Another JMF Piece

Last week Jorge Fernández Menéndez had this to say about the reports of a drug trafficker realignment in Mexico:

[I]t's a confirmation of what many of wanted to deny, without basing their opinions on evidence, that the government pressure has obligated these organizations to deepen their contractions and embark upon an internecine war that will wind up exhausting them. It's not politically correct to say it, it sounds much better to speak of legalizing drugs or of seeking new strategies (never saying what these would be), or even negotiating with the cartels, but the reality is that the governmental pressure, despite all its shortcomings, is bringing the cartels to these levels of self-destruction.

I agree with Fernández about the logical flaws in much of the criticism of Calderón, but I'm not sure of the conclusion that the realignment can be directly attributed to the government's pressure. After all, criminal gangs aligned and realigned with great frequency well before Calderón arrived to the presidency. Or was born, for that matter.

Also, I find Fernández to be among the most informed of the security experts whose work I read regularly, and I almost always feel smarter for having read his columns. However, his writing is a clear demonstration that the most important rule for young people learning how to write effectively is:

Short sentences! Short sentences! Short sentences! I will grant you three clauses from capital letter to period, dear boy, provided that one of them is subordinate; should you exceed your quota, I will bring this ruler down on your wrist with terrific force!

I of course don't advocate corporal punishment in response to sloppy writing, but these Nile-esque sentences represent a problem that seems to be growing worse. My theory is that thanks to text messaging and IM chats, the proportion of writing for kids today* leans more toward non-academic, unstructured writing than in generations past.

*I can't believe I wrote that phrase in a non-ironic context.