Lets talk about the Mexican Federal Electoral Processes of 2017-2018 and how helpless I feel about it.

"Spanfeller is a twat" (theaspiringengineer)
07/01/2018 at 09:10 • Filed to: None

Because a few people really don’t understand it.

Mr. Oliver made a half-baked video about the Mexican election, which is appropriate given what has been said about the Mexican elections by the foreign media.

You see, what the foreigners lack is an understanding of what a “pirruris” is. There is a universal truth in Mexico and that is that no one will leave the ballot offices satisfied, but we will leave in droves of threes: Those who are uncomfortable about Mexico’s situation, but uncertain how to change it, those who are comfortable about it but willing to make an effort to make it better, and those who are desperately in need for change.

I find myself in none of these groups because I am the 14%. I am a white dual citizen, my family has enough money to pay for private insurance, private schooling, private transportation, and live in a tower block with private security that all of us pay for. I am exactly the kind of person Obrador (Morena) targeted with his “pirruris” chants. I am exactly the kind of person who’ll never see workplace discrimination, and will have the fewest contacts with the police or the government for the better because I don’t get enthralled in their bureaucratic clusterfuck. In my entire life I’ve never had to report a crime, not only because I have never been involved in one, but also because I’m shielded from the corrupt machine that runs east of Benito Juarez, I’m shielded from the realities south of Ajusco, and the regionalistic racism north of the Tarahumara ranges.

I come at this election without a representative experience of Mexico. Like most pirruris do and like most foreign journalists have captured it. In a sense these people I’ve been clustered in will have to make a choice, as part of the 14%, and as part of the aptly named by Finntail “temporarily embarrased millionaires” that will vote for Anaya(PAN) or Meade(PRI): The establishment. We’re together the 45% of the nation that deem Obrador not necessary. But there must be something deeper than just being a Pirruris or not.

I am uncomfortable with all candidates because I think I have a vision for my country that is nonaligned with their thinking. I think that the solutions to the grave inequities and abuses of the people of this country are not found in reactionary policies or continuity of bad policies, I find them in unity,respect for one another and equal opportunity. Which is why I wrote !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Which I was going to post but the elections are just showing me this vision will not occur. Instead we’re going to push ourselves into a corner.

As a pirruris I’m not desperate enough to buy into Obrador’s bullshit but susceptible to being targeted by the establishment: As a Pirruris I’d be lying if I said I was blind to the abuses and inequities the people around me have benefited from. In that regard there isn’t a candidate that will faithfully execute their responsibilities as set up in the constitution. All of them have important handicaps that will hurt Mexico, be it Meade’s ties to a corrupt party, be it Obrador’s long unchecked history of financial mishaps and corrupted biases, or be it Anaya’s blindness to the desperation of the public and lack of experience.

I know that all of them are shit, and I am almost certain I will nullify my ballot because I’m not ready to accept the whataboutism that all campaigns have promised. Because in the end... nothing will change within the halls of congress or the offices of the national palace. Only we as a society will continue to segment ourselves, and only we will see how further separation will lead to problems bigger than we ever thought. Neither side is ready to give up their hypocrisies, and that is the formula for a bad government.

I’ll be voting in a luxury car dealership for christsake!

So lets talk about Miguel Hidalgo, shall we? It’s the borough I live in, it’s one of the richest, least unequal, most urbanized borough in Mexico City and right now we will have to choose between PAN in the shape of Margarita Fisher, and Morena in the shape of Victor Hugo Romo. VHR used to be the borough leader and I can assert that my employers at the small development firm will be delighted to see him win. VHR is good friends with members of our legal team, our construction contractor, and the unions that control the workers. If Victor Hugo Romo wins I will stand to win a lot more money, as a company we will be able to show fuck-all respect to urban planning laws, and gentrify entire areas. Unchecked, unburdened: unquestioned. Yet somehow, Margarita Fisher is being advertised as the choice for the richer citizens of this borough, how come? I mean, both of them will be terrible at their job because they’re burdened by their past actions.

Not a single politician in this country is devoid of a tail that could be stepped on by someone richer than them. Which is why the largest developer in the country, Arambuluzavala, is making a skyscraper in Polanco’s 3rd District under the blind eyes of the current PAN leaders in the borough. Despite both parties showing a continuation of bullshit, one party, Morena, is pursuing a road that will create more inequality, where PAN at least has the guts to admit their hypocrisies. But what is the moral difference between pleading guilty or innocent if you actually committed the crime?

Being in the situation I’m in, uncomfortably numb, I have battled whether I’ll want a continuation of a broken establishment that could be fixed or if I will aboard the campaign of a man that has belittled and demonized the achievements of my neighbors in hypocratic chants and will pursue an agenda that will culminate with benefiting them anyway.

In the end it won’t matter, in the unlikely off chance Obrador begins acting as if Mexico is Venezuela, I’ll leave, just like the hundreds of thousands of pirruris Venezuelans that left their nation as its demise began, I’ll be the one damming a corrupt leader from the comfort of the deep pockets, and the security of another nation that supports free speech. Same would happen if PRI commits fraud yet again and we erupt into a civil war.

In a sense the establishment is comfortable, but also naive to the true problems of this country. Which is part of why I’m torn because Obrador is
Mexico’s Trump, he is the man abusing of the poor to benefit himself, a man who has tried to mix race and class into national identity and who has made a larger than life personality centered around his unproven abilities to change the nation.

So, is Morena and Obrador not the establishment? Well, they say they aren’t, but in reality, people like VHR are well known as establishment insiders, so are all the PRI and PRD members that left their parties to join Obrador... I can’t blame Obrador for taking them, in the end you can’t govern without people to help you navigate through a 1.7 million employee federal bureocracy. But isn’t that hypocritical since he’s a longtime defender of draining the swamp of the political insiders he christened “Mafia del Poder?”

Trump and Obrador are the result of NAFTA and the inequities of the rich, the abuses of the captains of industry and the failings of unchecked neoliberalism. However they’re also the result of a con man that knew how to abuse his people, the result of a person that saw the grave desperation of a nation and connected it to impulsive decision making based on feelings of greatness that are not supported by factual difference to the targeted group. In the end, it’s a choice of two bad options for me, and it’s a choice that won’t really hurt me in the end because this country was designed and twisted into a shape meant to be abused by people like me. Which is why it will only be changed for the better if everyone in the country agrees to cut the shit and look for improving everyone’s life beyond their own.

But it is also a demonstration that, while Obrador’s voters are acting out of desperation, their desperation is warranted and show unacceptable truths of Mexican society. We’re all blinded by our zip codes, and in the end if we keep building walls to keep ourselves blinded to the situation of another person, we will never evolve to be a country of civil liberties, opportunity, and fairness or even justice.

We will never be our greatest selves or escape the shadow of nations we pretend to be on equal footing to. My nation will continue to be a racist, classicist, ignorant experiment until we all agree that enough is enough.

Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong and Peña Nieto was the last straw, and Obrador or Anaya or Meade will prove to be unifying, fearless executives that will do all in their power to change my country who will hopefully be ready, in six years, to have a bit less consequential elections. Maybe Obrador won’t be divisive and he’ll run an executive branch that will focus on unifying our nation. Maybe the candidates will be truthful. Maybe we will change solely because change sometimes is not consequence of good actions but of luck.

I just don’t feel like something good can come out of anything politically speaking here.

DISCUSSION (22)

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 08:15

I am uncomfortable with all candidates because I think I have a vision for my country that is nonaligned with their thinking.

Boy, does that sound familiar. Thanks for this, it was an informative read. Also, living in America, I would not have known there was an election going on i n Mexico if it weren’t for your posts on Oppo. Which is especially weird, given that we have a president shouting anti -Mexican rhetoric with every breath.

ttyymmnn > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 08:16

Wait...I thought you were writing about the Mexican government.

Spanfeller is a twat > ttyymmnn
06/29/2018 at 08:26

We have a lot of worrying similarities.

duurtlang > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
06/29/2018 at 08:29

...and it’s one of only 2 neighboring countries.

American mainstream news doesn’t report much about foreign politics that isn’t directly related to the US, does it?

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > duurtlang
06/29/2018 at 08:30

Nope, and this is directly related to us. This is who Trump will be renegotiating NAFTA with, if that happens. This is who he’ll be talking tar iffs with.

Spanfeller is a twat > duurtlang
06/29/2018 at 08:51

The first time an american oppo posed about mexican politics it was because obrador said that migrating into the US is a human right and he urged people to move to the us.... so it checks out

duurtlang > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 09:22

It’s almost like they live in a cocoon. At least from a media perspective. While it’s ‘just another country’. A big one, but still. One of many.

To me it’s almost like looking at one of those reality shows, where everything is just a bit more extreme (or absurd) than real life.

No offence implied to the Americans here, I’ve met (in person) many Americans including multiple American Oppo members, and I liked you guys.

Spanfeller is a twat > duurtlang
06/29/2018 at 09:41

I think the US is pretty large and they can occupy themselves with their national news, but the failures I said in the media are across the world, many people don’t understand Obrador correctly, and if you compare what John Oliver said of Macron and Le Pen vs what he said of Obrador and the other candidates, there’s a clear lack of depth in the Mexican case. It’s almost as if he wanted Obrador to win.

Mercedes Streeter > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 10:01

This is a depressing time...It seems like no matter what route most of us takes, it sucks. :(

I’m currently at the edge of my seat because the US Supreme Court decided to become “5-4" Conservative. And considering the platform the party is currently running on, I may very well live to see Roe v. Wade reversed as well as legal same sex marriage reversed.

But hey, maybe we’ll get a tv judge on the C ourt so this country can really be a reality show.

Side note: I’ve noticed that Oliver is a hit and miss on topics. He nailed his Transgender Rights segment so well that it left me crying. Miss Tesla and I think he must have a personal connection to our community because the research he did was way above and beyond and he seemed to show genuine emotion about it.

Yet some of his segments seem like they’re boiled down to the point where some key points get ignored. Still, I guess it’s better than nothing to an audience who would likely otherwise not know anything.

Spanfeller is a twat > Mercedes Streeter
06/29/2018 at 10:50

John Oliver cares a lot about the LGBT+ community and feminist issues which is why I found odd that he did not go into detail about one of Obrador’s coalition parties: PES who is againts gay marriage and abortion. My main issue with Oliver is that he discarted the two front runners as a looser and as a nerd, and focused on the guy polling the lowest and the guy polling the highest and santa clause masturbating.

John oliver should’ve completely demolished Obrador as a fascist. He should’ve put him in the same category as Le Pen.

Mercedes Streeter > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 12:09

Yeah, this segment is definitely not one of his good ones. He mentioned the anti-gay group in a single sentence then moved on. He’s done stuff like that before with issues in the US, too. His D ialysis segment missed a key point that Davita had gone under a near complete overhaul before the episode and weren’t as bad as they were in the past. I wonder who is behind these segments, does he write them himself or do others compile the stories for him to read/perform?

I did like the Santa joke at first, but then he dragged it out with the whole masturbation thing and I was like “oh god please just move on already”

Kanaric > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 15:35

My old b oss is Mexican and he plans on moving back there after he retires and he absolutely HATES Obrador. He says that guy is like Trump, but worse, and gets away with everything. He said all the shit people say about T rump much of it he thinks is overblown, with Obrador is like Trump’s rumors but true and twice as bad.

Also that mass murder that happened with those students is insane. If something like that happened in the US the Alex Jones crazies probably would have staged a revolution. That’s basically the kind of thing Infowars claims goes on in the US.

Kanaric > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 15:40

Part of the problem with Obrador is he’s a socialist populist, though a corrupt one, the social-populism is how Bernie Sanders is portrayed and John Oliver and progressives probably are trying to still manipulate things in a way on their networks to suit their agenda by not casting him in the “fascism=socialism” light. Such agenda biased news exists all across the political spectrum.

Me, I agree. Obrador is a fascist. The sliding scale should be more based on authoritarianism vs liberalism not socialism vs capitalism.

Unchecked business can be authoritarian, so can the opposite, a socialist can be authoritarian, a conservative can be authoritarian. That is really what matters, who has power over you and how they use it.

Spanfeller is a twat > Kanaric
06/29/2018 at 16:31

I’d struggle to call Obrador a s ocialist... real socialists know that sacrifices have to be made in order to have such a large government with comfortable benefits (Like Lula DaSilva knew when he raised taxes ) Right now all the candidates in Mexico want to lower taxes... in an era budget shortfalls and an unstable dollar/peso exchange rate that puts a lot of our industry in precarious positions.

I think that the biggest issue is that people like Paul Krugman and John Oliver himself who are known to be very selective with their sources and careful with their analysis go by the first articles posted about Obrador which put him under a vague light that praises him only because he’s seen as the opposition party . Lets look at what Obrador says he did in Mexico City :

He says that the elevated ring road is a socialist piece of infrastructure (Debate 2012): It’s a for profit private road network who’s cost to the citizens of Mexico City is uknown because the trust fund makes it private, also under trust fund laws almost no contracts had to go under a public contest, which asks, how did he spend the 600 million dollars in the fund?

He says he reduced the crime rate: Yes, but it followed the national trend (and has continued to do so) and he saw a huge spike in extortion, I say it was because of the internet boom we had in the naughts, but he did nothing to counter impose the threat

He says that during his tenure Mexico City’s economy was great: Yes, but it’s only true because we sold our national banks to foreign entities in that period, if you subtract the sale the numbers are way worse, he also had the worst unemployment.

He’s a con man..... simple as that. He’s gonna end up serving the rich which is good for most rich people in the short term, but I don’t want to know what “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” sounds like in S panish.

dogrivergrad68 > ttyymmnn
06/29/2018 at 18:21

Unfortunately, it seems to be going on in lots of places.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/opinion/political-parties-climate.html

dogrivergrad68 > Spanfeller is a twat
06/29/2018 at 18:31

As I sit here in BFE drinking the only Mexican beer available (various forms of Corona :( ), my heart goes out to you and the rest of the Mexican people. You don’t deserve any of this shit. I know people who have purposely made the trip back to México to vote against AMLO, so hopefully the stupidity of voting for populists for leaders of nations will be halted at least here.

Go out and stock up before Ley Seca is in effect. I have a feeling that you may need it. :(

Future Heap Owner > duurtlang
06/29/2018 at 22:14

As an American you have to go seek out different media if you want to be informed about the world outside our borders. Most people just stick with the default. W hen I first started reading Al-Jazeera regularly I was shocked about how much stuff I just had no idea about. Big stuff, too, like wars!

fintail > duurtlang
06/29/2018 at 22:18

We can barely get legitimate coverage on domestic news events from the domestic press. These are the people who won’t take 45 to task.

Dusty Ventures > Future Heap Owner
06/29/2018 at 23:18

Agreed. Al-Jazeera and BBC World News have been great outlets for me to get at least some idea of the important things going on beyond our borders

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Spanfeller is a twat
06/30/2018 at 11:17

I like that El Bronco guy, he’s got a good stand on Santa.

I’m only half kidding. Teaching your kids about Santa only teaches them that you’ll lie to them for fun.

Spanfeller is a twat > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
06/30/2018 at 11:27

Although his stance on Santa is a lot more nuanced that what Oliver suggests... Rodriguez is still a terrible man, and was a very stupid governor.

Right now he’s like the “bro” consciences of Mexico. Though I do agree with you that Santa culminates in your kids thinking you lie to them for fun, or them abusing of you as a parent thinking that you don’t know .

Yeah, sure... Santa really loves tacos and beer, don’t he? but suddenly when my parents divorce he’s on a completely different diet.

Right.

Spanfeller is a twat > dogrivergrad68
07/01/2018 at 09:30

Oh I have pleanty on stock.

At the moment we’re at the polls waiting for these to open