Bus 174

Bus 174 was a documentary that depicted the tragic tale of a bus shooting that ended horribly wrong.  It was June 12, 2000, when a young man threatened to shoot all the passengers on a bus in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.  The police attempted to shoot the gunman but accidentally shot a young woman.  The more horrifying part of the film was that Brazilian television was filming the events as they took place.  There was no effort to try and conceal people from the seeing people die on live television. 

            In Ramos’ “The Drive-by Victim” gave the underlying theme that children in these rural areas did not choose this life of crime but rather were forced into it in order to survive.  Children who do not have guidance from parents or families will often turn to street gangs to get that acceptance that is why is not uncommon for children like Sandro to resort to crime.  At the end of Ramos’ stated “And I thought we are so screwed in this country that the only option left for us in the end is thanking the thieves” (137).  He had a traumatic experience with these men but in the end they told him why there were stealing from him and gave him insight to why they were doing what they were doing.  The told him that they were not murders just thieves and the reason why they were thieves is because they did not have jobs.  This was a characteristic of many young men in urban areas in Latin America.

            Western ideology about capitalism and consumerism destroys people’s lives and cultures.  The idea that people “need” food that is fast and quick or gadgets that everyone else has is crippling cultures around the world. Alma Guillermopriet noticed how western consumerism brought into Mexico by having fast food and Coca Cola on every corner, has brought massive amounts of debt to the Mexican people. (238) This debt was not present prior to the multinational corporations moving in and influencing the people they needed to buy buy buy.  The worst part is this cultural take over has been going on in Mexico since 1847 (244).   There is no doubt that Mexico and the United States and multinational corporations are influencing other Latin American countries and it is negatively affecting their society.  The jobs that are being infiltrated into their economy are being run and driven by and outside force and may not even be there for a long amount of time.  The job instability affects people and society especially in urban areas.

            The lack of jobs and opportunity influences young adults and children to join gangs and a life of violence and crime.  Although joining a gang is a personal choice, outside forces can definitely have a major influence.  It is devastating to see the urban areas of Rio De Janerio be overcome with violence and crime and it could have been dealt with years ago but now it is such a larger problem.  The government needs to step in and give opportunity to the children and families to revive them from that lifestyle.