Last Wednesday, various European nations have decided to take drastic measures to prevent the number of deaths caused by COVID from rising uncontrollably. On the same day, the Mexican President accused these countries of being authoritarian regimes who treat their citizens as though they were “children.” He went on deploring this state of affair which, according to him, never happened in the history of Europe, not even in its darkest moments.
What is this guy talking about? And shouldn’t he be busy making Mexico great again? Has he finished dealing with his own country’s problems?
(article here)
If it became a rule that people could only criticize the policies of other countries when their own nations had been perfected, SDMB traffic would plummet drastically.
No, no. I agree you and I can go on and criticize whomever we please wherever and whenever we please.
But in this case we’re talking about a head of state making a public statement in a press conference about administrative measures taken by countries on a different continent - measures that are not supposed or likely to affect his own country or its population. And he places himself behind a moral pulpit from which he wants to teach Europe a lesson.
He’s not really addressing the Europeans but the Mexicans. Basically he’s making a domestic political statement, contrasting the European countries using strict lockdown to his own looser policies and signaling that he has more faith in his people to do the right thing w/o being forced.
And we know how well that always works out, humans being so responsible and adult and all.
Ha, ha - indeed.
All right, I understand. This nuance makes sense, but I still find his discourse inappropriate.