Ask a Mexican Already! Q&A with Gustavo Arellano
by Reason TVSince 2004, Gustavo Arellano has written the wildly popular – and wildly politically incorrect – Ask a Mexican! column in the OC Weekly. In each installment, the California-born Arellano answers reader queries about Mexican-American mores that rarely come up in day-to-day conversation. Recent entries have discussed whether it’s safe to shop for prescription drugs in border towns, why Mexicans eat so many tortillas, and if it’s common for Mexican men to wear necklaces bearing their mothers’ names (it’s not, cautions Arellano, and probably a sign that a particular hombre has a chica south of the border).
The column, Arellano told Reuters, “started off as a joke. It was supposed to be just a satirical take on xenophobia against Mexicans and it just exploded.” The column now appears in about three dozen publications and spawned a 2007 collection (buy it here). The column is remarkable not only for its humor and insight but its willingness to talk frankly about topics that usually stifle even the most-open conversationalists.
In April, Reason’s Nick Gillespie talked with Arellano about U.S. natives’ attitudes toward Mexicans, whether half-Mexican Anthony Quinn’s performance in Zorba the Greek or Jack Black’s Mexican-wrestler turn in Nacho Libre was more ethnically offensive, whether Mexicans can or should assimilate, the effect of the drug war on border relations, and much more.
Approximately 7 minutes. Filmed by Hawk Jensen and Zach Weismueller; edited by Jensen.
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69 Comments
We love Mexicans….When we're in Cancun…Puerto Vallarta… Ensenada… TJ..
Ann
Legal immigration…
Here's the thing.
If the government of this republic and the government of Mexcico wanted the border controlled it would be.
Look at it this way, suppose you wanted to try and sneak across the border into the old USSR to commit some kind of havoc, do you think you would be able to get away with it? Of course not.
Yet we leave our doors, literally, not figuratively, wide open.
Not smart.
I’ve heard him on a local talk show and he’s a very good natured guy. His perceived xenophobia from Americans is misplaced. It’s not about Mexicans per se, it’s about enforcing our immigration laws and not having pockets of balkanized, non-English speaking enclaves that have no interest in assimilating.
If 15-30 million Americans started illegally immigrating to Mexico, taking jobs from Mexicans, filling up their emergency rooms and classrooms with Americans, creating gangs of Americans that take over Mexican towns and sending billions of pesos back to the US, would the Mexicans welcome these Americans or would they be justified in being hostile and unwelcoming towards them?
Instead of having marches demanding rights reserved only for American citizens they should be thanking us for not stripping them of all their belongings and deporting them, which is essentially what Mexican authorities do with their illegals. Amnesty never.
Someone thumbed you down – I fixed it for now. Some people can't handle the truth.
Mexico could be a great nation – they have some of the loveliest resorts, an abundance of oil and gas and have, for the largest part, a great, family orientated, hard-working population. Their big problem is their corrupt govt. and the radicals who insist the US stole land from them.
It's a cultural thang… Duuuh!
Mexicans expect the government to step in to help them when times are hard, as happens in Mexico.
If our gubmit programs were less helpful than Mexico's the illegals would go home, and even a few who
are U S citizens would return to their homeland. They love their home country, just as we love the USA.
If they could survive there, they would be much happier staying put.
.
I appreciate that, and I agree, Mexico does have a lot to offer. It has vast natural resources and I believe it’s the 10th largest economy in the world. Mexico however is a narco-state with endemic corruption. The nation is for the most part a failed state and the drug cartels run rampant. Then there are unpleasant truths regarding the culture of many Latinos that come here illegally. For one there is no premium on education; many Latinos drop-out of high school at alarming rates. The number of Latinos in gangs is another societal problem not to mention the costs associated with illegals, especially the criminal element. A large number have no interest in assimilating and many others don’t like this nation; they come here only for work, work that should be done by the able bodies on welfare.
Growing up in L.A and being a contractor I’ve become friends with people from Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Most of them are Conservative. They understand and agree with many of my sentiments. I’m an immigrant and I resent the preferential treatment and groveling that illegals receive. It’s disgusting.
All those small business owners that provide jobs for Mexicans…
Many Mexicans on their worst day still can out work an American in a labor intensive job. The difference is unbelievable.
A fat American trying to waddle around pickin' crops? Please.
and,…..?????
You obviously have not watched, or worked with Mexicans. They will sandbag if need be to encourage
an Anglo employer to hire their brother and cousin, but when doing contracted work for a predetermined
fee they will get the job done with minimal workers and quite quickly.
LMAO, how many Mexicans do you see roughnecking? That is a ''labor intensive job" and you won't
find them working in that field.
Now it's time for y'all to call me a racist… for telling the damn truth.
; -P,',',',','
Assimilation is an American experience that,……..
the Mexican and his experience in America has,……
been successfully minimizing its need.
As a result of this eradication, crossing the border,…….
will someday no longer be a move to a better way of life, but,……
merely a relocation of one's misery.
Which is why amnesty is the worst thing that can happen to Mexico,…….
they get to evade confronting their responsibility.
1st paragraph above: Speculation, guessing, snooze…
2nd paragraph above: You won't find many black guys playin' ice hockey either. Are black guys not athletic?
See below…
"1st paragraph above: Speculation, guessing, snooze…"
WRONG, I AM A FARMER… I hire legal Mexicans to work for and with me. I know their work ethic
like every square inch of my glorious naked body.
I have over 30 years of experience. NO guessing, NO speculation…
COLD HARD FACT!!!
.
The Mexican that you herald is one that did indeed exist,………
some years back but,……..
ever since the Democrat Party got a hold of them,…….
ohh how them welfare lines have gone bilingual.
That is too small of a sample size to draw fact or conclusion.
I will take one more rebuttal.
Last chance for romance.
Johnny Noxious the narrow minded racist half-wit nickel-twit. Do you really believe that "race" has anything to do with work ethic? Is it your position then, that white males are intellectually superior to all other "races" since it is the cumulative creative capacity of the white male that has spawned nearly every time and life saving invention on Earth? That it is the scientific method that was devised largely in Western white Europe that brought about a technical and (short lived) intellectual revolution that has brought the world to it's present state of prosperity?
Of course you are just a short-sighted and narrow minded idiot, so I don't expect anything intelligent from you…
Playing with idiots again? This one is just barely bright enough to spell…
Basic economics Ralph – if you want more of something you pay for it…
Unfortunately it is we the producer class that is left to pick up both the tab and the mess…
This is an A and B conversation so C your way out.
LMAO!!! "… too small of a sample size to draw fact …"
"Many Mexicans on their worst day still can out work an American in a labor intensive job.
The difference is unbelievable. Speculation and guessing, backachya!!!
Pure-dee PROPAGANDA!!! Hispanics are no different than Anglo or other ethnic demographic
samples. However sociologist find that they prefer to work on a team, with no recognition for
the individual, in fact they resent individual accolades. They however do respond to rewards to the entire team.
This is the opposite of the INDIVIDUALISM the UNITED STATES of AMERICA has operated
under to create the greatest, most prosperous society in the world.
Happy Trails!
No douche-bag, this is a public forum – I will speak when I please, as I please and to whom I please. The problem here is that I burst your stupid little bubble. I live in the Chi-town area and have worked with people from all over the world – some born here and some that are immigrants. The difference in achievement is work ethic and a willingness to apply one's self. You think you are witty and clever – I see you for the @ss that you are… What you are peddling is "genetic predetermination" – and that is just a bunch of vile crap… Want to look good? Go to a board populated by below average idiots and you will be their King…
You obviously are an open borders fanatic. The majority of illegal aliens are NOT hard working. Look at the record. Public hospitals started firing the citizens who kept our hospitals clean and sanitary, and replaced them with cheap illegals, and they not only are filthy and disease ridden, the hospitals smell dirty. You don't smell the antiseptic smell you used to, but the smell of dirty water that's spread every where, and MRSA and other diseases are rampant Bed bugs are spreading across the country, and no, it's not because of 'world travelers''. We've had world traveling Americans for decades in all our states, it's the dirty illegal alien housekeepers and cleaners who bring the bed bugs into the hotels, stores and office buildings they work in. Have you seen the hidden camera video made a few years back, of an illegal alien housekeeper in a hotel, using the same dirty rag she'd used to wash the toilet, tub and sink, then use it to wash out the drinking glass in the bathroom? It was a very high class hotel. They lack any sense of hygiene or standards.
The illegal aliens from Mexico, who worked in that peanut processing plant in Georgia that caused the contamination of peanut butter a year and a half back.. yeah, they were real hard working.. so much so, they were too lazy to clean the machinery they were supposed to. Black mold was thickly encrusting the machinery, because your hardly working illegals are welfare queens and resent having to do more than the minimum amount of work. Two children died as a result. We didn't have these problems before illegals were being hired en masse. All those e-coli outbreaks,illegals refusing to wash their hands and then going back into the fields and picking crops with feces on their hands.
The college I used to work at in Michigan, fired their citizen cleaners and janitors, hired a bunch of illegals, more often than not, in the mornings, we'd go in and the air smelled like urine. It got to the point we were speculating as to what exactly they were doing, instead of cleaning.
Mexico is a cesspool, because it's filled with these lazy, dirty, shifty, corrupt imbeciles, and because these knuckledraggers are too lazy to do the hard work of working for change in their country.
I would also add that Mexicans and other Latinos have made many contributions to CA. From agriculture to bringing us the joys of fish tacos, there’s much to be appreciated. None of this excuses illegal immigration and Mexicans/Latinos need to follow our immigration laws like every other immigrant.
Although Hispanic immigrants [legal and illegal] come from socialist shytholes and have been raised in that political system, they share conservative values. Most are religious and family oriented, both of which are looked upon with scorn from the perverts on the left. Like many gullible and naïve Americans [looking at you liberals], Latinos have bought into leftwing propaganda. You’d think people that witnessed the failures of their socialist systems would not vote for a party that advocates for policies even more draconian than from where they fled, but there they are waving the jackass flag. I doubt water would be turned off to any farm in Mexico, causing the crops to wither and die, over a minuscule fish that may have been killed during the irrigation. The idea itself is lunacy yet this is what was done here in CA by democrats to Mexican farmers [and others] over the delta smelt. Liberals are sick phuqs.
cornpone once again your spot on… if the guberment made it a flat slate on favoritism the Mexicans would vamoose. this guy makes it sound all fine and dandy like when her said the "pols" are gone, we are here… MY @SS I am one..
Difference being all four of my grandparents passed through Ellis island and became LEGAL my polish grandparents Learned English,,
Let them go back and get responsible and fix the CR@P hole of their country and not ruin ours by sh!tting here
LOL, I know, but I was bored and he's easy pickins'
; )
Can't believe I wrote "orientated". Then again, I pronounce "nuclear" just like GWB "nuke-u-lur". I'm a Texan, what can I say? I do agree with what you say. (esp. the last sentence)
My town is 65% hispanic, where the average income is still a short shot from mine.
I was mowing my lawn this weekend, trimming my fruit trees, planting seeds with my girls (we grow our garden in the front yard, for all the neighbors to envy, or eat from if they find themselves in need) I was offered 3 yard jobs. I seriously considered, knowing Bushes statement that Mexicans are here to do the work that lazy Americans just won't do… Maybe when my girls get older and we'll all go out and make money together…
Ask a Mexican… Why am I called a racist by Democrats and the leftist media because I point out that 70+% of babies born in Parkland hospital in Dallas are born to illegal parents..
Answer… Stupido… they want the votes man!
I grew up in an area where Hispanics were not out of the norm … they were born and raised here just like me and they had an investment in our community… now 80% of them have no investment they only have a bloated nanny state paying them monthly to vote democratic.
To prove my point I have neighbors of 15yrs now that still dont speak English… no investment.. only withdrawls
but really… can white men jump?
You had me at hello.
It makes sense now, business owners hire them because they are slow, weak, and inferior.
Kiss me you fool! Romantic enough?
How 'bout my sample size? Metro area of ~8 MILLION work for you? Been here near all of my life. Went to the "best" public HS in Chicago… A "magnet school" that drew from all over the city – in case you thought it might not be "diverse". Live and work in the "melting pot" and despise the chunks of Gumbo… Seen so much as to know I ain't seen it all…
What's the matter Johnny Noxious? Lose too many times in the past when I have called you on you shallow BS? Not up to the challenge? Watch yourself with OCP though, she can gut the lowest rattler without stoopin' down to do it… Don't let the pretty face fool you – she knows how to employ that weapon in a most effective manner…
I hear ya "glorious" one… ;-p'''
POSBX
Hispanic culture really doesn't belong north of the Mexican border. They have all of Mexico and Central and South America.
Thought you were done? What happened to "one more rebuttal"?
You obviously know little about business owners… So sad…;-(
Happy Trails!
Yep, "fat Americans" huh? I guess that's why the illegals are so eager to come here because we've been so fat and lazy that we have nothing to show for it. Americans over the years built a strong, productive country and the world has been jealous of it because we didn't ask for any help. America's biggest fault is that we have been too generous with people who don't share OUR culture. We've let too many people in that don't know how or want to live in OUR culture so they bring it down to the culture they ran away from. They come here looking for the "American Dream" and are to stupid to know that by not assimilating to OUR culture they are destroying what they came here looking for.
no, they just hate the cold…………..
Gustavo Arellano is correct that Mexicans do tend to assimilate within 1 or 2 generations. The problem is we have so many flooding across the border that they're changing the culture of the American Southwest by sheer force of numbers. They don't need to and WON'T assimilate if they're the majority. Close down the 'effin border already.
Hey johnny boy, what the frick you think we fell off a turnip wagon you moron
1. most produce is not longer even made in this country
2. what is is not picked by hand but by machine and has been for at least 20 years.
ask 50 people if they ever see the wetbacks picking anything but weeds out of their butt and they all will say no
Mexicans are lazy, go into any home they have taken over and you find 20 of them living in 2 bedrooms and the house is a stinking pigpen.
Lazy they are and why they steal American kids jobs in flipping burgers or stuffing crap into taco shells.
FACT – mexicans now are the highest in collecting food stamp and what is funny is the negro grouped up with them to rig the ubama election and now the mexicans have taken every thing away from the negro
Kinda hard for them to be hard workers when most of their time is spend selling drugs to kids,
stealing American IDs, standing in line at food stamp offices or popping out kids like rats.
Has nothing to do with cheap and docile since they are weary of their legal status I am sure…
How much "more" can an employer "pay" when the associated gov't costs are factored OUT? No "Social Security" "withholding" or "matching" (built in to legal employee wage scales) as well as factoring unemployment and disability "premiums" paid…
The work gets done "somehow", but the true "costs" are much lower in a more capitalist relationship.
Are you that dumb?
Rhetorical question!
Yes, you are…
Is ignorance really bliss? Sorry, I took a bite from the "apple" long ago… It is possible to "escape" reality, but it always bites you in the ass in the end if you have any sort of brain…
Maybe you will figure that out someday…
Whats the difference between an illegal meeheekan immigrant and something I pass in the toilet bowl??
both brown, both smell, so not much
President Barack Hussein Obama said everything but deport the illegal immigrants. He said you make them pay a fine, learn to speak English, and get to the back of the line. Yet, he does not mention deportation, so they are still at the front of the line. It is the Federal Governments’ responsibility to secure the borders and Obama refuses to do it.
The immigration problem has put a strain on our economic system. It over-extends the healthcare, welfare, schools and legal systems in this country. President Ronald Reagan made a mistake when he granted illegal immigrants amnesty. People should not be rewarded for bad behavior.
Some farmers and hoteliers claim they would not be able to stay in business and be profitable without illegal immigrants working for them. Slavery has been outlawed in this country; so, how much if anything are they paying these people? The employers that are hiring illegal immigrants need to be held accountable through fines and possible jail time. In addition, the politicians that are setting up sanctuary cities need to be held accountable.
For those people who are for amnesty and open borders I ask the following question:
“What do you say to the people who went through the process and gained access to this country legally?” Their answer may be, “Why bother?” Just come on in, take advantage of the healthcare system, schools, housing, and welfare. Don’t bother trying to assimilate into this culture. Have the corporations add onto their costs by printing brochures and ads in Spanish, and having voicemail in Spanish. By the way these costs are passed on to the consumers through higher prices.
My grandparents came to this country from Italy. They went through the process and became legal citizens. They assimilated into this culture and learned to speak English.
Obama and the Democrat/Statists call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, not because they care about these people, but because they look at those people as VOTES.
The immigration problem can be solved by securing our borders, enforcing the laws, deport those people that are here illegally and setting up a better system giving people access to this great country legally.
As a 'fat American' my first real job was working in the field with other white teen-agers who where, at the end of the week, grateful for the money we'd earned.
I know this is anecdotal, but here I go…
Working for a pizza delivery chain, I had several customers with literally decades-long order histories who still insisted on speaking only Spanish when ordering. If there wasn't someone in the store who spoke THEIR language it resulted in the rapid-fire machine-gun cursing out followed by an 'F*** YOU!' in pretty darned good English.
The point being that some people who've been here for years, some going on decades, expect this Nation to conform to them, not the other way around.
If their native countries are so great as to be a template for reforming this one, why did they leave in the first place?
Not cool. Not at all.
This discussion is not about insulting another human being, it's about National sovreignty and border security.
A great many illegal immigrants are still human ( some are sub-human gang-banging filth, but that's beside the point ), still have hopes, aspirations and dreams, very American dreams of working hard and succeeding and bettering their lot in life. The issue should be about -how- they act upon those dreams and the repprecussions of their unlawful actions in pursuit of their dreams.
At least twice in our history as a Nation we've deported Mexican Nationals on a grand scale. It's not about the money, it's about the will to act.
The Democrat party won't do it because they want to add as many Mexicans as possible to the Regressive political plantation.
Republicans won't act for fear of being branded as racist by the State-Run Media. ( Guys, no matter what you do, say or endorse, you'll always be branded as racist by the very, very racist institutional Left. Get over it. )
Sad fact is that most Mexicans, like Cubans, are inherently Conservative in their outlook but tend to vote Leftist because they buy the Regressive propaganda.
This is a matter of National security and fiscal responsibility and little else.
Americans have to pay up front before they get any medical aid in Mexico. The Mexican Constitution prohibits any foreigners given rights equal to Mexican citizens. The difference between what's given there, to what Mexicans are getting here, is night and day. We're damn fools!!!
in my view the second they cross the border illegally they become what should be called targets for lethal force and a $50 bounty.
they want to come here they come legally and when here legally the last thing they throw away when leaving meeheeko is that sheetrag meeheekan flag and the first thing they buy in the USA is Old Glory, and they say the Pledge each day just as REAL AMERICANS DO .
Ask a Mexican if they are assimilating, and they say "yes" (or, si).
But ask Dr. Vigdor at Duke University and he will tell you no.
Vigdor studied silly things like…"The economic index compares the labor force, educational attainment, and home ownership patterns of the foreign- and native-born. The cultural index focuses on English-speaking ability, marriage, and childbearing patterns. The civic index examines naturalization rates and compares the military service patterns of the foreign- and native-born."
Well, Mexico scored in the bottom three of all the nations of the world. http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_53.htm
Gillespie's ultra-libertarian view is clouding his judgment here.
We need a book called ask an American! Or Eng Fother Mucker…so legal immigrants can figure us out. Better assimilate! Try to help the legal immigrant threw his Mexican xenophobia.
OMG homemade tortillas NOM NOM!
Americans don't need to ask a Mexican anything! Mexico has no scientific research, industrial development, has never contributed, developed or invented anything of significance in its entire history. Even its Chihuahua Dog is genetically defective and lacking.
Exactly!
Americans don't need to ask a Mexican anything! Mexico has no scientific research, industrial development, has never contributed, developed or invented anything of significance in its entire history. Even its Chihuahua Dog is genetically defective and lacking.
Hey BOZO, I HAVE actually worked with Mexicans, both legal and ILLEGAL and have to say yes, they are hard workers but have you noticed the REALLY hard jobs as well as the dangerous ones say like The Deadliest Catch, there aren't any mexicans. You know why? THEY WON'T DO THE JOB. Crawl back under your rock as many white people are now working in the fields and the likes. Search this in AZ, TX and those states you'll see actual FACTS instead of TALKING POINTS. Get real and get a life.
Most Mexicans don't even know how to use toilet paper, most rural Mexicans live in one room mud huts (Adobe) with dirt floors, no bathing facilities, one water spigot in the middle of town, they are dirty and stink, their diet consists of 70% beans so even when they do clean themselves they still stink. in the sixties in Jaurez kids were everywhere trying to sell their sisters to GI's for a few pesos, I never liked them and never will.
I don't blame them for wanting to come here.
I blame our supposed "leaders" for allowing the invasion.
We can no longer afford it…
Central and South America don't want them either, most Central and South American Countries are modern, most of Mexico is just barely out of the the Stone Age except Resort Towns.
BS. Maybe you. What of the obesesity problem in the hispanic community. Hmm? Please. What a moron.
And all those jobs stolen from high school and college kids who deserve the right to find a job more than the illegal.
Gotta give the gal her props!!! Bet her footwear includes some of those rattlers that were gutted!
Why do you think JoK has such a high rating? Probably been showing it's intellect to the progressive crowd at Wonkette.
No, it has been around for over a year and occasionally makes sense. The latest "points system" is a joke too, and a lot of trolls seem to get in + territory. Mine would be higher but I have this nasty habit of deleting my account every six months or so. I personally don't care about points or + ratings anymore…
Nice avi and better description. Congrats on a lovely family and bless you for your service…
OCP is one of the sharpest here on the boards and definitely on of my favorites. A lovely lady with a strong, sharp steel trap of a mind and profound insight. Gets it right months before others see what is happening. Messin' with her is asking for trouble – but an occasional dummy still tries from time to time… I bet she scares rattlers with a casual glance…
Well stated and sadly so true…
Yep, that's our gal!
From my experience living 1 hour from the Mexican border most Mexicans are hilarious and good-natured people. I've heard many illegal alien jokes from Mexicans themselves. This does not mean that they should have free reign to enter the US illegally.
The problem I have is that most of the people entering from Mexico – legally or illegally – have no interest in participating in the American culture, and a lot of them actually resent the American culture.
It has always been about national sovereignty.
Thanx. The points system is for all sites that use Intense Debate which includes many progressive sites including Wonkette. So the trolls gather round the flame sites to build their points.
Unfortunately (for them), they are gluttons for punishment and drop trail apples here at the BIGs which our good friend OCP puts to good use!
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