"El corrido de Osama" & P's outlaws

[Doug Millison]

[...] Mexican folk tunes about bin Laden are "the hottest new recordings
hawked by street sellers in northern Mexico." The corridos, popular in the
northern region, are folk songs that focus on current events and recount
"the lives of the rich, the powerful and the infamous." Translated from "El
corrido de Osama:" "Across the skies, the seas and the land they are
looking for you. ... bin Laden, the terrorist whom the CIA trained. ...
This was the biggest mistake of the American government." From "Tragedy in
Manhattan:" "It was the 11th of September when the events occurred. ... The
pride of Manhattan destroyed by two planes." Radio Mexicana de Nuevo Laredo
DJ Jose Luis Cardenas: "People in rural areas here learn more about current
events from corridos than from the news. In news broadcasts, the
information is given once or twice; with corridos, people buy the disc or
the cassette and one does not forget what happened" (Pakistan's Paknews,
10/30).
http://www.theatlantic.com/hotline/ [30 Oct 01]


No, I'm not a bin Laden supporter, but I find it interesting the way he now
seems to be entering international folklore as a sort of bandit outlaw
brave enough to stand up against the American government.  Looks as if the
U.S. government is losing the battle for hearts and minds, for sure. And,
it might conceiveably be interesting to talk about this in the context of
what P has had to say about outlaws, in his novels and in his introductory
essay for the UK edition of _Stone Junction_.  I'm drawing no conclusions
at this point about how bin Laden might or might not fit into P's concept
of the outlaw.




Doug Millison - Writer/Editor/Web Editorial Consultant
millison at online-journalist.com
www.Online-Journalist.com