El Privilegio de Mandar

El Privilegio de Mandar

There's a show that comes on Wednesday nights called "La Parodia" which has a lot of terrible skits, but one very brilliant segment. It's a parody of politicians and the government done in the style of a soap opera called "El Privilegio de Mandar" (the privilege of commanding). The comedian that imitates the head of government of the D.F., López Obrador, who I mentioned in the post about news shows, is part of these skits. They use whatever has been going on in the news and make great comedy out of it. The guy who imitates President Fox is particularly good. He's got his mannerisms down pat. I've always found Mexicans to be quite savvy politically. It's quite a different atmosphere from the U.S. For example, I've found that in very general terms, Americans seem to associate loving their country with showing some sort of allegiance toward their government. But Mexicans are fiercely proud of being Mexican while for the most part having utter disdain for and lack of trust in their government. They don't let the media and the government pull the wool over their eyes as much as Americans do. Still, when last I lived here, it was uncommon to see such frank criticism on television. Americans have had this all along. Perhaps the government has realized that this type of cultural expression lets people let out steam and is relatively harmless. It's something the U.S. learned long ago. In many ways politics in Mexico are starting to follow the U.S. model (though things are still markedly different here)...but that's a topic for another post.