Preview

Vulliamy essay 2

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1166 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Vulliamy essay 2
Iridian Lozano
English 1302.19
Dr. Rathbun
21 October 2014
For Kudos and Other Reasons
I partially agree with the author of “Killing for Kudos” because on one hand, I agree that the violence in Mexico is absurd but on the other hand I disagree that there is no reason for the violence. I have family in Mexico and I am aware of the violence that is happening right on my back yard. All the violent massacres, I believe are uncalled for, but the cartels see it as a necessity in order to get a hold of territory. The ways they do their killings have gone too far and it’s disgusting how they consider it an entertainment.
The article “Killing for Kudos – the brutal face of Mexico’s 21st Century war” by Ed Vulliamy reports the violence, massacres and drug wars happening in Mexico. After spending a year there documenting the horrific killings, Vulliamy exclaims, “What is going on?” not understanding the reasons for the massacres. There is no political reason behind this war or purpose like it was believed to be in the 19th century, where wars were fought for religion, power, and resources. It’s about showing off their power by the killings they accomplish or how “grotesque” and “perversely inventive” they can get. Such as the abduction of 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez found dead and dismembered, with his face “stitched to a football”. Additionally, “A brave human rights and migration activist in Reynosa called Mario Treviño,” says these killers do “it for kudos” and show their rank or status by wearing certain name brand clothing. That wasn’t enough for the cartels and killers, they “use YouTube and mobile phones” to “broadcast their savagery” and “sick humor”. The Catholic Church and women have attempted resistance, but priests have been murdered for their attempts, and the women can only “fight as individuals” at home. The drug war in Mexico is “post-political” and there’s no point for this 21st century war it’s just simply an exposition. Vulliamy’s article enlightened



Cited: Vulliamy, Edward, “Killing for Kudos – the brutal face of Mexico’s 21st-century war.” Guardian 7 Sunday February 2010 Pre-Grade This article was a bit hard for me to understand. I had trouble finding what I the authors meaning was. I had trouble with the counter argument and I felt I sidetracked. I am not all pleased with this essay. I asked for help from my family members. I discussed my intentions to write about and revised it with them. It actually left me feeling a lot more confused than when I first read the article and revised the summary with my peers.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The notorious drug war and wanton violence is taking over Mexico. The government and police seem to have no control over the situation as the drug cartels have the most power out of anyone in the country. However, there are a few who attempt to denounce the violence of the drug cartels that spreads across the country like a bloody wildfire through poetry, music, and painting. Javier Sicilia, a poet, denounces the drug violence that killed his son through his last poem and Marcos Castro painted a picture of the destruction of the Mexican culture and people, influenced by the lyrics from singer Lila Downs, who sang about death because of the drug trade in Mexico. Marcos Castro’s “La Reyna del Inframundo”, taken directly from Lila Downs’s lyrics, illustrates the control of violence over Mexico and its culture through the contrast between light and dark, referencing the battle between destruction and hope, shape, the spiral in the middle of the painting suggests a tornado of extermination, and scale and position of objects, namely the gun which exemplifies the emphasis on violence and death.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Zeta's Beheading Summary

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages

    On Sunday, Mexican Police said that they found a Mexican man's beheading online. They said that the video was posted on the popular online website, YouTube. The man shown in the video questioned about the February 6th killings of five police officers in the City of Acapulco. YouTube said that it was posted by a person a named ‘matazetaregio'; if you space out the words and translate it, it means ‘kill the king zeta'. The Zeta's are a drug trafficking gang in Mexico. The police also found, on the man's legs, the name ‘Lazcanzo' referring to the leader of the Zeta's.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Much like a Personal/Reflective Response Essay, this assignment asks you to read an essay critically, briefly summarize its main points, and respond to those main points or ideas. In this case, however, your audience is a more academic one.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    On March 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI landed in Mexico in attempt to spread prayer to all who are suffering because of the Mexican drug war violence. In front of a large crowd, Pope Benedict emphasized that the cause of Mexico’s violence was greed. With his brief visit, the Pope hoped to leave a message that will hopefully touch many of Mexico’s citizen’s hearts and make a change in the…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    They often go from conflict aversion to chopping off a head or putting a bullet in it. 90 Mark Edwards Most of Mexico’s national heroes died because of their…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Juarez Mexico Murders

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Walking the bridge from El Paso into Ciudad Juarez, America’s number one narcotics corridor, means stepping into a world that is many times more vibrant and violent, richer and poorer, yet still strangely invisible from the other side. A vendor hawking crucifixes runs from the police. A preacher waving a Bible shames three painted girls. The rust-colored hand of a beggar pokes out from beneath an Indian shawl. A four-year-old boy in a Joe Camel cap wanders the streets after midnight while his father sings $2 love songs. Then there are the dead bodies; the famous and the infamous and the anonymous gunned down in restaurants, stuffed into trunks, dumped in the street, sometimes choked with wire or burned by acid, often with their hands taped, legs bound, and heads hooded. While the typical headline shouts, “Another Victim”, this is all just business as usual.…

    • 1852 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As in the December of 2006 sent out by former President Felipe Calderon and then continued under another man known as his successor Enrique Pena Nieto, the drug war stuck out a series of ultimate profile blows against Mexican cartels. Although mean while through the same time, it triggered and caused attention nationwide violence without coming anywhere close to defeating the country's drug traffickers."But this "kingpin strategy" of targeting the heads of cartels has done little to quell the violence and bring security to Mexico. At least 60,000 people are believed to have died between 2006 and 2012 as a result of the drug war as cartels, vigilante groups, and the Mexican army and police have battled each other. "-Jeremy Bender.with all violence going on even the most innocent people are being involved. Killings over worthless fights over such small things as drugs. Knowing the smallest amount can cause thousands of deaths. Even now a days there is still killings and the more the time passes the more there will be as fights keep coming. Shown in the research killings are seemingly increasing every…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay Of 1968

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The fact that Mexican economy was bustling and booming for the most part was true. However, the gap between rich and poor was wider than ever and the Mexican officials needed to hide this fact from the selection committee in order to achieve victory. Another area that Government needed to focus on was the rising student protest around the capital. Like much of the world, Mexican youth were demonstrating the need for social change and reform. Unlike, many of the student protest around the world, the Mexican students protest was crushed during the Tlatelolco massacre. The reasons for this “violent” action by the government are up for debate, however, most historians conclude that the fear of students disrupting Mexico’s most important event, the Olympics, was the actual cause for such a brutal response from the government. This is owed to the fact that Mexican officials had to uphold the “stable” front that they so deceptively perceived to get the bid. The government of Mexico wanted these games to go off without a hitch and did everything in their power to accomplish such and for the most part it worked. The Games were a success of relative proportion. Not only was this attributed to Mexican “stability”, it was also their bridge to the racial…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Modern Day Zapatistas

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The roaring cry of “para todas todo, para nosotros nada” (for everyone everything, for us nothing) fills the land of Mexico, bringing hope and faith to the indigenous people. Since the 1990s, the Zapatistas have brought independence to Mexican citizens, fought for rights of all people, and brought back what was originally theirs. Even now, the modern day Zapatistas are continually fighting for their cause in more nonviolent ways. Power and control are allowed to be fought by the Zapatistas because the Mexican government is unfairly using their authority, and the actions of the Zapatistas allow their cause to increase in support.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some Americans, if not most, have not remained with many hurtful practices from Revolutionary times, and have taken the foundation of the government to create a global power. Although this is true for Americans, unfortunately it is not for Mexicans, for the country itself has not seen its fullest potential being carried out thoroughly in the many years it has had to recover. Ethically hazardous practices are also prevalent today in Mexico, such as political theft due to law enforcement loopholes or even contract killing. In the time compared, these two countries and their wars have definitely had their fair share of distinctions, yet one must remember that, in a philosophical perspective “all that is unique, has something to offer to the…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Drugs In Chicago

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This article addresses Joaquin Guzman, a Mexican drug lord, and his affiliation with the state of the city of Chicago. Guzman has created an empire with “near-monopoly control” that is virtually untouchable by the law enforcers of the United States (Lippert, Cattan, and Parker 4). Even through all of the countless efforts from individuals who have worked with Guzman to help the United States get to him, he still remains in power over the streets of Chicago. Guzman possesses the power to have his officials in Chicago to facilitate his business and is able to control his men without crossing the border. He is noted as a “logistical genius” who exhibits the talent to have succeeded equally in legitimate business (Lippert, Cattan, and Parker 6). Guzman, as a leader, has instilled a fear into the people that he controls. He will, without hesitation, harm the families of the employees that cross him and his business, and will inevitably punish the responsible individual. Chicago has now been introduced to a leader of cartel drugs and is experiencing the consequences. His drugs have had countless effects on the city and has notably segregated the crime rates in the south and north side. Chicago’s street gangs and street violence has taken the lives of innocent civilians of all ages and is a palpable problem in Chicago. The territory wars and killings caused by these drugs have plagued the streets there have been efforts to end this problem. These efforts have been successful on certain occasions but can’t stop the process as a whole. Guzman has created an untouchable business that has altered the lifestyle of people in Chicago. Accounts of children dying and elementary school students being impacted by shootings have occurred because of…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gilbreth, C., and G. Otero. "Democratization in Mexico: The Zapatista Uprising and Civil Society." Latin American Perspectives 28.4 (2001): 7-29. Print.…

    • 2070 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    My cartoon appeared at the same time as Calderón‘s state of the union address to Mexico’s Congress in which Calderón claimed to be making progress in the worsening drug war. Mexico’s conservative, national newspaper Reforma, and other papers in their chain, published my cartoon at the top of their front pages. The convenient timing of my cartoon “scandal” was an opportunity for Reforma to make an effective front page dig at Calderón, and soon the cartoon was picked up by almost all of the other Mexican newspapers. The Mexican Embassy in Washington responded to the cartoon with a letter to my home publication, msnbc.com, stoking the cartoon controversy even more.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mexican War On Drugs

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mexico must look to end the war on drugs as it has not proven to be effective. Mexico has deployed troops across the country in the war on drugs. Despite this, former Mexican foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda, detailed that there are “almost 50,000 dead, almost $50 billion in additional security costs, [and] ever more numerous human rights violations” which has ultimately lead to the discrediting of Mexico to the world. Even with the help of tremendous spending, the war on drugs has not improved—perhaps even worsened—safety in Mexico. Thus, the government must take a new peaceful and…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Entertainment Media

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There are various forms of visual entertainment media that has shaped American culture and its values. There are such things as watching violent movies, which can influence us in a negative way. Violence on television has been accepted more nowadays, that some of us overlook it, or become immune to it. This does not mean that violence did not exist in the past, but it does mean that we have come to accept it more now, and are less likely to be surprised by it. There are several “novelas” that have aired on Telemundo or are currently showing on Telemundo that have to do with the cartel. They’re supposed to teach people a lesson, so that they do not follow in these footsteps, but it can backfire and show people techniques. “La Reina del Sur,” or “The Queen of the South,” is supposed to be the girlfriend of a drug trafficker form the Sinaloa cartel. She then becomes a powerful trafficker herself, and it goes from there. Later, they showed another “novela” called “Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal,” or “Pablo Escobar, The Boss of Evil.” He becomes a big drug trafficker in Columbia. Currently, Telemundo is showing one called “El Senor del los Cielos,” or “Lord of the Skies.” This one is about a Mexican drug lord who becomes the boss of the Juarez Cartel. The reason all of these examples were listed is because these “novelas” are extremely violent, and yet they become very famous, and people watch as if it were the most normal thing.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics