Walking with PhD buddies on our way to lunch earlier this week, one of us mentioned the various atrocious and tragic events that have happened over the last couple of weeks. One of my buddies, who is from Chile, jokingly remarked: "All of a sudden, Mexico doesn't seem that bad anymore, huh?" We all had a good chuckle, and carried on towards our meal.
There's a saying among some comedians, which I think may itself be rooted in a quote from Oscar Wilde, that to be funny one must be telling the truth. Mexico has a myriad problems, from the daily life of its citizens all the way up to macroeconomic issues. But when one looks at international headlines, at least from the comfort of a middle-class PhD student, Mexico really isn't all that bad at all.
Europe is turning into a huge 1980's Beirut or, as some others have remarked, modern day Israel. There are now constant attacks by competing islamists against Jews (largely underreported), and ordinary citizens (especially women), not to mention the large-scale attacks like the ones in Nice last week. The Middle East, it seems, has found a way to make its troubles more horrifying and, on top of that, to export them. It doesn't help that Turkey is having an Islamic Revolution of its own, and may finally descend into full islamic theocracy soon. Syria is so bad that it's barely even reported anymore, except as a tally of dead and displaced that goes up every day. As I write this, there is news of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, carried out by ISIS militants against a Shia protest. To top everything off, the American election is one huge joke, with a competition between a plastic candidate that will change nothing and a dangerous, narcissistic idiot on the other.
So yes, Mexico is quite comfortable for now, from where I'm sitting (big caveat there!).
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