ride a bus to work in Sante Fe (the Mexico City one, not the NEW Mexico one) through Polanco which was usually the same bus a bunch of rowdy prep-school boys would take. They just looked like a bunch of (Mexican) kids to me, and it never dawned on me until it was Yom Kippur and they were all wearing their "capas" that maybe their grand-dad wasn't Aztec. But they were Mexican, as Mexican as my Santa Maria la Ribera neighbors, even the ones with an old blonde Spanish anarchist grand-dad or granny with her Dutch accented Spanish.It does bother me that people want to defend "raza" on DNA, rather than "usos y costumbres"... para disgracia, si eramos güero, moreno, chino o negro, somos gringos.
"Race" in America is the elephant in the room... we can't escape it, much as I try. Damn shame, but maybe -- if we're lucky, kids will just mention a "white mother" or "indigeno dad" as an interesting factoid, and not an overwhelming part of their lives.
09.26.06 - 11:36 pm
Palabras por Richard Grabman spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:14 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
Richard, you may be in the wrong place if any of that talk sets you off! But I like that you come around, so I'll leave that determination in your hands. Race is a lot of what I am working out. And there will be more. And you will not be in a position to stop the conversation.
I was born in America, we all live in America, we are Mexican Americans (and others) dealing with living in America, where Race is not only the elephant in the room, but what is holding up the floor in half the house. I, too, long for a day such as you imagine. But it is not today. And I am not going to get there, unless I travel the path I walk today. To say "there is no such thing as race" is dishonest, and does not apply to the struggle of the Chican@/Xican@ as I see it. It is a statement I hear these days from various European Americans...and it feels to me like they want to change the topic because it's not a fun one. But while I like to have a good time, I am not here right now for fun, but for growth and for self-empowerment.
Let's wait a while. In this arena where we meet, let's let me be the one to say there is no such thing as race. Until then, such a statement only belittles the experience and struggle I am trying to relate and understand here.
I do appreciate your input. Thanks for explaining your point of view.
09.27.06 - 6:28 am
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Ome.Quiahuitl dijo:
I like that comment regarding Chican@ also being about the soul... For many of us, treading this path has been a journey back to our essence. We could not deny it- that "something" resounding in our soul- even in our moments of denial, of hair-bleaching and contact-wearing, we could still hear it calling to us- that call welcoming us back home...
I grew up very "Americanized" in a very commercialized environment with a fluent Spanish speaking Grandma and Mama who spoke to us in Spanish, but never really nurtured it in any of us. My Step-Dad was Canadian and spoke fluent French, but never took the time to teach us. So yes, I also am spending a great deal of my time and money on education, as a means of making an even greater connection to that which has been lost.. I think the actions we take and this choice we've dedicated ourselves to- to live as authentically as we are capable of, at our own personal point of evolution is the best we can do..
I think it's also important to point out, that there is a lot of emphasis on the Spanish language, which I have come to realize IS very important in the sustaining of our culture; though, for many of our families descending from Mexico, Spanish was not their native language, and overtime we have also become estranged from the Indigenous culture which is undeniably a part of who many of us are... I have found it very rewarding to take the time to reunite and understand this part of our culture, which is a beautiful part of being Chican@ or Xican@... There are many, many rewards in such a discovery..
09.30.06 - 2:07 pm
Palabras por Ome.Quiahuitl spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:16 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:
We could not deny it- that "something" resounding in our soul..
Absolutely.
overtime we have also become estranged from the Indigenous culture which is undeniably a part of who many of us are... I have found it very rewarding to take the time to reunite and understand this part...
Yes, I understand that completely, Ome.Quiahuitl. I have really just begun this journey I undertake. But my heart walks those paths already.
09.30.06 - 2:53 pm
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 20 de Enero, 2007 at 10:17 AM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez
dijo:
and now i work for MTV. what does that make me? a mite on a locust? OH the humanity.
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez
spat forth on el 8 de Febrero, 2008 at 09:03 AM