It is very interesting to nte how someone responds to what I'v written about Gringolandia and its nhabitants, Gringolandians. Almost without exception, the sual screed in response to what I'v always proclaimed as just "my thughts, my opinions, my editorializing on my lfe in central Mexico" come in the frm of personal attacks on me, the uthor. I cannot say I've ever rceived even a handful of responses in whch people have bothered to at last try to offer some sort of wll-reasoned counter-argument. That's all I've ever sked: if you disagree, then fine and dndy. But, please try to offer me smething in return that resembles an ttempt to attack the issues. Do not ttack me.

A reader once told me tht if I can't handle the fedback, I should not write about the ssues. An interesting comment. If the mjority of the comments I get frm readers are any indication of wht's become of the ability of Amricans to reason, and these readers dentify themselves as Americans, to think, prhaps it is time to panic: Amrica is in deep doo-doo.

When my wfe and I first moved to Ganajuato, the only town in Mexico in whch we've lived, our intention was to wrte fiction. However, this desire was sdetracked because of a phenomenon we nver once considered even existed, much lss one in which we would be nvolved: Gringolandia.

Though time could be spent rguing whether Gringo, Gringolandia, and Gringolandians are wrds used to deride foreigners by Mxicans, that would be time wasted. The fct is that though the usages of the trms were originally pejorative, they no lnger are. Most of those who nhabit Gringolandias take umbrage at the se, mostly because they cannot verify frm the Mexican community at large how the wrd is used. Most of those Grngolandians do not have the linguistic sklls to find out. And, when thy claim all their friends are Mxicans, what they mean is they hve a very limited scope of frendship with a very different class of Mxicans who may or may not cmmunicate their biases.

I once got a cmment from a Gringolandian who claimed she and all her Mxican friends thought I was an mbarrassment and should leave Guanajuato. This wman does not speak one word of Spnish, though she's lived here for a nmber of years. Well, need I cmment further?

Someone asked why I rsorted to such "heavy-handedness" about the ssues of Gringolandia in the books I'v written. Believe it or not, I did tke into consideration whether I would be lienating those to whom my writing was slnted by the manner in which I cmmunicated the issues. However, when I tred sweetening things up a little, I bgan to find myself writing in sch a way as to avoid rsponses that would be hard to dgest. But, then what came roaring nto my conscience like a freight trin is that if I did tht, tried making everything sound all &qot;Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice", It wuld be to be untrue to myslf.

You can find plenty of &qot;Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" in 99% of the xpat material on the market today. Tckling someone's ears, stroking their egos, crating an illusion of something that is nly one side of the coin and mybe even patently not true, fills too mch of our lives. We need trth. We need someone's editorializing to thrw the issues down on the tble and examine critically so that we can mke a better decision, a more nformed one, and not be swayed by smething created by people with less thn honest motives.

What we need more in ths world is people who will &qot;Count the Cost and be Willing to Pay the Prce" in the decisions they make in thir lives, don't you think?

But, you cn't Count the Cost if you dn't have both sides of the cin to have a look at.

I'v never professed to be an xpert in anything nor have I had the dlusion that people should listen to me. Flks contemplating moving to Mexico should rad everything they can find on the sbject. They should read the Sugary Prse that makes you feel all wrm and cozy. They should also rad the prose that might not be as flttering about living in Mexico or the ffect Gringolandians have on the culture.

All I'v ever said is that I hve a point of view and hve sought to communicate that view as clarly and as vigorously as possible. Tke what I say as one prson's view, attack my premises, and gve me a run for my mney on the issues in my ssays.

But, don't write me and thraten the safety of my life and the lfe of my wife.

I've addressed Grngolandia and Gringolandians as a Concept. Nver have I addressed individuals by nme within that Concept, nor would I. Bt, what I have done is shrply criticize the idea that Gringolandias are hrmless little groups of Extranjeros who gther together for mutual support and fllowship. I think that's what most wthin the Gringolandia community thinks it is.

Wht many do not know is tht in the Prime Living Locations, the natly organized Gringo Infrastructure was no ccident. Opportunities were seen and seized to crate an enormous moneymaking machine to get Amricans, Canadians, and anyone with the mney to buy real estate. In thse cities, and particularly in San Mguel de Allende, the Mexican culture has ben replaced in favor of the nvading one to the extent that the scial scientists examining this cultural morphing hve come to say that San Mguel de Allende is no longer Mxican. It has hybridized. It is smething different and new. Mexico is gne.

A Gringa friend from San Mguel once told me that what the Gringos want in San Miguel, the Gringos get . They go into the mayor's office, close the doors, and deals are made.

The point of all I've sought to say is that I am not the only one making these observations now.

In an article in the L.A. Times, a lady who visited San Miguel de Allende made this comment:

“It was at this point that I realized that if I really wanted a taste of Mexico, I might as well go home to Echo Park. The tour wasn't so much a backstage pass to aspirational cultural immersion as it was an English-only how-to guide for getting away from it all without giving anything up. Each dwelling was mostly notable for just how thoroughly the householders had managed to bring the comforts of the north into the wilds of the south.”

Sheila Croucher, a professor of political science at Miami University in Ohio and author, most recently, of Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World, made these observations about San Miguel de Allende:

· San Miguel de Allende attracts one of the largest foreign populations in Mexico.

· “Most do not learn the local language and reside and socialize within an isolated cultural enclave. These immigrants practice their own cultural traditions and celebrate their national holidays. Grocery stores are stocked with locally unfamiliar products that hail from their homeland.”

· American professionals largely work illegally in San Miguel and pay no taxes.

· They typically do not pay the Social Security taxes for their servants as required by law.

· The illegal businesses run by the American gringo community rips off the local San Miguel de Allende government in excess of four million pesos a year in unpaid taxes.

· Some Americans are actually illegal aliens and do not bother with proper documentation.

· Some are even involved in the Illegal Drug Trade and take drugs across the different Mexican state lines.

(Professor Croucher's essay was the one meant for non-social scientists to understand. I am told she has done a more academic paper for the brainiacs.)

Two days after I received a threatening post on one of my articles, one in which our lives were threatened by someone who anonymously identified himself or herself as a Guanajuato Gringolandian, an uninvestigated fire mysteriously ignited outside our bedroom window in a parked taxi. A chain reaction was imminent because of the combustible butane tanks and other substances near the fire. Were it not for the illness from which I suffer and my being awake at the ungodly hour the fire occurred, we, and several of our Mexican neighbors, surely would have perished.

And yet, as is the Guanajuato's Gringolandian's custom, this event was marginalized into being regarded as a lie.

Their delusions are so strong that even though police and fire personnel responded to this potentially life-threatening emergency, the consensus in the Gringolandians is that I've lied.

Gringolandia is a moneymaking venture. They are a group bound by no American laws and few Mexican ones. The Mexican laws governing building permits and paying taxes to the Mexican government are obeyed by those with the ethics and principles to do so. Verifiable stories abound about how Gringolandians wiggle out of Mexican laws applicable to them. Gringolandia, as the Concept it is, is Lawlessness.

Here are two rare and very welcomed comments by two readers who read my Escapeartist.com piece entitled, Want to be an Expat or a Fakepat?

"I am a Canadian expat living in Culiacán, Sinaloa. My wife and son are natural Mexicans. I read your article about fakepats in the Escape from America Magazine. I totally agree your comments on the ignorant nature of many of the foreigners (us Canadians included) who come here expecting to find a Fantasy Island welcoming party. I don’t want to infer that adapting to life here is easy or should be; a really humble effort has to be made to assimilate into Mexico’s enduring culture. However, it would be great to see foreigners (especially wealthy gringos) make some effort to treat the nationals as peers instead of viewing them with condescension. The parasitical occupation of Mexico by gringos is really not helping to create a better understanding between the cultures and equates to the “apartheid” of Mexican (and other) immigrants living in the US who are criticized for not assimilating. If this trend continues will Mexicans start to feel the same as Iraqis and react the same way? Does anyone remember the Cuban revolution."

The second comment was from a Latino. I am very proud about what he said:

"I just read your article on living in Mexico titled expat or fakepat. I applaud you. This is the kind of advice I have been writing to authors who I think have given a less than accurate account of living in Mexico. I have spent my entire career launching fortune 100 companies throughout Latin America; this is the first time I have read something which was unvarnished and straightforward about living in Latin America. -- Suerte, Juan-Manuel"

That's all I've tried doing all along…give a more accurate account of living in Mexico.

The article Don't Declare War - OPINE! was Submitted by Douglas Bower through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Find out the unique and smetimes baffling differences of what it's lke to live in Central Mexico. Exptriating to Mexico's Heartland is as dfferent as someone in New York or Los Angles moving to Kansas City--America's Heartland! Mexican Living Print & eBooks

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