A New Light is Dawning

Like a huge vessel that takes time to slow down long after the engines have long been cut because of the forward momentum, the largely condescending and biased narratives in the U.S. media about the violence in Mexico looks like it’s finally turning around.

At least as far as the more liberal media channels are concerned (I certainly can't speak for the agenda of the conservatives)... no more Mexico-bashing, or a delineation of an us and them issue... or a Burkean play on God and Devil terms, or the good guys against the bad guys.

Today it's a wider recognition that everyone in the continent is pretty much in the same boat... after all, pure and simple economics dictate that where there is a supply, it must be due to a demand, and the local media is increasingly painting an unequivocally clear picture about this situation for all to see.

One of the latest stories to move along this theme is Carol Costello’s story about cheap heroin from Mexico feeding the drug-lust of teens and youths in northeastern America. In fact, as if to emphasize the extent of the local drug demand and how far the Mexican drug industry has crept up north as a result, she reports a NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) statistic that over 50% of all heroin arrests made in the States happen in the northeast.

Whereas media stories used to play on the familiar narrative about the loss of civil control down south and a Mexico that’s potentially becoming a failed state, attention is now being paid to the silent decay that’s been largely unnoticed in most U.S. neighborhoods. Until recently at least. The evolution in the tone has much to do with the change in the US administration and the generally more reconciliatory and collaborative tone that President Obama brings into his domestic and international policies – which can only be good for the U.S. and the world at large (see also 'Clinton vows US backing in Mexican drug wars'). I believe that the sooner people see the issues for what they are, the sooner we’ll get to a common platform of tackling the drug scourge on the domestic front. No more finger pointing, but an acknowledgment of the problem, and moving forward towards a solution from there.

With that as the backdrop, I reckon we’ll continue to see more human element stories percolating through the media such as this particularly heart-rending tale about Doreen and Victor Ciappa, and how they lost their 18-year-old daughter Natalie to heroin earlier this year. Now they're on a mission to educate other at-risk teens and their parents about the insidious drug threat that's been around for years.

Theirs is a grassroots movement borne out of tragedy, but one that aims to prevent more of such tragedies in the future. As sad as this may be, we need to hear their stories, and that of countless other parents, husbands, wives, siblings and friends who've lost loved ones because of the cancer of narcotics. While this won't be the first (and neither the last for the considerable future), these tales about loss and the subsequent finding of strength in adversity need to be the new dominant narrative right now more than ever before.

With the executive leadership, the media, and the larger community all seemingly heading towards the same direction, perhaps it's a new light of understanding that is now dawning on everyone.

Indeed, we need to stop the finger-pointing and start moving forward. Our children and our children's children are depending on it!