After reading all the readings, I wanted to specifically focus on the long journey. I wanted to focus on it because I can almost king of see it in my everyday life here in America, not to the extremes that Mexicans were dealing with during that time, but I can see the same structure in the people and class composition here. What really stuck with me was how Marcos explained the class structure through three terms, the lower class, the middle class, and then the penthouse class. Almost the entirety of the population in Mexico at the time were living in the lower or middle class with only the richest 24 people live in the penthouse class. This class disparity feels very dystopian to me, as the the richest of the rich live in another world compared to the majority of the population, they live as though everyone else in Mexico doesn't exist. With their wealth and power, these people are able to completely control the population and use them to work and boost their wealth. This is very much what we see in America, with corporations that have too much money and too much power use these to force workers to work more hours for less pay and less benefits, making us move closer to being slaves then we are to workers. Seeing the Mexicans revolt for this injustice shows that forcing a change with force does work and might be what we will have to resort to in the near future here in America.
I think you made a really good point about the class divide, especially comparing it to America. The idea of the “Penthouse” vs everyone else definitely feels relevant today and I agree that the gap between rich and poor is only continuing to grow and get bigger.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure I fully agree that force is the only solution though. The situation in Mexico was much more extreme, so i think it makes sense why people reacted like that. In the US, and also especially in the UK, I think there are still more systems in place to push for change such as voting or protests, even if they’re not perfect.
Overall though I agree with your main idea as it shows how inequality can lead to frustration and resistance, but I do think the response really can look different depending on the country.
I agree with how you explained that this is seen in America today. Large corporations seem to get away with a lot because of their money and power, and on the political side of things its mostly multi millionaires who likely have connections with these companies supporting laws that allows forcing workers into these harsh work environments.
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