The Most Hated Gringo in the World Report - 8

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Three issues I've about which I've written and for which the Gringolandians have taken such umbrage are the following:

1. Boozing and drugging in the expat community.

2. Underestimating the Noise factor in Mexico.

3. Mexicans don't do preventive maintenance.

Da Booze

Ok, my hypothesis goes something like this: Americans lead the world in Mental Illness.

"Although parallel studies in 27 other countries are not yet complete, the new numbers suggest that the United States is poised to rank No. 1 globally for mental illness, researchers said." (Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer)

What a dubious distinction, but true nonetheless. America is full of psych cases and rates as having the highest number in the world.

This nuttiness, I've long suspected, expresses itself in massive substance abuse. Once again, my suspicions have not been off the mark:

"ScienceDaily (July 1, 2008) — A survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use. The study, by Louisa Degenhardt (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia) and colleagues, is based on the World Health Organization's Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI)."

When Americans move to Mexico, for whatever reason…from studying Spanish to Retirement, they bring their psychopathologies with them. These psychopathologies usually get worse over time. They move to Mexico based on a fantasy, an idea, an over-inflated concept. They find they are not as accepted as they thought they would be and resort to forming little enclaves, which the locals call Gringolandians.

What is so spooky is how closely these Gringo Enclaves begin to resemble an incarnation of The Lord of the Flies.

They can't or won't speak the language and end up limiting their social life to one another, their fellow Gringos. Often, they turn to drinking and to drugs to help themselves cope with the isolation and social incest.

I spoke with a therapist just this week who not only confirmed what I've just written, but expressed it with not a small amount of disgust. She's seen this in Guanajuato in the Gringo population.

Too Loud

Someone in San Miguel de Allende recently wrote a letter to the editor of the English-Language Newspaper complaining about the noise. Oh, man, this is so typical of the Gringo who is attracted to Mexico based on his or her La-La Land fantasy. I wonder just what this person believed the complaint would do. Shut the Mexicans up? Some actually resort to assaulting the Mexicans, as I wrote in a previous Blog. Throwing things at the Mexican or hosing them down are but two incidents I've reported. Noise is one of the most Underestimated Factors in the Gringo Living-in-Mexico Fantasy.

It Isn't Broke

If it isn't broken why take it apart and oil it? Why check the voltage? Why replace a working light bulb with a more efficient one? Why move a muscle if something is still working?

Mexicans do not typically do Preventive Maintenance on anything. The Gringolandians actually wrote to me and accused me of Racism the last time I wrote about this fact of Mexican culture. That's how accurate Gringos tend to be in their ethnographic and anthropological observations about Mexican culture.

Oh, and the Gringolandians will also tell you that since they've been here "X" number of years and I've been here for fewer years, that all I say about Mexico is less accurate than their views.

Can you believe that?

Right now I am suffering through what has to be a prime example of Mexicans who do not do preventive maintenance. My DSL Internet Connection isn't working. I got up this morning and found a TMO…Typical Mexican Operation working in my Internet Connection.

If you read Ned Crouch's book, "MEXICANS & AMERICANS: Cracking the Cultural Code," you will see a picture emerging of a nightmarish attempt for Americans trying to do business in Mexico and trying to convince Mexican employees of the need of doing Preventive Maintenance.

They just won't do it.

I would suggest that if you are giving retiring, working, or studying in Mexico the slightest of thoughts, you get this book and memorize it.

It is not a long or hard stretch to imagine why anything in this country stops working. And, it is only when it stops working that the Mexican is moved to fix it.

It is their cultural affectation. Getting your panties all twisted in a knot over it will not make it better.

It will make you miserable.