He's baa-aaack! (Doggie Bow-wow, that is)

[doncoulter]

Those of you who are regular followers of Doug Bower will recall that he (1) abandoned his ?Living in Guanajuato? blog back in August, (2) then revived it in September ?for invited readers only,? and (3) then abandoned it again later that month, moving it to a new location and giving it an exciting new name, ?Central Mexico.? Well, now ?Central Mexico? has itself been abandoned, and ?Living in Guanajuato? has, in a move that even Lazarus would envy, been revived yet again. Confused? Me too.

The unsurprising news is that with ?Living in Guanajuato? redux, Doug continues his fearless crime reporting. Today?s entry, a translation of the lead paragraph of a story from the Correo newspaper, informs us that from 2006 to 2008 there were 23,000 murders in Mexico of children under seventeen years old. Truly a shocking statistic, and one can only be grateful to our intrepid reporter for passing on the horrific news.

Correction: one would be grateful if only this news were true. But of course it?s not. A moment?s reflection shows that it?s nonsense. Twenty-three thousand juvenile murders in three years? I?m sure everyone is familiar with the statistic that during the four years of the Calder?n administration there have been roughly 30,000 narco-related killings. That sobering number is repeated in the press, domestic and foreign, every day. And yet Doug would have us believe that in only three years there were 23,000 juvenile murders, and this is the very first we?re hearing about the carnage? Preposterous.

In Doug?s defense, his translation of the Correo paragraph is accurate. Does this mean there really were 23,000 such murders? No. As I said, a moment?s thought reveals the figure as nonsense, and in fact the Correo got it wrong. The Correo picked up the story from El Universal (a much more reliable newspaper), and in doing so it moved the decimal point. According to El Universal, during the period in question there were not 23,000 juvenile murders but 2,300. That?s still terrible. But as Emily Litella used to say, ?Oh, that?s different. Never mind.?

Now, everyone makes mistakes, and Doug is entitled to his share. But anyone familiar with his blogging knows that he regularly presents himself as an authority on Mexico, particularly on crime here, while the rest of us are woefully uninformed ?Gringolandians? and "fakepats." Well, if Doug really is so expert, why did he not immediately recognize, as I did, and as my wife did, the absurdity of the Correo statistic? I submit to you that his credulous repetition of the Correo error indicates that as a crime reporter, and as an authority on Mexico, Doug is in way over his head.

Finally, forgive me for pointing out Doug?s incompetence here on the gtolist. A far more appropriate place for criticism would be the comments section of his blog. But unlike most bloggers, Doug has never welcomed criticism, and the latest incarnation of his blog is no exception. I tried to submit a correction about this matter, but it was rejected with this message: ?Comments on this blog are restricted to team members.? The blog offers no counsel as to how one might become a team member.

Don Coulter

[meroberts]

Hi Don,

It's a full moon!!! And it is spectacular! The real miracle is that II can see clearly now.
May be time to get another record-breaking response? I don't know - I don't have the time...
Know what I mean?

Martha

[doncoulter]

You're absolutely right, Martha. It's a beautiful moon. No wonder I'm howling!

Seriously, I'm happy you're seeing clearly again. Must be quite a relief.

Don

[mr bill]

Don, there is an explanation to this. Some time back Mr Bower [the GTO one not the famous crop circle prankster of the same name] wrote this: "....We learned just yesterday of a six-year-old girl who was run over and killed by a bus driver who was driving way too fast and wasn't able to stop in time to avoid her. The tragedy resulted in some extensive placements of what we in America would call "speed bumps" (in Spanish, topes) on this road to slow down all the recklessly fast traffic."

When it was pointed out to him in a then open comments section of his blog or e-zine that the little girl crossing the highway in Santa Teresa was stuck by a car -that then left then scene- and not a bus our illustrious reporter pointed out in a subsequent comment [the story* to this day is yet to be corrected] that [I paraphrase as the comment has been long removed] "...facts are hard to come by in Mexico". Well yes that could be true for the fact-challenged among us. DB's 'reporting', if that's what it is to be called, is on par with the fat mouth Rush Limbaugh and his vitriolic spewing the other day about the "$200 million-a-day cost" of the the Obama trip to Asia without doing the simplest of fact checks. The Afghan war costs less per day than that.

Under the light of a full moon or on a clear day at least I can't see DB from my house.

* http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/am...ceowf.html

- and as anyone who has ever worked under an editor [or 10th grade English compostion teacher] would know this [even if it were true] is not correct: "...who was run over and killed by a bus driver " The little girl was run over and killed by the bus not the driver [who would of couse have been culpable]

[The Duck]

Here is the el Universal article:
M?xico encabeza violencia contra menores en OCDE
De acuerdo con el reporte "La violencia contra ni?os, ni?as y adolescentes en M?xico. Miradas regionales", que elabor? la Red por los Derechos de la Infancia, de 2006 a 2008 se registraron 2 mil 305 homicidios de ni?os y ni?as de cero a 17 a?os

V?CTIMAS COLATERALES La regi?n Noreste es la que presenta la tasa de mortalidad infantil (Foto: Archivo ELUNIVERSAL )

Enviar por email
Reducir tama?oAumentar tama?oImprimir
Notas Relacionadas
Buscan proteger a ni?os de la calle en Jalisco 09:35Se duplica cifra de ni?os con hambre 2010-11-19
Sedesol conf?a en erradicar problema en 5 a?os 2010-11-19CIUDAD DE M?XICO | Viernes 19 de noviembre de 2010

Juli?n S?nchez | El Universal

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/724632.html

[Aztecglitterbelle]

Those of you who are regular followers of Doug Bower will recall that he (1) abandoned his ?Living in Guanajuato? blog back in August, (2) then revived it in September ?for invited readers only,? and (3) then abandoned it again later that month, moving it to a new location and giving it an exciting new name, ?Central Mexico.? Well, now ?Central Mexico? has itself been abandoned, and ?Living in Guanajuato? has, in a move that even Lazarus would envy, been revived yet again. Confused? Me too.

The unsurprising news is that with ?Living in Guanajuato? redux, Doug continues his fearless crime reporting. Today?s entry, a translation of the lead paragraph of a story from the Correo newspaper, informs us that from 2006 to 2008 there were 23,000 murders in Mexico of children under seventeen years old. Truly a shocking statistic, and one can only be grateful to our intrepid reporter for passing on the horrific news.

Correction: one would be grateful if only this news were true. But of course it?s not. A moment?s reflection shows that it?s nonsense. Twenty-three thousand juvenile murders in three years? I?m sure everyone is familiar with the statistic that during the four years of the Calder?n administration there have been roughly 30,000 narco-related killings. That sobering number is repeated in the press, domestic and foreign, every day. And yet Doug would have us believe that in only three years there were 23,000 juvenile murders, and this is the very first we?re hearing about the carnage? Preposterous.

In Doug?s defense, his translation of the Correo paragraph is accurate. Does this mean there really were 23,000 such murders? No. As I said, a moment?s thought reveals the figure as nonsense, and in fact the Correo got it wrong. The Correo picked up the story from El Universal (a much more reliable newspaper), and in doing so it moved the decimal point. According to El Universal, during the period in question there were not 23,000 juvenile murders but 2,300. That?s still terrible. But as Emily Litella used to say, ?Oh, that?s different. Never mind.?

Now, everyone makes mistakes, and Doug is entitled to his share. But anyone familiar with his blogging knows that he regularly presents himself as an authority on Mexico, particularly on crime here, while the rest of us are woefully uninformed ?Gringolandians? and "fakepats." Well, if Doug really is so expert, why did he not immediately recognize, as I did, and as my wife did, the absurdity of the Correo statistic? I submit to you that his credulous repetition of the Correo error indicates that as a crime reporter, and as an authority on Mexico, Doug is in way over his head.

Finally, forgive me for pointing out Doug?s incompetence here on the gtolist. A far more appropriate place for criticism would be the comments section of his blog. But unlike most bloggers, Doug has never welcomed criticism, and the latest incarnation of his blog is no exception. I tried to submit a correction about this matter, but it was rejected with this message: ?Comments on this blog are restricted to team members.? The blog offers no counsel as to how one might become a team member.

Don Coulter

---

Hola Don, I've never had an opportunity to meet Doug Bower, but would like to, with proper protective gear, as he has an amazing reputation for being the craziest son of a bitch in town. Why does anybody waste time reading his crap?

[mikeholgate]

Good post, Don. I?m glad someone?s keeping an eye on Bower and his latest whereabouts for us.

Be prepared, however, for him to go on the attack. And I do mean personal attack. Earlier this year I reviewed one of his books on Amazon.com, and like all but one of the reviews, mine was negative. I said his book was ?short on information and long on his highly idiosyncratic personal opinions.? You can read all the reviews here. I particularly like the one by Justin F. Gaynor, titled ?Psychotherapy disguised as a guidebook.?

Soon after I posted my review, Bower responded. But whereas I had criticized his book, Bower attacked me personally. Completely ignoring the points I?d made, he called me a "gringolandian" and charged that I and my ?motley crew? had dubbed him ?The Most Hated Gringo in the Whole World.? Gringolandians, according to Bower, are Americans who live in gated communities, don?t learn Spanish, and don?t participate in local culture. As if that weren?t enough, he added that we Gringolandians ?live such isolated and lonely lives that drug and alcohol abuse is all too common.? I meet none of those criteria. I?ve lived in Guanajuato for 13 years, I?m fluent in Spanish, I and my Mexican family live in an ungated authentic Mexican neighborhood, and I?m quite sober. And by the way, I never use the word ?Gringo,? which I find offensive. I certainly never called Bower ?The Most Hated Gringo in the Whole World.? The only person I know of who calls him that is Bower himself.

So, Don, this is what you?re in for. Delusions of grandeur and dishonest, ad hominem attacks. Bower has attacked me, he?s attacked Bill Byrnes, he?s attacked David Rogers, and you may well be next. Welcome to the club.

--Mike

[mr bill]

Mike you are right about him making personal attacks but to the bard-of-the-Bajio's credit he gives a to this forum, http://guanajuatolivingmexico.blogspot.c...olist.html

[doncoulter]

To Aztecglitterbelle:

You ask, ?Why does anybody waste time reading [Bower?s] crap?? That?s a very good question, one I?ve asked myself many times: Why punish myself by reading him? I ask myself a similar question whenever I read the latest news about Sarah Palin. I don?t expect to learn anything useful, or to discover that she?s said something intelligent or profound, and yet I read about her anyway. It appears that something in me is drawn irresistibly to opinionated buffoons.

Or perhaps it?s something deeper in my psychological makeup. Some people like horror movies. Some people can?t keep themselves from gawking at car accidents. Some people have ugly dogs. I read Bower.

More seriously, I?m concerned that he may have some influence. Not a lot, but some. He?s all over the Internet, excreting his bile in front of anyone doing a ?Guanajuato? Google search. Lately, with his fearless crime reporting, he?s making Guanajuato sound like Ciudad Ju?rez. Most people, of course, see through him immediately. But not everybody. One of the Amazon commenters mentioned by Mike Holgate wrote that he?d planned to visit our town, but Bower?s book ?turned me off on Guanajuato. Will go elsewhere.? I think that?s sad. And I wonder if the powers-that-be in Guanajuato are aware of what Bower is trying to do for tourism here.

Be that as it may, I?m going to continue to read Bower?s ?crap,? and to try to set the record straight. When he stops, I?ll stop.

Don