'Ask a Mexican' takes politically incorrect approach to cultural differences

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Kerry Lengel

The Arizona Republic

Why do Mexicans want my truck?

Is it true there are a lot more Mexicans hooking up with East Indians now?

Are Mexicans really baptized in bean dip?

These are among the questions - and not remotely the most offensive ones - fielded recently in the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!" Written by Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly (ocweekly.com), it has become a hit in alternative papers across the country, including the Phoenix New Times and, most recently, New York's Village Voice.

Like comedian Carlos Mencia, the Orange County journalist has stirred controversy with his politically incorrect approach to cultural differences. His column logo, for example, is a drawing of a fat, smiling stereotype with mustache, sombrero and gold tooth.

Unlike Mencia, however - who reintroduced the word "beaner" into mainstream vocabulary - Arellano plays with stereotypes not just to entertain, but also to educate. While he receives a steady stream of angry mail, both from offended Latinos and racist gabachos (Arellano's preferred epithet for Anglos), he approaches his job with an anthropologist's eye for answers beyond the obvious.

Arellano has collected some of his favorite columns, along with some original material, into a book, also titled ¡Ask a Mexican! (Scribner, $20). He visits Tempe for a book signing Monday at Changing Hands.

Question: So, you've landed the Village Voice. How is your column being received in la Gran Manzana?

Answer: It's causing the usual furor that it does whenever it comes out in a new newspaper. A lot of people, not just Latinos but also White folks, will write in to the editor saying, "How can you run such a racist column?" But then people actually bother to read it, and eventually the outrage tapers off, and a lot of the same people end up liking the column.

Q: How much research do you do?

A: It depends. If it's a dumb question like "Why do Mexicans sell oranges on the side of freeways?" then usually I'm just going give an answer that's off the top of my head. In that case, I said, "What do you want them to sell, Steinway pianos?" But if it's a more complex question, I'll do as much research as possible. That means going to the libraries to look up old folklore journals, scrolling through newspaper archives, going to universities to look up papers or studies that would back up a particular answer.

Q: You must be getting quite an education yourself.

A: I have learned so much. One of the questions that I read whenever I go to book signings is "What does the word aguacate mean?" And of course aguacate is avocado in English. At first I thought, this is a really simple answer. But then I said, let me do a little research on it, because aguacate is an Aztec word. So a book about cooking in ancient Mexico had the actual definition of aguacate. It actually means "trees of testicles." When I read that I said, "Oh my gosh. I would never have any idea."

Q: When you use words like "wetback," do you ever worry that you're giving racists permission to use offensive language?

A: As a journalist, free speech is very important to me, and I'm all for people using whatever words they may want to use. That said, they better be prepared to deal with the repercussions. If people are going to use the words that I employ, it better be in a particular context, it better be in the proper situation, because if they think they can just call any Mexican a wetback or a beaner and not face any feedback from it, they're in for a surprise, and that surprise is probably going to be a punch in their face.

Probably the most criticism I get is because of the logo, the stereotypical gold-toothed Mexican. My point is, to use an old lefty term, reappropriating those words and images. What I'm trying to do is just rob it of any power that it may have. People give so much power to words, to images, that we forget that's all they are. When I see that logo, I don't see a Mexican, I see some stupid cartoon. It's my belief that if I run the logo week in, week out, people will ultimately see it for what it is.

Q: Haven't your readers run out of questions about Mexicans?

A: That's the amazing thing about doing this column. Probably 20 percent of the questions I get are repeats, but most of them have never been asked before. I could not even have possibly imagined them. If no one ever sent me another question, I have enough material to last another six years.

Q: It's almost like they feel challenged to come up with something original.

A: I'll answer your question quicker if it's more clever, if it's funnier, or if it's just a really good question. One gentleman wrote in and asked me what Mexicans think about the fact that George Bush's grandfather stole Pancho Villa's head. It came out of nowhere. It took a lot of research to find out what actually happened. It's really convoluted. It involves Skull and Bones, it involves an Arizona cattleman and a lot of twists and turns. But it was probably the best question I ever received.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Steven_and_Jinky

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Dear Mexican,

I have no problem with immigrants. My grandparents were Dutch on one side and Irish on the other—but they came here legally, through Ellis Island. What I can't stand are a bunch of fence-hopping, river-wading illegals telling me I owe them a free education, free health care, and free transportation and then making me speak Spanish at every restaurant, car wash and public school in the county. Making these people citizens simply because they're here is like letting someone keep my car just because he already stole it.

—Angry Gabacho Goes Really Off

Dear AGGRO,

Breathe. Relax. Wake up and smell the tacos. Your letter contains enough inaccuracies, misrepresentations and logical fallacies to qualify as a quiz for high school rhetoric students. Primeramente, you begin by saying that immigrants don't bother you, then switch courses by bashing illegal immigrants. It's fine to distinguish between the two, but don't offer qualifiers when arguing a point—they weaken your conclusion. Also, illegal immigrants aren't demanding free anything—just amnesty for millions. But even if your assertion were true, you're forgetting the libertarian concept of TINSTAAFL (an acronym for "There is no such thing as a free lunch" popularized by Nobel Prize laureate Milton Friedman). Taxpayers foot the costs of "free" social services, and Mexicans want to join those ranks; hence, it doesn't follow that Mexicans seeking everything for gratis would rally for something that requires paying more for the right to live in this great land. Also, you didn't specify which county you live in, but no Mexican "makes" anyone speak Spanish. Ever heard of free will? If you're speaking bad español to get by, that's your choice, chulo. Finally, your stolen-car analogy commits an informal fallacy—it doesn't follow that a topic as complex as illegal immigration (driven by numerous economic, social and governmental factors) is the same as jacking a ranfla, which only involves a nominal knowledge of hot-wiring. Most important, AGGRO: where's my pinche question? Warning to all future submitters: Ask, don't rant, lest I reward you with the logical smackdown.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The ususal

[peejay 327]

Gustavo Arellano's column "Ask a Mexican" has appeared for a long time in an alternative lifestyle Left leaning muck racking newspaper the Houston Press that is available for free at various venues across Houston. I thought the guy was local until he started getting lots of national press. Apparently it is a syndicated column that appears in rags such as the Houston Press nationwide.

While it is amusing in a Don Rickles sort of way, I wouldn't take any of the race baiting ####### in the column seriously. It mostly appeals to the under 29 years old crowd that thinks this sort of stuff is just so cutting edge and trendy.

[Charuhans 0]

Dear Mexican,

I have no problem with immigrants. My grandparents were Dutch on one side and Irish on the other—but they came here legally, through Ellis Island. What I can't stand are a bunch of fence-hopping, river-wading illegals telling me I owe them a free education, free health care, and free transportation and then making me speak Spanish at every restaurant, car wash and public school in the county. Making these people citizens simply because they're here is like letting someone keep my car just because he already stole it.

—Angry Gabacho Goes Really Off

Dear AGGRO,

Breathe. Relax. Wake up and smell the tacos. Your letter contains enough inaccuracies, misrepresentations and logical fallacies to qualify as a quiz for high school rhetoric students. Primeramente, you begin by saying that immigrants don't bother you, then switch courses by bashing illegal immigrants. It's fine to distinguish between the two, but don't offer qualifiers when arguing a point—they weaken your conclusion. Also, illegal immigrants aren't demanding free anything—just amnesty for millions. But even if your assertion were true, you're forgetting the libertarian concept of TINSTAAFL (an acronym for "There is no such thing as a free lunch" popularized by Nobel Prize laureate Milton Friedman). Taxpayers foot the costs of "free" social services, and Mexicans want to join those ranks; hence, it doesn't follow that Mexicans seeking everything for gratis would rally for something that requires paying more for the right to live in this great land. Also, you didn't specify which county you live in, but no Mexican "makes" anyone speak Spanish. Ever heard of free will? If you're speaking bad español to get by, that's your choice, chulo. Finally, your stolen-car analogy commits an informal fallacy—it doesn't follow that a topic as complex as illegal immigration (driven by numerous economic, social and governmental factors) is the same as jacking a ranfla, which only involves a nominal knowledge of hot-wiring. Most important, AGGRO: where's my pinche question? Warning to all future submitters: Ask, don't rant, lest I reward you with the logical smackdown.

Logical Smackdown!! To talk about fallacy, to put a finger on a couple of them:

1) Applying the concept of TINSTAAFL to "illegal" immigration commits an informal fallacy -- Not everybody pays Income Tax!! For the Tax year 2006, anyone filling as MFJ doesn't pay a penny in income tax for income upto 16,900/- p.a. Further, ever heard of the Earned Income Credit(EIC)?? A person with 2 children can get as much as $5,000/- in Refund (for Tax year 2006). Want to know the common trick that is used to get the maximum out of the Government?? Stay together, don't get married at least "not in the US", have kids and then split the kids among themselves, file as HOH and get 2 fat cheques of refund which includes the EIC. FYI, having the ITIN doesn't qualify one for the EIC. One needs to have a SSN which doesn't have any restrictions like employment. An "illegal" immigrant is only given an ITIN, if they aplly for one. On becoming citizens, of course one will get an unrestricted SSN.

2) As for the stolen car analogy : except the ones who get into car jacking for the kick of it, most do it for a living and they too are driven by economic, social and governmental factors. And those same factors drive many to armed robbery, murder et al. Now, you can debate whether all those crimes are pardonable and should be ignored together with "illegal" immigration.

As for your logical smackdown, don't rant and try to pick holes like the maximum EIC is only $4,950 and not $5,000/- or the Standard Deduction and Personal Exemptions only add upto Tax Free Income of $ 10,500 and not $10,600; beg to differ and I might pay attention.

Charuhans!!