Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id LAA27162 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 3 Oct 2001 11:03:22 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3102A6D05A@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: state of memes Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 10:58:46 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Thanks Ted, very useful.
> ----------
> From: Dace
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, October 2, 2001 8:31 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: state of memes
>
> Vincent,
>
> I found the article by John Ross in the September 19th issue of The
> Anderson
> Valley Advertiser, a weekly paper out of Boonville, California (and, by my
> estimation, the finest newspaper in this whole damn country). I assume
> the
> article has been published elsewhere, most likely the NACLA Report on the
> Americas, which Ross contributes to often. He's one of the foremost US
> authorities on Mexico, much like Robert Fisk and the Middle East.
>
> Ted
>
>
> > Hi Ted,
> >
> > This is useful for some teaching/writing I'm doing. Can you tell me
> what
> > paper/channel this was from?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Vincent
> >
> > > ----------
> > > From: Dace
> > > Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > > Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 6:05 am
> > > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > > Subject: Re: state of memes
> > >
> > > It wasn't just the Palestinians. What happened two weeks ago was much
> > > like
> > > the climactic scene of The Wizard of Oz, when the Wicked Witch of the
> West
> > > melts into a pool of water, and her servants rejoice at their sudden
> and
> > > previously unthinkable liberation.
> > >
> > > Here's the view from Mexico, by correspondent John Ross:
> > >
> > > Many Mexicans clearly do not display the same compassion as
> [President]
> > > Fox
> > > and [Foreign Minister] Castaneda for their nearest neighbors to the
> north,
> > > a
> > > world power that has repeatedly invaded, annexed, and vexed Mexico for
> > > centuries. For many Mexicans, despite the North American Free Trade
> > > Agreement and the Fox-Bush embraces, the United States of North
> America
> > > remains the Great Satan.
> > >
> > > Chilangos (Mexico City residents) followed closely the malignant
> events
> of
> > > Black Tuesday step by step as the two monopoly TV networks transmitted
> CNN
> > > saturation coverage with Mexican anchormen and women providing local
> > > color.
> > > Some of the commentators, such as Televisa's Joaquin Lopez Doriga
> > > unsuccessfully sought to conceal their glee as the twin towers
> crumpled
> to
> > > earth, burying thousands. "The symbol of world economic power is no
> > > more,"
> > > Doriga yapped excitedly over and over again as the re-runs reiterated
> the
> > > destruction on an endless tape loop.
> > >
> > > Later, the star newscaster would boast that prior to this terrorist
> Pearl
> > > Harbor, only Mexico had ever had the audacity to attack the United
> States
> > > on
> > > its own turf (Pancho Villa invaded Columbus, New Mexico for a few
> hours
> in
> > > March of 1916.)
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > I sat at my desk in the old quarter of Mexico City, staring in horror
> at
> > > the
> > > fuzzy black and whites of the destruction. Suddenly, a banda de
> guerra
> > > (brass band) from impoverished Oaxaca state began to aggressively
> blast
> > > away
> > > beneath my balcony. Joy was in the air.
> > >
> > > One activist got so giddy that he went to the U.S. embassy on Reforma
> > > Boulevard and handed out a list of Yanqui Imperialist war crimes that
> > > included Hiroshima and the genocide of North American Indians. In the
> new
> > > spirit of Mexican democracy, he was promptly hauled off by the police.
> > >
> > > I ran into Pepe G. in the Vascona panaderia (a local bread store.) I
> know
> > > Pepe from years of covering demonstrations in the great Zocalo plaza a
> few
> > > blocks away, in which he often participates. "Que Padre!" he was
> grinning
> > > from ear to ear. "How beautiful!" Pepe did not mean the roscas and
> the
> > > pineapple tarts and the creampuffs. "What balls the pilots had!" the
> > > small
> > > brown man raved on, "Que Chingones!"
> > >
> > > I have been covering social strife in Latin America for many years. I
> am
> > > tall and white and often distrusted and disliked by the small brown
> people
> > > whose story I am telling, as the gringo enemy. Indeed, when the
> > > companeros
> > > are friendly, I get suspicious. Such resentment, part historical,
> part
> > > class and race, is understandable and always a subtext to my
> reportage.
> > >
> > > Whenever Tio Sam stomps his seven league boots on the corpus delecti
> of
> > > Latin America, the hatred runs white hot. I watched my back during
> Playa
> > > Giron (1961) which the Yanquis fittingly tag the Bay of Pigs, or when
> the
> > > CIA and Bolivia's current ambassador to Mexico, Gary Prado, captured
> and
> > > executed Che Guevara in the Bolivian outback Oct. 8th 1967. When a
> lame
> > > news boy hobbled aboard a Cuzco-bound train in 1986 hawking a paper
> whose
> > > headline read "Yanks Kill Quadaffi's Baby!" the hatred in my
> > > fellow-passengers' eyes was unmistakable. And there was a lot of
> tension
> > > around the counter at the Cafe La Blanca on the morning the first
> George
> > > Bush took it upon himself to invade Panama (1989).
> > >
> > > This September 11th, George W. Bush was much too preoccupied to
> reflect
> > > upon
> > > the fact that the terrorist attack on the U.S. took place on exactly
> the
> > > same date as the 1973 overthrow of the legally elected Allende
> government
> > > in
> > > Chile by Henry Kissinger and the CIA, an event that was accompanied by
> a
> > > loss of life similar in numbers to the World Trade Center and Pentagon
> > > bombings.
> > >
> > > Terrorist revenge for perceived U.S. crimes against the rest of the
> world,
> > > and the unbelievable loss of life that accompanied it, is a
> catastrophic
> > > x-ray of the empire's vulnerability, and it is going to change
> > > Mexican-U.S.
> > > relations very quickly...
> > >
> > > [end of excerpt]
> > >
> > > This was written a few days after the event, when its tangible
> > > ramifications
> > > were being exaggerrated everywhere. Its real importance was more
> symbolic
> > > than substantial. For a moment we could see the reality submerged
> under
> > > the
> > > Pax Americana. Then the movie ended, and it was back to work.
> > >
> > > Ted
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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