An elderly woman was killed in a bus terminal in Dallas, this makes the five oclock news headlines. Across the border, about 400 women have been tortured, raped, brutally murdered and their mutilated bodies dumped in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. This does not make any news. How is this so? Is it because the life of the elderly woman was more valuable? Who measures the value of a life anyway? And is it by how rich they were? How famous? Or how many peole they helped?
According to the documentary, The City Of Lost Girls, those responsible for these murders are among the richest men in this town. Powerful and influential men. Men who you would not want to vex. Often this kind of men are above the law. Not just in this town in Mexico but all over the world. They either pay or threaten someone to make sure that they are never caught on the wrong side of the law. Maybe the media is paid off not to report on this, or maybe it is just scared of the fat cats behind these heinous crimes.
How many other stories like this do you think we are never told? How many times does the media just stand back and watch because it cannot say anything lest the members of the media themselves, got fired, or even worse, killed?
Think about it. Most of the big media houses are owned by very influential people such as politicians, either partially or wholly. How then do we know that the media is telling us what we need to know when we need to know it and not covering up for their 'employers'?
These days it is not safe to trust only one source of information. As demonstrated by the documentary, the traditional media is sometimes compromised and cannot fulfill its function in society. One, therefore, has to go beyond the traditional media when looking for the truth. I doubt the documentary, The City of Lost Girls, would have been aired on Mexican Prime TV. It was instead put online. This suggests that the internet or 'new media' has become a valuable source of information for the masses especially when the traditional media channels are compromised.
It is sad that the media can be compromised by a few wealthy individuals but it gives me hope that all is not lost. As someone once said, the truth will out.
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So true about how someone gets hit by a bus and this type of media event is covered, yet these killings happen and they are not covered. It makes me wonder why. I know that the people of Ciudad Juarez fear their government, but why is something not being done to stop this. And why is it that no one knows about it. I never heard of this happening before watching those videos. The first thought that I had was that I would move. I still can't believe that so many people still live within that community, and that these pink crosses are just something that is expected. If this is not something that is being covered through mass media, than how do we know that things like this are not happening everyday in the United States and we just don't know about it. Are they afraid that this trend will spread, or that people will be fearful and react? I think that not enough is being done, and it makes me give up hope on the government of this city. Will it never end?
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