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Chimamanda Adichie shares her visit to Mexico a few years ago. She states there were debates about immigration. In America, immigration becomes synonymous with Mexicans. There were endless stories of Mexicans as a people who were fleecing the healthcare system, sneaking across the border, and being arrested at the border.She remembers walking on her first day in Guadalajara, Mexico watching the people going to work, smoking, and laughing. She first felt a slight surprise, then she was overwhelmed with shame. She realized that she had been so immersed in the media coverage of Mexicans that they had become one thing in her mind. "The abject immigrant." She had bought into the single story of Mexicans and she could not have been more ashamed of herself.
"So that is how to create a single story, to show a people as one thing, as only one thing over and over again and that is what they become" said Chimamanda Adichie. According to her "it is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power."
As I watched this video and listened to Chimamanda Adichie discuss her visit to Mexico I reflected upon the recent U.S. State Advisory warning on travel to Mexico. The media presents "a single story" of the entire country of Mexico as being unsafe. The media shows images of drug wars, kidnappings, robberies, and murders of tourist. Why is the media scaring the American public into believing that Mexico is unsafe? The media depicts Mexico as a poor country that all Mexicans desire to escape and live in the U.S.
As an expat who has lived in Venezuela, Argentina, Turkey, France and Belgium for six years, I have the advantage of watching and hearing news coverage in other countries as well as from other viewpoints. My language skills allow me to comprehend the news and truth in other languages. Living as an expat allowed me to see how the American media feeds the American public the same news over and over and over. Americans mistakenly believe that our news coverage is a comprehensive viewpoint of world news. It is quite to the contrary. It is the complete opposite.
When the opportunity presented itself to travel to Cancun, I considered the U.S. State Department warning on advising against travel to Mexico. I decided that if the Travel Channel is still filming a TV series in Cancun it must be safe. Besides I had met travel agents last year on one of my flights who told me how safe Mexico is as a tourist destination. The travel agents were not buying into the "single story" that Mexico is unsafe.
The facts on Mexico Tourism:
1) Tourism represents 3rd largest portion of Mexico's Gross Domestic Product
2) Mexico ranked 10th globally in international visitor arrivals
3) Mexico is the only Latin American destination in the top 10 for international visitiors
4) 2nd after U.S. in top visitor arrivals in Western Hemisphere
The truth is Americans love to travel to Mexico. Follow the Mexico Taxi Project to find out the reasons Americans love Mexico.
Why is the American Media intent on destroying the Tourism to Mexico with the lies that it is an unsafe country?
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