On Marcon and the Mexican-American War

Jun 02, 2011 17:58

So I attended the alternate histories panel ( Read more... )

marcon, history, writing

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Comments 9

wishesofastar June 2 2011, 23:41:29 UTC
You just posted more than I ever knew about 19th century Mexican/American relations. Do you mind if I link to this on Facebook?

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nontacitare June 3 2011, 00:36:44 UTC
Not at all. Please don't link my real name to this account, but other than that it's fine. Also, keep in mind that this is a very simplistic explanation of the Mexican-American War, and I glossed over many factors.

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nontacitare June 3 2011, 00:38:20 UTC
But I'm glad you found my post informative.

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nicosomething June 5 2011, 15:51:14 UTC
This is an era I'm not very clear on. When does the Republic of Texas happen? It was before the Mexican/American war, wasn't it?

I have never heard of a nation being upset that they were not conquered. In my experience the people who suggest such a thing usually have such an arrogant opinion of their own culture that they don't believe it possible another supposedly inferior culture could have any pride in itself.

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chronarchy June 3 2011, 11:25:41 UTC
Is it ignorance, or racism? Or a hint of both? I'm not real sure, but to say that anyone would have "envied" the slaves of the Southern states sounds like they've relied on Birth of a Nation for their information on American slavery.

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nontacitare June 3 2011, 15:05:45 UTC
I would think it has more to do with the way the American educational system doesn't teach the Mexican-American War. I know my students are shocked to learn that a third of Mexican states (such as Arizona and Texas) became American.

And she wasn't so much praising American slavery as she was using hyperbole to talk about how rough life was for Mexican peasants. And I don't deny that. I just would have preferred a different comparison.

And there were people in the 19th century whose cause was saving Mexican peasants. I believe that's the source of her information.

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braider June 3 2011, 12:01:42 UTC
Incidentally, Leslie is on Facebook. Would you like to have her linked to it?

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nontacitare June 3 2011, 14:54:18 UTC
Do you mean would I mind if she read it, or would you like me to edit her name out of this post?

As to the latter, I have family and co-workers on Facebook, and don't want them to know I'm nontacitare. I talk a lot about religion and politics here, and that could get me in trouble. No one reading this would think Leslie (I don't know her, so I'm not comfortable using her first name) is nontacitare, so it's not quite the same issue. However, I have no problems editing her name out of this post.

If you're asking the former, I have no problems with you forwarding this to her. My motivation for this post is regret that I didn't speak up during the panel. I've given a fair representation of her views, and then provided mine, without being insulting. I don't think she'd see my disagreement with her interpretation of the Mexican-American War as a personal attack. But I appreciate you asking me before forwarding it. As I said to wishesofastar, just don't connect my lj handle to my real name.

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