Joe Bageant

Crime, Punishment and the Efficacy of Pigs

Random Notes on Belize

By Joe Bageant

Hopkins Village, Belize

In the Caribbean, the gears of the machinery of justice somehow never quite seem to engage, probably because they were toothless to begin with, but mostly because nobody knows they are supposed to. Crime and punishment are for the most part, completely unrelated elements here on the Garifuna coast of Belize. Whether something is a crime or not depends more or less upon whom it was committed, whether it is a "white fella," a tourist, a neighbor or a stranger. And punishment, well, that's something that happens by the unfettered caprice of sheer fate, an impenetrable mystery in which the police and judicial system somehow play a part, though no one seems quite sure just what part.

Take my buddy Griggs, who was awakened at midnight by the dark form of someone rifling through his bedroom. "Hold it motherfucker!" he yells, switching on the light to find a young man, a local well known in this small seaside village where everyone is well known to everyone else. The young man goes by the nickname of Skankin', after the stoned groove Caribbean dance style, or Skank for short. Skank jumps back out the window he came in through and Griggs, a pepper bearded man in his late forties, owner of a small group of rental cabanas and in good enough shape not to be fucked with, is mad as hell. "Get the police!" he yells to his wife, Rhoda.

US politicians are flavors of vanilla

Hi Joe,

Thanks! I'm moving to Morocco and it's all because your article on Belize got me thinking (Getting Out the Bling Vote). Just wanted to tell you how thoroughly I enjoyed your piece on elections in Belize. I laughed very hard. Not only did I laugh very hard but I almost packed up and moved to Belize on the spot because I have a pension and decided the time is NOW to get out of here and use it to enjoy life rather than subsidizing my work income and wars.

Haha! But Belize didn't look as good as Costa Rica, which didn't look as good as Panama, which didn't look as good as Ecuador, etcetera, etcetera, so I crossed the Atlantic and am moving to Morocco soon.

Watching economic catastrophe unfold

Joe:

Reading your response to Aaron ("By working hard, anyone can succeed") and several previous right-leaning correspondents makes me wonder if perhaps you are just too nice of a guy.

One of the biggest obstacles this society faces in reforming our untenable economic system is the self deluded belief that "everyone can make it if they just work hard enough". Often, this belief is held by those who have themselves benefited from liberal policies, yet are incapable of admitting it.

By working hard, anyone can succeed

Mr. Bageant,

I was born in a single-wide trailer surrounded by hundreds of acres of corn and a lot of cows, the product of generations of farmers and ranchers in rural America. After my parents divorced I ended up in rural Alabama, an area devastated by the collapse of cotton farming, and then, the deportation of jobs from Russell Mills to Mexico. Last May I earned my B.S. from Auburn University and am now pursuing a graduate degree in agricultural economics. I tell you this history so you know where I'm coming from and don't think that I come from the middle or upper class, ignorant to the type of people you speak about in your book.

First, I love the comment about people being as confused about the title of the book, Deer Hunting with Jesus, as if it were titled 'NUKE THE WHALES'. There are numerous other one-liners that caused me to laugh out loud while reading the book. Also, while I often times don't agree with the things you say, you write in a manner that is interesting enough I could keep reading and finish the book. While I realize that you come from a background that culturally is very similar to my own, we share few of the same political beliefs.

George Washington gave voters free rum

Dear Joe,

The only difference between the U.S. and Belize is who gets paid by the candidates ("Getting Out the Bling Vote"). If memory serves, George Washington lost his first election to the House of Burgesses at least in part to his refusal to provide the usual number of barrels of liquor to the voters. He learned his lesson, ponied up the booze the next election, and won.

I'd argue that the low turnout that we see in most elections reflects people's sense that their vote is worth nothing unless they think that they can prevent something "bad" from happening, like homosexuals being able to marry legally. I voted in support of a referendum to let gay men and lesbians marry in 2000 in Nevada because I figure that anyone of legal age who wants to marry ought to be able to get married.

Getting Out the Bling Vote

From Kibby's Cool Spot in Belize, politics makes sense -- sort of

By Joe Bageant

Hopkins Village, Belize

I know it's unpatriotic as hell, but I just cannot get a hard-on about the '08 American presidential elections. As in, I haven't read or heard a word about them in a couple of weeks and could not care less whether Hillary showed publicly some emotion, which was the big news when I left the States. The will just isn't there. And it's even more difficult from here in this Central American village where so many people have real problems. The kind that that come with being born under one empire, the British one, and living in the shadow of the present American living in the shadow of its walled fortress of armed privilege. One of those problems is who to sell your vote to and for how much.

"I wan too hunred an feefty dollah for my vote," Marie declares as she chops up bananas to make tapo for dinner. I got feefty for my vote las' time, but some people got two feefty."

Dilemma of liberal teen in rural Michigan

Dear Joe,

I am from a small town in Michigan and lately I have been facing some difficulties. As a liberal I do not agree with many people in my community and many of my peers on a lot of the issues in your book Deer Hunting With Jesus. Issues such as gun control, national defense, Social Security, and Medicare are discussed, and they are of great importance, but where I come from those issues are not as important as "moral" issues such as abortion or gay marriage. I have always found it interesting how people can get more upset over two women marrying than a local soldier being killed in Fallujah. I yearn for change.

I was watching CNN the day after Barack Obama's caucus victory in Iowa, and I found it ironic that a faith CD commercial was on during the break. I am a Christian, but I have not been able to understand my fellow Christians' views on a lot of issues. I am a supporter of Barack Obama as well as John Edwards. I would be willing to vote for any person as along as I agree with them on the majority of the issues. I would not care if the person I voted for is a Mormon, Black, White, Muslim, Hispanic, Atheist, Catholic, Asian, or even Born Again. (Well really if Jimmy Carter ran again I actually would not mind, but I am not so sure if any Evangelical can be like Jimmy).

Greeting card platitudes from Obama

Dear Joe,

Let me first say how enjoyable Deer Hunting with Jesus was. Very. For someone of a younger generation like myself, it is very heartening to know some of those elders who avoided the mind trap of growing up in society are still freeminded. Do you see Barack Obama's campaign as in any way analagous to George McGovern's campaign in 1972 (ignoring the different Republican candidate)? Hope? Idealism?

Much respect,

Claude
Australia

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Dear Claude,

You are too kind in your assessment regarding my supposed escape from the mind trap of America's crude media driven consumer society. You are talking to a guy who lies around on the couch in his under shorts, eats corn nuts, drinks cheap beer, and watches crime shows fer god sake. ;-)

But no, I don't see any resemblance in Obama's campaign to McGovern's. McGovern was what he appeared to be. Like any other politician, Obama's every move, word and nuance is extremely calculated and orchestrated in ways that were not possible, or even imaginable, in 1972, Same with all American candidates today.

They're burning kids alive over here!

Hey Joe,

Thanks for posting the message from Pablo on your website ("After Iraq, will any American be innocent?"). As a Chilean, he has experience in exactly what I worry about -- how many crimes is my government hiding, and how can I know?

Your audience, more than most, is probably aware of how much of what passes as "news" in the U.S. is actually government propaganda. Yet, being told lies is actually better than what we are never told -- the stories that go completely unreported. As Pablo points out, we hear little or nothing about civilian deaths in Iraq, and any concerns expressed are dismissed as invalid -- either motivated by some pathological hatred of the current Administration, or based on unverifiable figures.

The fact is, to quote our late unlamented Secretary of Defense ...

After Iraq, will any American be innocent?

Hi Joe,

I loved Deer Hunting With Jesus and I visit your web site regularly. I am sending the short rant below hoping that it will generate some discussion.

Dismissing the staggering death toll of civilians in Iraq is the new Holocaust denial. The only difference is that while the former is penalized in most of Europe and can land the discontent in jail, the latter is a politically correct and socially acceptable position. Just as every single Jew was a potential enemy and deserved to be interned or sent to a prisoner camp, every Muslim today is considered a threat. Just as rounding up Jews and other undesirables was a way of preventing future attacks against the stability of the Reich, installing democracy against the peoples' will in Iraq is presented as a preemptive measure. Furthermore, it's rationalized as yet another example of American magnanimity and those who criticize it are either fifth columnists or just plain ungrateful.