Guanajuato, Mexico -- Magical Thinking

I am on a jag. I am becoming (Becoming? Am I not there?) obsessed once again to correct the misconceptions would be tourists or expat read online. Here is yet another prime example:

I have studied/lived in multiple Latin American countries, and have never felt safer than when I was in Cajones, Guanajuato, Mexico. -- Found Online

The criteria by which the person judges the safety of Cajones, Guanajuato, Mexico is "...have never felt safer...".

Though I should not have to point this out, I obviously must. To cite "feelings" as the basis of anything is to walk on a very slippery slope. One can read this constantly online. "I felt safe" in Mexico therefore it is safe.

One's feelings cited as the basis whether something is or is not so is nothing more than relativism. There can be, in other words, as many "truths" out there as there are people to "feel it so."

What you have is a person who by God's grace does not run into trouble when in Mexico and then when asked he or she boldly announces how he or she "feels" Mexico is safe.

I wonder what the Gringa in the city of Guanajuato who was recently assaulted in a vicious attack in which she was sexually assaulted and severely beaten would say to someone "feeling" Guanajuato is safe?

I wonder what this person would say to someone's relativistic feelings of safety in Mexico?:

Name: Yasi

November 22, 2009

My boyfriend Dana was murdered in Zihuantanejo, Mexico on Friday, the 13th of November, 2009. He was robbed in broad daylight...probably for his watch, which was the only thing not recovered. He was found on the pier - with the fishermen & the sea that he loved his whole life - and suffered/died of blunt force trauma to the head. He was found unconscious by ....someone...and taken to the clinic.

The truth is, as FACTS and not FEELINGS support, Mexico is becoming one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Federal crimes such as gangland-style murders and kidnappings have reached record levels, according to a new report from Mexico's Congress, making Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries.

One analyst who worked on the report said Mexico's murder rate now tops all others in the Western Hemisphere.

"In a global context, we suffer from more homicides, that is to say, violent deaths, than any other region in the world except for certain regions on the African continent," said Eduardo Rojas, who helped put together the crime report at the Center for Social and Public Opinion Studies, a research arm of the Mexico's Chamber of Deputies.

The report, made public last week, said that major federal crimes, which include homicides, kidnappings and arms trafficking, rose 25 percent in the first half of 2007 over the same period last year. In 2006, the same crimes had risen 22 percent over the previous y Gangland style executions have risen 155 percent since 2001, according to the congressional report. -- Read entire article

The point is that you cannot accept anything as the truth when someone cites their "feeling" as the basis for facts or even opinions.

I would rather have facts, wouldn't you?

Anything else is just Magical Thinking.