News - Can There Be Too Much?

May 26, 2010

Another peaceful day in Acuna, Mexico. Rumors about cartel violence continue, but known facts are not very exciting. Perhaps that is why, in this soap opera world of gossip that we've created, the rumors persist.

Blogs about "Violence in Mexico" such as the Borderland Beat, are reduced to editorializing about recent violence in Jamaica. I never knew we shared a border with Jamaica!

The truth is that stories can be over-reported. Too many people are running around like Chicken Little shouting, "The sky is falling!"

We hope that news agencies report legitimate news stories, without agendas. Sadly, there often is an agenda. Most blogs, on the other-hand, exist with an open agenda. Many blogs are simply manifestations of a need to 'be an instant authority' and know all there is to know about a topic.

Rumors are helpful for these bloggers. After-all, it is impossible to disprove most rumors. These bloggers are easy to spot. They mention 'secret' sources that only they are privy too, because (wait for it . . .) the blogger is SPECIAL.

Let's stick to the facts. Honest sources with information that frightens the public should either stand up and be counted or shut up and stop causing alarm. When raising an alarm, there must be a purpose beyond attracting attention to one's self.

Several people have visited the colonias of Mexico at my urging and after reading my website. I've recently confirmed an unacceptable level of violence in Acuna and Piedras. For that reason, I have an affirmative obligation to publish the fact that the violent struggle for control of Mexican cities by drug cartels has reached a point where Paper Houses Across the Border suspended mission trips into the colonias. I continue to visit the colonias to deliver help to the poor and to assure them of our commitment to helping them. I cannot, at this time, take responsibility for encouraging others to join me in the colonias.

Beyond reporting facts I know to be true, I will not do more. I am not an expert, although my decade of experience in building, assessing, and implementing processes that gathered, assessed and developed strategies to use information about crime in Houston, does give me some insight into evaluating information and putting it to use.

If the lack of violent activity continues, the bloggers may consider posting on other blogs. Elvis lives. Extraterrestrials live among us.

Or the Mexican bloggers can find the people with super-secret information about Mexico and the sources that risked their lives by letting them in on the big secrets. They can also wait a little while. In a country as large as Mexico, something is bound to happen.