More seriously, my experience has been that while those folks do tend to be irresponsible in relation to the economic system in place, they really are a bunch of hard-working folks with solid family values. That is, they value family, not "family values" as the phrase has been used by various groups as shorthand for homophobia and transphobia. (Not to say that certain individuals don't display transphobia and homophobia, but... hell, on the whole, the Hispanic culture seems to be more comfortable with the idea that an individual may be a mix of male and female than WASPs... then there's machismo, yet it seems to be something that comes from within rather than something enforced from without, and yet you have accounts of cis males and trans women from within that culture feeling oppressed by machismo.)
Thuggery and "drug culture" on the other hand... these seem to be the effects of poverty and prohibition. It really is a culture war. Cannabis was basically outlawed in order to marginalize black culture, and that had an effect on the Hispanic population as well. Perhaps we'll see something else once cannabis starts to become legal again.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by velex on Saturday April 12 2014, @09:34AM
Hey, I like mariachi music, you insensitive clod!
More seriously, my experience has been that while those folks do tend to be irresponsible in relation to the economic system in place, they really are a bunch of hard-working folks with solid family values. That is, they value family, not "family values" as the phrase has been used by various groups as shorthand for homophobia and transphobia. (Not to say that certain individuals don't display transphobia and homophobia, but... hell, on the whole, the Hispanic culture seems to be more comfortable with the idea that an individual may be a mix of male and female than WASPs... then there's machismo, yet it seems to be something that comes from within rather than something enforced from without, and yet you have accounts of cis males and trans women from within that culture feeling oppressed by machismo.)
Thuggery and "drug culture" on the other hand... these seem to be the effects of poverty and prohibition. It really is a culture war. Cannabis was basically outlawed in order to marginalize black culture, and that had an effect on the Hispanic population as well. Perhaps we'll see something else once cannabis starts to become legal again.