Progress is something that we have talked about and has been brought up recently regarding the study of philosophers like Rousseau and Kant. It’s quite interesting because even though the word has a definition, the idea of progress is subjective. We like the idea of progress; we want to progress but in reality it is something that cannot be measured and depends on a situation itself.
Humans always want progress in our lives, we want to believe that we are doing better instead of doing worse simply because we see time transcend before our eyes, but time passing is not equivalent to progress so therefore our perception of progress itself might prove to be faulty. It is interesting that even in particular instances when a person is going through a time of crisis people always want to see the good in it and want to think that only good things can arise from then on, that time heals all and that things get better with it. But it is not always true because it does not apply to every situation to every person or event at any time in history. The fact that there are many ways of seeing “progress” and time -which time is also relevant when thinking about this- makes this whole concept and idea about the human essence more stimulating.
As a citizen of two countries, I myself can and have the opportunity to distance myself from one country from the other and truly see what they are individually. I see myself as being able to immerse in each world and what they have to offer to individuals in terms of opportunities and progress. Having this background and actually being able to call myself a citizen of Mexico I believe that I can say that what I have experienced, seen, and learned about Mexico is that instead of progressing it really seems like the country is only deteriorating with time. Sadly, but truly there are a lot of indicators that even though we are living in the twenty-first century where we are expected to be moving forward in all aspects in life considering the technology and countless sources the world has to do so, Mexico is doing quite the opposite.
Enrique Peña Nieto, President of the Mexican republic has been a great contributor to the idea that Mexico has only gotten worse, potentially leading it closer to its downfall. And as it is, Mexico already has problems to repair and a reputation to fix. There really is a lot of organized crime, violence, poverty, corruption, and denying of human rights like has been claimed before. Those things are there, they have a possibility of being changed and transformed like anything else; the problem though are the people running the country not allowing the country to move forward.
Before Enrique Pena Nieto’s presidency, ex-president Felipe Calderon was also facing problems dealing with this gap of progress and criminality; there were a lot of deaths, maybe not as much as in this presidency, but at least he tried to combat organized crime and tried to do something about the progress in the country. When any president or new leader starts working on their post there are hopes that things could get better, this was what many people thought and hoped of Peña Nieto. Hopefully he would maybe try to use Kant’s idea of public use and do something greater for the country with it. Unfortunately, that has not been the case and in fact I personally, along with the majority of Mexican citizens, believe that the same exact opposite of progress has occurred, and it really is a struggle.
Maybe not as many deaths have occurred during his presidency, but people are just so over the fact that the country is not going anywhere. People are desperate and still stuck in the same place in 2016 or even worse. Things have gotten so out of hand that now human rights are being violated and nothing has been done about it, especially two years in since the gruesome deaths of students from Ayotzinapa occured. An empire and nation cannot thrive, progress, or do much if first of all, human rights are not even uplifted and if the leaders do not seem to put the nation before themselves. An empire cannot progress when the leader doesn’t have any leadership qualities and doesn’t relinquish his personal agenda for the greater good of the people.
It’s 2016. Progress should be the main focus, not the opposite, especially in places like Mexico. But nothing can be done about it really, because people have tried to do something about it and nothing happened; Mexicans pushing forward with Pena Nieto’s impeachment. Sadly, leaders and the government themselves can be obstacles to the progress of the country they run, placing limits within the scope of people’s lives.
Image: Tree blocking pathway, symbolic to the barriers that prevent progress in our lives
IMPERIO Y SUS RUINAS 
Hola!!
You’re definitely right, progress is a relative thing; like pretty much everything in life. In a way, it seems as if Rousseau was right and progress is not progressive and innovative at all. Every day people lose their jobs, get diagnosed with a terminal disease, they die. It only makes sense, then, that they want to see the good- the rainbow in the storm. It’s not that individuals want to ignore the corruption and death that happens around them, but if they paid attention to all of it, they would die inside, and that’s worst than dying on the inside.
Mexico, on the other hand, I understand your point and I agree with you but Nieto is not the one making all the decisions. Let’s be honest, he might be the President and all, but he is not the one in power. It’s been a line of corruption that has been going on for a long time, Nieto is just a face. Going back to the beginning, progress is relative, and in some way, the choices that he did make don’t sound so bad; his reasons are valid. But as always, everything sounds better in theory.
I look forward reading more of your blog!!
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I agree that the idea of progress is subjective. Your post about the President Enrique Nieto has reminded me about the recent events that happened with President Duterte of the Philippines. He also believes that the Philippines have gotten worse due to the rising crime rates. Like in Mexico, organized crime and government corruption is rampant in the Philippines. Because of this, President Duterte has called a “War on Drugs” and has killed any alleged drug abuser/dealer. So far over thousands of these “drug dealers” have been killed under his command. I personally do not agree with his tactics and see this more as a regression than a progression. (I don’t believe that one should kill people and violate basic human rights to prove a point.) But many people believe that President Duterte’s actions are justifiable and actually progress the state of the country. I encourage you to look over the recent events!
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I agree with your statement about how “an empire cannot progress when the leader” does not focus on the “greater good of the people”. Peña Nieto has caused the fall of the country, not necessarily allowing, but not preventing the grown the the drug empire (Cartels) currently taking over Mexico. Because of their growth, it has caused an increase in violence, murders, kidnappings, child prostitution, and city wide hostages. An empire is only as good as its leader, the these acts of violence, etc, reflect Peña Nieto’s leadership. Like you, I lived in mexico when I was younger, and it is terrifying to see how bad things have gone since 2007 to now. In that short amount of time, the people of the Republic of Mexico now fear for their lives, so much that they do not go out after the sun goes down, and even if they go out during the day they never go out alone. Hopefully someone can figure out a method to improve this situation, but for now we know that anyone who speaks out will be persecuted. Similar to the horrible mass murder of the students, we are now seeing the persecution of the teachers. It is so sad to see all of these thing happening. But in all, I really like your point of view on things and look forward to your future posts.
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