Reader's Comments -- OH BOY!!

A READER'S COMMENT:

By your logic, the only proper way to relocate to Canada would be to live in an igloo on Baffin Island. That would be cheap, uncomfortable and inconvenient.

The Three "C" explain why American Real Estate developers are targeting Mexico for the invasion. Some of the expats, real expats, in San Miguel de Allende tell me that the developers there are calling the state of Guanajuato America's 51st state. The plans are for something they are dubbing "The Golden Corridor". There are plans for building a "Theme Park" to attract the Americans and Canadians who will in turn buy real estate.

If you really want to make a more intelligent comment on my "logic" go to my website page SUSTAINABLE EXPATRIATISM. Then try to read more than one or two blogs. I've written several books, and more than 400 articles on this subject. Try that before giving such an hyperbolic response.

If the average Guanajuatense wants little to do with you, Doug, perhaps its because they've read your blog. I imagine a lot of american expats feel the same way. You're pretty hard on both groups. I doubt very much that you or any other expat can ever fully understand the Mexican culture and all it's myriad nuances. It's really not enough to be able to speak the language. You also would have to be Catholic.

First of all, you've missed the point. If you would bother to read the bulk of what I've written about living in Guanajuato, you would have read that my observations have been confirmed over and over again by MEXICANS. Did you miss that point, perhaps? Just as Americans living in New York would offer such opinions based on God only knows what prejudice about living in the Arkansas Ozarks so do other Mexicans from other parts of Mexico offer the same about life in Guanajuato.

Guanajuato, by comparison, is as provincial as a New Yorker would label Clarksville, Arkansas. And I loved living in Clarksville, by the way. Mexicans who do not come from at least 3 generations of Guanajuatenses are not generally accepted. We've heard this too often from too many Mexicans living here who never get invited into other Mexican's homes in the same neighborhood. From an ethnographic point of view this is an amazing thing to learn.

And to offer as a counter point: "If the average Guanajuatense wants little to do with you, Doug, perhaps its because they've read your blog" is almost too absurd to respond to...however:

Since the average Guanajuatense does not speak or read English why would you even use that in your argument. Knowing what I do of the regional culture, of the xenophobia (an observation made by a Mexican), some would probably be offended. But, to be offended would not be proof whether it is right or wrong. It is an observation made by Mexicans which I've reported and, as you have proven, I get blamed for the observation.

And your comment, "I imagine a lot of american expats feel the same way." ...Don't imagine, offer proof.

I will tell you the group of Americans who "feel the same way". They are those who want to live in a socially isolated bubble which the Mexicans call, Gringolandia. The Gringolandians are offended at anyone offering an objection to their monolingualism, cultural imperialism, and using the bilingual Mexican like a hand held translator when the Gringolandian is forced to interface with the culture.

(I am wondering just what is your experience in Spanish and living in Mexico?)

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN THE ANGLO WORLD?

By YOUR "logic": It's really not enough to be able to speak the language. You also would have to be Catholic makes me wonder if you are a monolingual? All cultural analysts I've read agree unanomously that language is the portal to the culture. So this begs the question if you are fluent in any language and specifically in Spanish to be able to offer an intelligent comment: "It's really not enough to be able to speak the language."

In the practice of SUSTAINABLE EXPATRIATISM language in a country in which they speak something different than your own is EVERYTHING.

Also by your logic: You also would have to be Catholic... this is akin to saying that to understand the fact that a woman menstruates each month you would have to be a woman to intelligently discuss it.

By your error in thinking, male doctors could not be gynecologist and enthnographers and anthropologists who specialize in Mexican culture could never offer any intelligent observations about life in Mexico since they aren't Mexicans or Catholic.

So, ...Sounds like you have a lot to learn...

Just who shall we apply this to?

(By the way, the word AMERICAN is ALWAYS capitalized.)