Rick Steves Does Latino Politics
It wasn't love at first sight between me and Rick Steves. Come to think of it, I can only speak to one side of this! For all I know he's been politely fending off questions about my peccadillos for years. But by the time I became aware of him he was well into the "fad" category, always for me a major put-off. I loathe crowds but perhaps more to the point resent being late to the show. And of course Rick's well-earned success means he is a Superstar - albeit a very unusual one. And, yeah, he might be even geekier than me.
But Steves gets high marks from travelers and enthusiasts for transnational bonding whose judgment I trust. And I can attest after my first timid trip outside my own neighborhood that his world-wisdom is worth attending to. That's especially true if you have an interest in connecting with people from different backgrounds and even possibly getting some insight (gasp!) on other cultures (my first furtive foray didn't go that far). Ideologically-driven neos inclined to pander to the anti-spiritual so-called religious fundamentalist right beware! Beyond here be dragons. Like Real Life.
Confession: I have not plumbed the depths of the Steves article I am quoting and linking to. My limited reading suggests that especially because of franker, more outspoken voice than is common in Steves' commercial tour-guides, this should be of great interest to literate creatures with feelings for others, i.e., those capable of empathizing with the less fortunate in classic terms than we are. I'd argue, at risk of invoking Hemingway, that the circumstances and struggles of the Latin Americans Rick encounters may well have potential to be a more enlightening and enspiriting life than that of the typical norteamericano. Just so long as you don't mind short life spans and routine infant death, right?
Without further ado, the admirable Mr. Steves:
The following is a report written after a six day “educational seminar” in El Salvador. The trip was built around the events memorializing the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Romero in San Salvador. For me personally, it was an effort to better understand the effects of globalization (from the point of view of a poor nation) and follow up on the rich travel experiences and education I had with the same educational tour company in 1989 and 1991. While there’s nothing like actually being there, it’s my hope that this report can be the next best thing for whoever’s interested. Thanks for traveling with me through this journal.
As we prepare to leave Miami, the flight attendant liked my travel show and bumped me from coach to first class. Alone in leather seats with my drink in a real glass, I look out the window and wonder “why did God put me here?” A chain of lights leads to Key West. Then deep in the blackness glitters the forbidden city of Havana. The pilot’s door is fortified as we fly to El Salvador.
Landing in San Salvador, I’m met by Cesar who whisks me away in his car. In the coin dish I see shiny Lincolns and Washingtons. It’s been 13 years since I was here last. My coins have become the local coins, and I’m in for big changes.
To many, this is boom time. Chains are thriving — Pizza Hut, Texaco, Subway. The Marlborough Man looks good on his horse. The Civil War is long over and, driving through town, it seems the US victory has been a huge success.
The minimum wage is about $1 an hour ($144 a month). It costs $3.50 to go to a movie. Cesar explains that, in El Salvador, a worker is happy to be employed. While in the USA minimum wage is at rock bottom level, most Salvadorans aspire only to minimum wage and that’s all they get.
After one day, I’m settling in quite well. I’m speckled with bug bites, used to my frail cold shower, noisy fan, and saggy bed. I know that paper clogs the toilet and it’s best to brush my teeth with bottled water. El Salvador provides this Norte Americano with a warm — and muggy — welcome.
Why visit El Salvador?
My friend gives me a print-out of the US State Department’s warning against travel in El Salvador. The dangers it describes unnerves me. “Wouldn’t some beach time in Mazatlan make a little more sense for a vacation?” he wonders. Why would anyone go to El Salvador?
In spite of my privileged position, I have an appetite to know the truth. For many Americans, privilege brings with it the luxury of obliviousness. We don’t need to know what the forces of globalization are doing because they don’t effect us. We don’t need to know the impact of a new International Money Fund (IMF) regulation on a person who sews clothing in Honduras or plants beans in Panama. Paul Wolfowitz may well be running the World Bank. Who cares?
The victims of structural poverty care. Free trade, neo-liberalism, and globalization are all concrete and real issues to the half of humanity trying to live on $2 a day. When it comes to these issues, you’d be impressed by their savvy.
When we learn that people in the poor countries know so much about us and our policies, I’m inclined to figure it’s merely out of admiration of our way of life. When we are ignorant about others and their struggles we are also ignorant about ourselves and our impact on others.
This blissful ignorance seems innocent and innocuous. But, combined with power, it can bring smug self-delusion, belief in our own superiority and a presumed right to dictate morality to others. This is the evil cocktail that causes good Americans to celebrate American Imperialism.
This privilege-rooted ignorance makes Americans easy to mislead into war. “Fighting for freedom,” we willingly send thousands of our children to die and almost eagerly divert billions of much needed dollars from domestic spending to “defense.” To populations on the receiving end of the American crusade, the “freedom and liberty” our president touts is freedom for corporations to exploit natural resources and liberty to take advantage of the labor of weaker countries.
Globalization is a big train, and it’s moving out
People in the Third World are told “Globalization is a big train and it’s moving out. Get on or get run over.” Even proponents don’t claim anything compassionate about this power. It’s presented simply as an unstoppable force.
America is pushing globalization with the zeal of an evangelist. Our ideological export after the defeat of communism is free trade. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO) are its crusaders. Market fundamentalism is the creed of the new muscular “church of laissez-faire.” The new virtues are deregulation, privatization, openness to trade, unrestricted movement of capital, and lower taxes. Attacking the theory is attacking America.
America’s passion for freedom is more accurately a passion for free trade. It’s driven not by altruism, but by a desire to open new markets to US firms and products. If you have resources, laborers, or potential customers, you must play.
[clip]
But Steves gets high marks from travelers and enthusiasts for transnational bonding whose judgment I trust. And I can attest after my first timid trip outside my own neighborhood that his world-wisdom is worth attending to. That's especially true if you have an interest in connecting with people from different backgrounds and even possibly getting some insight (gasp!) on other cultures (my first furtive foray didn't go that far). Ideologically-driven neos inclined to pander to the anti-spiritual so-called religious fundamentalist right beware! Beyond here be dragons. Like Real Life.
Confession: I have not plumbed the depths of the Steves article I am quoting and linking to. My limited reading suggests that especially because of franker, more outspoken voice than is common in Steves' commercial tour-guides, this should be of great interest to literate creatures with feelings for others, i.e., those capable of empathizing with the less fortunate in classic terms than we are. I'd argue, at risk of invoking Hemingway, that the circumstances and struggles of the Latin Americans Rick encounters may well have potential to be a more enlightening and enspiriting life than that of the typical norteamericano. Just so long as you don't mind short life spans and routine infant death, right?
Without further ado, the admirable Mr. Steves:
The following is a report written after a six day “educational seminar” in El Salvador. The trip was built around the events memorializing the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Romero in San Salvador. For me personally, it was an effort to better understand the effects of globalization (from the point of view of a poor nation) and follow up on the rich travel experiences and education I had with the same educational tour company in 1989 and 1991. While there’s nothing like actually being there, it’s my hope that this report can be the next best thing for whoever’s interested. Thanks for traveling with me through this journal.
As we prepare to leave Miami, the flight attendant liked my travel show and bumped me from coach to first class. Alone in leather seats with my drink in a real glass, I look out the window and wonder “why did God put me here?” A chain of lights leads to Key West. Then deep in the blackness glitters the forbidden city of Havana. The pilot’s door is fortified as we fly to El Salvador.
Landing in San Salvador, I’m met by Cesar who whisks me away in his car. In the coin dish I see shiny Lincolns and Washingtons. It’s been 13 years since I was here last. My coins have become the local coins, and I’m in for big changes.
To many, this is boom time. Chains are thriving — Pizza Hut, Texaco, Subway. The Marlborough Man looks good on his horse. The Civil War is long over and, driving through town, it seems the US victory has been a huge success.
The minimum wage is about $1 an hour ($144 a month). It costs $3.50 to go to a movie. Cesar explains that, in El Salvador, a worker is happy to be employed. While in the USA minimum wage is at rock bottom level, most Salvadorans aspire only to minimum wage and that’s all they get.
After one day, I’m settling in quite well. I’m speckled with bug bites, used to my frail cold shower, noisy fan, and saggy bed. I know that paper clogs the toilet and it’s best to brush my teeth with bottled water. El Salvador provides this Norte Americano with a warm — and muggy — welcome.
Why visit El Salvador?
My friend gives me a print-out of the US State Department’s warning against travel in El Salvador. The dangers it describes unnerves me. “Wouldn’t some beach time in Mazatlan make a little more sense for a vacation?” he wonders. Why would anyone go to El Salvador?
In spite of my privileged position, I have an appetite to know the truth. For many Americans, privilege brings with it the luxury of obliviousness. We don’t need to know what the forces of globalization are doing because they don’t effect us. We don’t need to know the impact of a new International Money Fund (IMF) regulation on a person who sews clothing in Honduras or plants beans in Panama. Paul Wolfowitz may well be running the World Bank. Who cares?
The victims of structural poverty care. Free trade, neo-liberalism, and globalization are all concrete and real issues to the half of humanity trying to live on $2 a day. When it comes to these issues, you’d be impressed by their savvy.
When we learn that people in the poor countries know so much about us and our policies, I’m inclined to figure it’s merely out of admiration of our way of life. When we are ignorant about others and their struggles we are also ignorant about ourselves and our impact on others.
This blissful ignorance seems innocent and innocuous. But, combined with power, it can bring smug self-delusion, belief in our own superiority and a presumed right to dictate morality to others. This is the evil cocktail that causes good Americans to celebrate American Imperialism.
This privilege-rooted ignorance makes Americans easy to mislead into war. “Fighting for freedom,” we willingly send thousands of our children to die and almost eagerly divert billions of much needed dollars from domestic spending to “defense.” To populations on the receiving end of the American crusade, the “freedom and liberty” our president touts is freedom for corporations to exploit natural resources and liberty to take advantage of the labor of weaker countries.
Globalization is a big train, and it’s moving out
People in the Third World are told “Globalization is a big train and it’s moving out. Get on or get run over.” Even proponents don’t claim anything compassionate about this power. It’s presented simply as an unstoppable force.
America is pushing globalization with the zeal of an evangelist. Our ideological export after the defeat of communism is free trade. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO) are its crusaders. Market fundamentalism is the creed of the new muscular “church of laissez-faire.” The new virtues are deregulation, privatization, openness to trade, unrestricted movement of capital, and lower taxes. Attacking the theory is attacking America.
America’s passion for freedom is more accurately a passion for free trade. It’s driven not by altruism, but by a desire to open new markets to US firms and products. If you have resources, laborers, or potential customers, you must play.
[clip]
posted by Sir Gumbo at 10:38 PM
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