Así no es (Grijalbo, 2024) is a book that describes things that too many Mexicans believe, but that are false. Ideas that we often affirm or assume about meritocracy, the middle class, classism, salaries and taxes, but that are scandalously wrong.
In it we seek to give you the tools, information and data so that you do not believe false phrases such as “the poor are poor because they want to be”, that “in the south people are lazy”, or that the younger generations “cannot buy a house because they do not work hard enough”.
The goal is to never again take for granted things that are considered common sense, such as that public spending is too high or that people who receive social programs stop working.
Our intention in writing this book is to unmask these beliefs and expose them for what they are: crude lies that serve to justify the greatest injustices in Mexico. Excuses planted in the minds of millions of Mexicans to maintain inequality and to defend an unfair economic model that promotes a lack of opportunity and that, perversely, protects the wealth of a few to the detriment of the rest.
Our goal is to make it no longer an excuse. To make it completely unviable to defend mistaken ideas.
Demolishing the fallacies that we will demolish in this book is urgent for us. Mexico is the fourth most unequal country in the world, and the first if we exclude those with less than 35 million inhabitants. A country where 85% of people who earn the minimum wage cannot feed their family. Where public spending is lower than in most countries in the world. And where fewer taxes are collected than in Rwanda.
However, Mexico is also a country where many have learned to justify these situations. It is believed that raising the minimum wage is useless because prices rise anyway. It is thought that public spending is unsustainably high and must be reduced. It is argued that companies should pay less taxes so that we can all do better.
But still, there are too many Mexicans who attribute poverty to character flaws. To people being lazy, stupid, ignorant or not working. Many believe that the rich are smarter or more capable, when in reality, in a country like ours, most of the rich are just luckier, because they were born into golden cradles.
It is not by chance that Mexico is plagued by false ideas that blame the poor for their situation and praise the rich. These ideas exist because a country like ours could not be stable without them. Deceptions work to create stability. They make the middle classes defend the rich, thinking that this is in their interest. The lower classes are confused with blame for their supposed lack of merit. The upper classes are allowed to live convinced that they deserve what they have. And we are all left blindfolded, believing that it is impossible to change things because the government is corrupt and ineffective.
Reading this book will be an invitation to challenge your own beliefs. Throughout its pages you will be able to learn about 11 beliefs rooted in society and, thanks to a survey carried out exclusively by Enkoll for this project, you will also be able to find out how many Mexicans believe these myths, their age, socioeconomic level, educational level, geographic region of residence and even their political preferences.
Source: elpais
