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Compa_Mighty
Dor-Lomin
Aug 8 2010, 2:17am
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Mexico from A to Z: Letters R and S
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Hello! I have to apologize once again. I missed a week once more, so I will be posting both Letters R and S this week. I hope these are interesting to you, and we warm up once again for Letter T, which will be the last really big post in the series, after what was posted for Ch and M.
As a note, today I went to the Aztec Great Temple site at Downtown Mexico City, where the same Moctezuma exhibit that was presented in the British Museum in London last year is being currently presented in its Mexican version. The highlight of the expo in Mexico City is the display of the largest Aztec monolith ever found, the Earth Goddess Tlaltecuhtli. This was found in 2006, and it’s being shown for the first time. I promise to write some more about it in Letter T. So let us begin!
R is for Revolution
The Mexican Revolution is a conflict that can be studied in many levels, starting from its origins, to its duration, and the numerous consequences it has in modern Mexico. I do not intend to go too deep, but I will try to present you a general overview.
As I have mentioned in earlier installments, Juárez finally consolidated the Republic late in the 1860’s, but reelected himself several times. After an unsuccessful coup, staged by Porfirio Díaz, against Juárez failed, Díaz could actually seize power by avoiding Juárez’s successor, Lerdo, to take possession of his second term. Díaz arrived in power under the No Reelection banner. However, 34 years later, in 1910, he was –and still is to date- the Mexican president who stayed the longest in office. He brought peace and prosperity to the country, but he allowed the concentration of wealth in very few people. Democrats and poorer people started to be resented.
In 1910, Díaz received American reporter James Creelman, an event that was recorded as the famous Díaz-Creelman interview. There, the Mexican president declared he thought Mexico was ready for a democratic transition and that he would organize free elections. Francisco I. Madero, a wealthy man from the North, ran against Díaz, presumably won the election, which was later annulled. Madero was imprisoned, accused of inciting rebellion, and later fled to San Antonio TX, where he issued a call to arms. Madero’s campaign and war motto was: “Effective suffrage, no reelaction”.
Francisco I. Madero
The struggle began in Puebla, Mexico’s 4th largest city, on November 20, 1910. Madero’s struggle was joined by local leaders, who saw an opportunity to have their agendas listened to. The two most important ones were Emiliano Zapata in the South and Doroteo Arango, a road bandit, who went under the name of Pancho Villa. Since Villa and Zapata will be showcased later, l will leave it at this: both Villa and Zapata officially sought the repartition of the land among the peasants. This is important, because the Mexican Revolution, while populist and in the left wing in politics, is not of communist or socialist inspiration. Mexico was never officially either socialist or communist, although both movements were hesitantly tolerated at times, and only secretly supported at others.
One of the most famous pictures in Mexico. Villa in the Presidential Chair, with Zapata to his left.
Porfirio Díaz quit in May, 2011, leaving for France, where he died in 1915. Madero became President, and the real tensions began. The Central Power had vanished, and many groups pushed for their agenda. Madero had a hard time in the Presidency. In 1913, Victoriano Huerta, leader of the army, staged and succeeded in a coup, resulting in his ascent to power and Madero’s assassination. With Huerta’s coup, everything became even more fractioned, as the Northern governors, who supported Madero, did not recognize Huerta. Governor Venustiano Carranza and his lieutenant, Álvaro Obregón, jumped into the limelight. In 1916, Huerta was overthrown and killed, and Carranza was elected President. Carranza had a strained relationship with both Villa and Zapata, which made his presidency difficult. However, he did manage to gather a Constituent Congress in Querétaro, where the 1917 Constitution, the current one, was published.
The violent years continued. Zapata was ambushed and killed in 1919. Carranza was ambushed and killed in 1920. Obregón was elected President. Villa was ambushed and killed in 1923. Obregón left office in 1924, when Plutarco Elías Calles assumed the presidency. Obregón tried to run for President again in 1928, and was killed in a restaurant. The following years, Calles ruled through puppet Presidents, in a period we call the “Maximato”. This ended when President Lázaro Cárdenas exiled Calles. In Cárdenas’s presidential term (the first of 6 years, which remains to date) the National Revolutionary Party was founded and later changed to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which brought peace to the country, but which ruled for some 70 years, until Vicente Fox won the election in the year 2000.
 
Obregón and Calles
The ending of the Revolution is placed in different points by different people. Some with the promulgation of the Constitution, others with the assassinations of Carranza, Villa or Obregón, alternately. Truth is the Revolution shaped today’s Mexico, to a point where it is still said that the Revolution didn’t do justice to many people. Today, 2 of the 3 main political parties contain the word Revolution in them.
Typical Revolutionary photo. Fighters flooding out of and on trains.
R is for Rulfo
Juan Rulfo is one of the most famous Mexican writers, and one of the most acclaimed Spanish speaking authors of the 20th century in spite of not being very prolific. (Wikipedia). He was also a screenwriter and a photographer. His two famous works are Pedro Páramo and el Llano en llamas, The Plain in Flames. He was one of the great members of the Magical Realism, in which fantasy and reality are combined.
There are two prizes named after Rulfo: one awarded by Radio France International and the Cervantes Institute for Short Story, Novella and Photography; and the Latin American and Caribbean Literature Prize, awarded during the yearly Guadalajara International Book Fair.
R is for Rivera
Well, we have talked about Rivera quite at length, earlier in the Muralism entry. So let us just sum up. Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato, and he became arguably the most important muralist of the country, and consequently, the world. His communist ideas made him clash with Nelson Rockefeller over a mural for Rockefeller Center. He was married to Frida Kahlo, and was friend with Lev Trotsky, a follower of Lenin, but an enemy of Stalin. Frida and Diego were hosts to Trotsky during his exile in Mexico City, until his assassination in Coyoacán. Diego Rivera reached domestic and international fames, decorating many buildings around the world including, as SirDennis pointed out, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Stadium.
Link to previous Diego Rivera and Revolutionary discussions.
Link to more murals.
Diego Rivera
1968 Olympic Stadium
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SirDennisC
Gondolin
Aug 8 2010, 4:51am
Post #2 of 14
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I took a look at the the Diaz-Creelman Interview.
[Diaz] Ha gobernado la República Mexicana por 27 años con tal energía, que las elecciones se han convertido en meras formalidades: con toda facilidad podría haberse coronado.
Do you think this is an honest appraisal of Diaz's popularity, or did he have very influential friends in the US press?
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squire
Gondolin
Aug 8 2010, 5:01am
Post #3 of 14
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What did the Revolution accomplish?
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At one point you mentioned that two of the strongmen (Villa and Zapata) wanted land reform, to distribute the large estates among the peasants. But the rest of the account is entirely about the rise and fall of various leaders - who had, like the two named above, various but unspecified "agendas".
I know you were trying to simplify a very complex historical event. And it's not unusual for a revolution to turn into a series of power struggles among the leaders. But what kind of power were the struggles about? Which was the primary issue of the two you do mention: democracy, or economic reform? Was there any change in the make-up of the nation's (or the states') ruling class between 1910 and 1925 (another good way to analyze a revolution)?
It's cruel, I know, but for most Americans I suspect the Mexican Revolution is epitomized by the flamboyantly mustachioed Pancho Villa, with a cartoonish pair of bandoliers strapped across his chest, shooting up an American border town and then being chased by Pershing around the northern deserts for no real reason. The actual issues of the great Revolution, their eventual resolution or betrayal, and the working ideology of the triumphal National Revolutionary Party (later the PRI), are complete mysteries.
Here's another question: which Revolution do you think was the more important one in shaping today's Mexico: the one against Spain in the early 1800s, or the one we are discussing today (against whom?), in the early 1900s? Do you foresee another one any time soon?
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Compa_Mighty
Dor-Lomin
Aug 8 2010, 5:22am
Post #4 of 14
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Interesting, Dennis, I have never actually read the interview...
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So I wasn't aware of that. I think a little of both... Díaz did incredible things for the country, and it is absolutely conceivable he would've won many elections throughout the years.
However, I could also see Creelman "beautifying" things a little in order to get the favor of an incredibly powerful man. Ultimately Díaz couldn't let go. He said there would be democracy, and ultimately backed down. I believe that was his undoing.
Was Creelman right? Most likely... but he would eventually lose, as Madero happened to prove. I dare say had he stepped down in 1910 after losing to Madero, Díaz would be remembered as an examplery figure, a great statesman, and undoubtedly as the best President Mexico ever had. Interesting how a single decision can change not only your life, but your legacy.
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Compa_Mighty
Dor-Lomin
Aug 8 2010, 6:27am
Post #5 of 14
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Great points of discussion, squire
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As you say, I got carried away more by the factual history than the causality and base of the struggle.
I should start by clearing one thing up, in Spanish a Revolution is the upsrising of people against their government. It ends with a new government but essentially, the country's identity remains. We don't consider the 1810 War a Revolution since a new country was formed. We refer to that as the Independence War, unlike what is called the American Revolution.
We could say the Revolution was against a political totalitarism on one level, but for rights and possessions for the poor on the other. Díaz had amassed both. Before the Revolution there were several pieces of land bigger than many American states owned by a single family. The peasants wanted to own the land and its profit. Zapata said "Land belongs to whom works it." and "Land and freedom." Power struggles came because Madero obviously could not please everyone, both the elite he wanted to keep at bay, while diminishing their privileges, and the rising working class who were aching for a justice they did not feel they received not only throughout Díaz's 30 years, but way back to the foundation of the Republic in 1824. Let us remember that until Díaz arrived, there had not been consisting peace in Mexico.
Then came the problem that Zapata only asked and asked. He was ignorant. He thought the government should give, without thinlking if something could be given to him. Then there was Villa, and he only wanted to take. He was a thief after all. There was little noble in his purpose. Join those two things and you cannot meet in common ground when you are president, in the cases of Madero, Huerta, or Carranza. 1 million people were killed in the conflict, the economy was razed, productivity was non-existent.
I have to be prudent about what I think the Revolution gave the people and the country. I am aware I am fortunate not to be among the people to whom the struggle mattered most, but here goes: What did the revolutionaries get for the Revolution... well, those who arrived in the government, ill-gained wealth and I really mean this. Those who didn't: more poverty. The historical outcome was a great deal of land repartition. And when I say a great deal, I mean a GREAT deal. Just a year ago there still was the Ministry of the Agrarian Reform. This Ministry partitioned land time and again as a populist measure to gain rural votes. The aftermath: our countryside is stale and unproductive. If millions of people have 1 acre, economies of scale are not achieved... techonology cannot advance forward. Most of this farming is barely for self-consumption.
The change in the ruling class? Well, nepotism continued as usual, but with a new group. A group of unprepared and ignorant people, a mere band of improvised fighters had control of the country. The PRI was built by the surviving, younger, and less radical revolutionaries to placate themselves, and organize how they would dominate the country. The party had its moments. in the 1950's and 1960's, there was the Mexican Miracle. Then, we were as dynamic as China, and as promising as Korea. We were the next country in line to become part of the Developed World. Then came the 70's and 80's, and 2 presidents single-handedly destroyed the economy. Inflations in the order of 150% were seen a couple of times. As I have mentioned elsewhere, those years are called the Imperial Presidency. The President was a monarch almost by the party's design. So it was all decided by the wisdom of the man who got the Chair, and the man who chose him to get there. Corruption skyrocketed during these years, and the population was kept in ignorance. It still is. Well-educated people, apt for the job returned to power until the 1990's, with mixed results: our worst economic crisis ever, and -arguably- the best President we had in the 20th century. (Salinas and Zedillo respectively)
Being a little positive, the Revolution did put us on track to democracy, which is still shaky at times. It also put us on track for more working and civil rights, and better working conditions for all.
Will there be another one soon? We were quite frightened in 2006. It never came to that point... but at times it almost seemed like the losing candidate was pushing there... he built his campaign on creating resentment in the poor against the wealthier. Never good for a country. The shadow of 2010 has always been present. We had conflicts in 1810 and 1910... you always hear of how history repeats itself, and people who take that very seriously. There are certainly several important social agitators right now. But it's not good politics to go against them. I think we'll make it through 2010 without any trouble, but 2012 looks like a very tough year for Mexico politically speaking, when the new President will be elected. It all points to a clean sweep by PRI again, but a good part of the empoverished middle class look at this possibility with dread, after 30 years of mindless sacking from 1970 to about the year 2000.
As for the 1810 or the 1910 conflicts... well it's all part of one historical causal thread, you know? 1910 happened because since 1810 we never got our stuff pulled together. However, 1810 did mean independence, so, it's definitely the most important thing for Mexico.
Mexico is country with many unresolved issues, many of which date back to the Spanish conquest, and some even further back. We haven't been able to work as a country towards a common goal. It's difficult to define that common goal altogether. The United States were built on a very clear ideal. Mexico has struggled to decide whether we wanted a monarchy or a republic, then if that republic was to be central or federative, then if we wanted a monarchy -again-. And so on and so forth. The troubles of the country are foundational, and the Revolution did not manage to fix those. Whether we'll be able to straighten everything out remains to be seen.
A little harsh or pessimistic? Perhaps. I'm sorry, you really touched important points there.
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Compa_Mighty
Dor-Lomin
Aug 8 2010, 6:42am
Post #6 of 14
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On second thought, the main accomplishment...
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Was the creation of Institutions. A Constitution. Non-reelective presidency, constant ministries, the current division of powers, the seed for a Congress that actually works, the Central Bank, social security, public education. The fact that several of them are now dated or inefficient sometimes makes us forget that starting with Carranza, and all throughout the PRI years the country was institutionalized sufficiently for us to have the possibility of progress today. Whether we'll take the next steps, that's the question.
Sorry for double posting.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Elvenhome
Aug 9 2010, 4:28am
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I don't quite understand why Cinco de Mayo is a huge deal here
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but no one says much about Diez-y-seis de Diciembre.
I love Rivera's art. It looks almost like stained glass, with those rich colors and black lines.
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
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Alassëa Eruvande
Doriath
Aug 9 2010, 2:49pm
Post #8 of 14
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The same reason we celebrate St. Patrick's Day...
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...so the beer companies can sell more beer. 
I'm afraid the real reason, though, is too politically charged. 
And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame.
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Compa_Mighty
Dor-Lomin
Aug 9 2010, 11:49pm
Post #9 of 14
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That the significance of 5 de mayo in the United States has to do with thge Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, America for Americans, and the great symbolic importance of the defeat of France, a European power in American soil.
I don't know about that. But it was worth mentioning. Of course Alassea's theory is more probable.
Anyway, I'll be posting Letter S later today or early tomorrow morning, thought I should give everyone the heads up.
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Oiotári
Dor-Lomin
Aug 9 2010, 11:57pm
Post #10 of 14
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one of my past band directors used to say
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that Cinco de Mayo was to commemorate the sinking of a ship carrying mayonnaise, which the Mexicans loved
You can only come to the morning through the shadows
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Compa_Mighty
Dor-Lomin
Aug 10 2010, 2:19am
Post #11 of 14
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And now let us begin with letter S.
S is for Santa Anna
If we wanted to summarize Mexico’s first 50 years of life in a single concept, that concept would have to be Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Santa Anna, as he is most commonly known is one of those few people whose fate was inextricably attached to that of a nation, and in fact to that of a whole continent. Enrique Serna, a Mexican novelist aptly named his biography of Santa Anna, one of the most famous of the character, The Seducer of the Nation.
Santa Anna was President of Mexico 11 times, and fought for and against every conceivable faction that existed in the country during it first half-century. He fought with Iturbide in the Independence War against the Rebels, still in the Royal Army. Later, he passed to Iturbide’s Liberation Army, only to be one of the leading oppositions to the Iturbide’s Empire, and an instrumental character in the downfall of the first Empire. He became Governor of Yucatán, and later Governor of his native Veracruz. He became leader of the Mexican Army when Vicente Guerrero entered office, defeating the last Spanish attempt to re-conquer Mexico in 1829. He finally attained the presidency for the first time in 1833.
Santa Anna was a cunning man, with ambition for power and great intelligence to achieve whatever purpose he was fighting for in his personal agenda. This made him switch political parties several times, being President for both federalists and centralists, which would then evolve to Conservatives and Liberals, both of which supported him at least in one Presidential term.
As has been mentioned, and as is well-known by our fellow American forummers, Santa Anna was President during the Texas War of Independence. When Sam Houston’s revolt against the Mexican government could no longer be ignored, Santa Anna marched on to Texas, where he was effectively pounding on the “rebels” as can be seen in the Battle of The Alamo. With the Texans on full retreat, Santa Anna ordered the Mexican Army to camp on the near bank of the San Jacinto River, instead of following the fleeing foe. This proved to be his undoing. The Texans attacked by surprise at night, caught the Mexican Army sleeping, captured Santa Anna, and that was that. Santa Anna bargained for his life by recognizing Texan Independence.
After the Texan fiasco, Santa Anna was destitute, but Mexico was in such internal turmoil that he was asked to lead the Mexican Army against the American Invasion in 1846. Of course, his actions and judgment were questionable, and Mexico ended up losing half its territory, as signed in the Guadalupe-Hidalgo treaty. Santa Anna had to go into exile. Again.
However, and just so you can imagine the kind of chaos that reigned in Mexico, the Conservatives asked Santa Anna to return to be President in 1853. Two fiascos later, Santa Anna was still deemed as the one person who could govern a country that could not be controlled. This time around, he installed ridiculous taxes, among which is one proverbial one in Mexico: to windows looking to the street in houses. This time, he also assumed the title of “Alteza Serenísima”, “His Most Serene Highness”.
He was eventually vanished in 1855, when his last Presidential period was cut short. Of course he tried to return to Mexican Politics by supporting Maximilian’s Monarchy during the Second Empire, in 1864, but the Emperor wouldn’t take him.
Santa Anna is one of those rare characters that are villains to everybody. He’s a villain to Mexicans, because he lost or sold more than half of the national territory. He’s a villain to Texans and Americans alike, due to events such as The Alamo. As you can see, he was shrewd, incredibly smart, a person without scruples, an opportunist, individualist, and quite machiavellic, always putting his interests, and his life, before those of the Nation he was commended to govern. He must have had an incredible allure, though… very few people can sell half a country and be asked to be President again… several times; and then, still suffered by his fellow citizens in arrests of megalomania involving ludicrous titles like “His Most Serene Highness”. He really must have been a real Seducer...
Portraits of Santa Anna
S is for Sun
As Indiana Jones said of the Uga, in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, American cultures were Solar Worshippers as the Egyptians. It’s not strange, when you think of it. To date, Mexico is many times thought of as “Sunny Mexico” and it was no different then. Sun was light, fire, heat, and life. In Mesoamerican Dual Cosmology, the Darkness, Night and Death was also some far form of the Sun. Along the series, it has been mentioned Huitzilopochtli was the Sun, that Tezcatlipoca was the Sun, that Eagle was the Midday Sun, and that Jaguar was the Moon, the Sun of Night. However THE Sun God was called Tonatiuh, whose hair was red as fire. A historical curious note is that Pedro de Alvarado, Cortés’s lieutenant, and conqueror of Guatemala, was called Tonatiuh by the Aztecs, because of his red hair.
To Aztecs, gold was a divine product of the Sun, and the Tlatoani was the Son of the Sun, a human representation of Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. But most important of all, the Ages of the World were called the Suns. I want to present to you the Legend of the Five Suns, which is in turn, the legend of the creation of our world and of human beings.
In the beginning, Ometecuhtli, the Dual God, created the world, and had four sons, the four Tezcatlipocas. These four gods decided they had to do something in order to earn veneration as gods. So Blue Tezcatlipoca started a fire, and the four brothers gathered around it and created Men. However, the work was not perfect, since the Earth was in darkness because there was no Sun.
So Quetzalcoatl, the White Tezcatlipoca, turned the bonfire to a feeble Sun, which incited the wrath of Tezcatlipoca, the Black, who turned into a powerful Sun, who destroyed life, and killed plants. Quetzalcoatl, angry with his brother, brought him down from the skies, and he fell into a lake, from whence he emerged as an enormous Jaguar, followed by an army of these creatures who devoured and extinguished the giants who populated the land in this era. This was the Earth Sun.
In the Second Era, Quetzalcoatl turned into a milder Sun, which allowed life to flourish. Tezcatlipoca was jealous, and brought him down from the skies with a blow of his jaguar claw. The fall of Ehécatl-Quetzalcoatl, being god of Wind, caused furious winds that destroyed everything. Men were forced to walk with a curved back, causing them to become monkeys. This was the Wind Sun.
The Third Sun appeared when Tlaloc, god of Rain and Water became the Sun. Life was prosperous, but Men became corrupted and forgot their obligations to the gods. Quetzalcoatl then ordered Xiuhtecuhtli to cast a rain of fire over the Earth. Existing Human beings turned into birds. This was the Fire Sun.
The Fourth Sun saw The Lady of the Emerald Skirt, Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of rivers and water, become the Sun by order of the Blue Tezcatlipoca. However, the Black Tezcatlipoca convinced her to turn against humanity, so it started raining permanently, flooding everything, and forcing people to turn into fish. This was the Water Sun.
The gods, embarrassed by their mistakes decided to gather in Teotihuacan, and do things correctly this time. They created four men and sent them to the four cardinal points, where they turned into huge trees, that built the 13 heavens and re-built the 9 underworlds. The Gods ordered Quetzalcoatl to go to the Underworld and ask its Lord for the sacred bones of the people from elder Suns. Quetzalcoatl was also ordered to bring corn for the upcoming human beings. Everything was prepared, and now they only had to create the new Sun. For this endeavor, they chose two gods: Tecucciztecatl and Nanahuatzin. The former tried to avoid sacrifice and delighted in jewelry and offerings. The latter, in search for purification, fasted and retired to reflection.
When Tecucciztecatl was ordered to throw himself to the bonfire, he couldn’t find the courage to do it. Nanahuatzin, on the contrary threw himself without hesitation. No sooner had he burnt, than the Sun appeared in the East. Tecucciztecatl, seeing the prodigy, threw himself as well. The gods concluded there could not be two suns, so they threw a passing rabbit to Tecucciztecatl’s face, dimming his light, an turning him into the Moon.
But there was a problem. The Sun had no movement. The gods resolved they all had to sacrifice themselves for this. So they all jumped into the fire, and creation followed. This was the Movement Sun, our era.
The most humble Aztec people were called Macehualli, Deserved Sacrifice of the Gods.
The misnamed Aztec Calendar, The Stone of the Sun actually represents this myth. In its center, there’s Tonatiuh, surrounded by the glyphs of the Four previous eras. Concentric circles show other stages and related things, such as calendar glyphs. Each of the Mexican Peso coins features one circle of the Stone.
Link to a thorough explanation of the circles.
S is for Sacrifice
Having read the Legend of the Five Suns, it is completely self-explanatory why Mesoamericans believed in Human Sacrifice as a pillar to their culture and religion. People existed because of the sacrifice of the Gods, and that had to be reciprocated. Blood fed the gods, and it was an act of utmost gratitude and balance for the universe. That is from a philosophical point of view.
Sacrifice, however, has been misunderstood. Originally, sacrifice was more of a spiritual thing, as it would be for a Christian, this accompanied with blood sacrifice that involved little more than self-punctures in the ears and other soft parts of the body. Human sacrifice was an extraordinary event, programmed for special holidays, and done accordingly to the god that was being honored or what was requested to the gods. Decapitation, flaying, heart removal and drowning are among the methods.
Sacrifice by heart removal
Gladiatory sacrifice, reserved for powerful warriors. A captured enemy warrior would be tied to a rock and put to fight with a wooden sword and no armor. If he could defeat 6 fully armed Aztec warriors, his life would be spared, should he want it so. A documented case of a Tlaxcalan warrior says he was victorious but chose to be sacrificed, as he could not return home without dishonor.
This was true for several thousands of years, until Tlacaelel, the Aztec Cihuacoatl, the Second Ruler according the Dual theory that has been consistently followed in the series, changed its meaning for the political advantage of Tenochtitlan. We’ll talk more about Tlacaelel in Letter T. Let is suffice for now, that killing-sacrifice was made more common, more frequent, and more numerous, to present a terrible view of the power of the Aztecs, and to ensure they could keep subjects and enemies at bay.
It must be said, that from a native point of view, there’s nothing savage about sacrifice, since it is based on gratitude to the gods. It must also be said that neither view of this phenomenon is correct: nor the scandalized European view, nor the “nothing ever happened” nativist view. Sacrifice was a reality, which was founded on profound cosmogonical belief, but it wasn’t massive and every two days, as many people will have us think.
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squire
Gondolin
Aug 10 2010, 4:49pm
Post #12 of 14
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I love Santa Anna, for all the wrong reasons
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Santa Anna is one of my favorite villains in American history. He has style, bravado, arrogance, great power that is misused, and gets his comeuppance and is humiliated at the end by brave Texan/American country boys. I can see him as the Evil Overlord, violating rule after rule. For instance, rule 24 is just made for him:
24. I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)
Anyway, I greatly enjoyed Emilio Echevarria's performance as His Most Serene Highness in the latest Alamo movie (2004). Some critics observed that he was a bit of a cariacature of a megalomaniac; others agreed and applauded the historical accuracy such a performance implied. It's probably true that he appears older here than he should - he was only 42 at that time.
Addressing his officers before the battle: "Only blood and death lead to glory!" (or something like that).
¡Te ves guapo, Capitan!
You note how puzzling it is that he came back to the leadership, again and again, despite numerous failures to achieve national unity or progress of any kind. I have noticed that Mexico's political tradition emphasizes the importance of a strong leader at the center at all times, for better or worse. Santa Anna seems to have impressed those in his presence as the strongest guy around, simply through his personal charisma, and he leveraged that into the presidency since no real democratic counterweight existed to counter the various oligarchies of the time. That his charisma had an element of sexual allure, as suggested by Serna in your post, is even more interesting, but since I really don't know Mexico very well I don't think I am entitled to speculate further on Serna's meaning!
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion; and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Elvenhome
Aug 11 2010, 1:49pm
Post #14 of 14
(1776 views)
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There must be something about band directors
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that makes them love silly wordplay. My orchestra teacher used to say silly stuff like "I got my mords wixed."
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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Mexico from A to Z: Letter S
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