In My Absolut World

In my Absolut World, people take the time to gather the facts and debate intelligently, rather than spouting off with what they believe to be the truth.

There has been a lot of feedback concerning the call to boycott Absolut Vodka for its offensive Reconquista ad that ran in Mexico. As with any hot topic, the temperature of the debates it sparked have been equally heated. I’ve been called a xenophobe, a racist, and an idiot more than once. Some of the things posted were so offensive I felt compelled to delete them. However, what bothers me the most is the claim that I am ignoring history. And it bothers me because it is Absolut rubbish (Pun fully intended).

People cite the misconceptions that they believe to be actual history as proof of their claims. The most popular—and baseless—is that we stole Mexico’s land in the Mexican War. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we all know, Mexico gave up its land north of the Rio Grande as part of the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, which brought the Mexican War to a close. In return, US troops were removed from Mexico City, Mexico was paid $15 million, and the US assumed $3.25 million in Mexican debt owed to American citizens. Concidering Mexico started the Mexican War by invading American territory, I’d say the treaty wasn’t a bad deal.

Texas had already declared its independence from Mexico, which is what started the whole thing. So we certainly didn’t steal that portion.

But what really strikes me as interesting is something I have learned in my current California history class. In Kevin Starr’s “California,” Starr comments on page 65:

Historians have been wont to see the annexation of California by the United States as an act of conquest, a sideshow in the larger drama of Manifest Destiny, and the Mexican War. Any close reading of Mexican California, however, suggests that even if the United States had never invaded Mexico or siezed California by force of arms, California—as Richard Henry Dana, Jr., first put it—would in one way or another have become American. At the very time that war broke out, the Californios were negotiating with the United States regarding the possibilities of a peaceful annexation. From this perspective, Josiah Royce, writing in 1886, concidered the forcible conquest of California as the original sin of American California history. What was taken by force, Royce argued, had been on the verge of being peaceably surrendered.

Take note of the term “Californios.” That was what the Spanish and Mexican people living in California called themselves. Mainly ranchers, these people did not identify with Mexico and did not want to be called “Mexican.” Let that sink in—they did not concider themselves Mexican.

Mexico was unable to support California. Pacific currents run north to south, which made sea travel in that direction inefficient. And the Yuma Indians had cut off the main overland route from Mexico after the Yuma Massacre. It doesn’t sound like Mexico had much control over Arizona territory, either, does it?

So we didn’t steal Texas; it was already gone. And we didn’t steal California; the people there didn’t want to be Mexican anyway. Mexico had little control of, and offered little support to any of its lands north of the Rio Grande. And we got it all by a signed treaty ending a war Mexico started. Someone tell me what land we “stole” from Mexico.

If you want to flame me, or bash me, or insult me, that’s fine. But please back it up with facts not fables. Research and learn the truth about the subject. Don’t run around in the comfort zone of just thinking that you know what you are talking about. Take the time to educate yourself and know that you know what you are talking about. Or it will be you who is shown to be the idiot.