Some Thoughts...

A pleasant conversation with Carlos from the Hacienda lead me to some conclusions about the documentary at hand as well as some realizations on being in El Salvador. We talked about family, work and American culture which influences the life in El Salvador in many ways. I explained to him that working in the US can be a bit daunting at times. The work ethic in the US can be overwhelming which affords to own lots of stuff. However, the accumulation of stuff is not everything. I explained that working towards more stuff has created an ego centric culture in the US, concerned with owning what your neighbors owns. He explained that in El Salvador with the use of the dollar people have caught on to this same compulsive consumption of stuff. He said people here don't make much money but they still seek out to own expensive cell phones, clothes and other luxury goods. I agreed with him in saying that in the US this same mentally is what drives the country in too much debt at times. We then talked about the problem of gangs in El Salvador. This topic lead me to acknoledge that what ES experiences is an importation of too much American culture to the point where identity of country has seemed to be blurred. I explained that in the US this same culture of violence and bling bling has been specifically created in urban centers where the line between rich and poor drastically live close to each other. I added that this phenomenom is the outcome of poverty and injustice in American Urban centers where poor latino and black neighborhoods are kept the way they are as a means for Capitalism to exist. Now present in ES the gang phenomenom has exploded thanks to the countries massive poverty and injustice. In spite of these problems I concluded by saying that what ES needs to work on is on accepting this influx of culture but celebrating what makes it different from others. In otherwords, acknowledge not only it's American side but indegenous simmilarities. I explained to him that in the US the bling bling culture is owned by minorities as a form of social activism in a world where oppressive capitalist ideals overflow or choke all other ways of living. Indeed American culture has been consumed to a certain degree of no return in ES, unfortunatedly.