Found this interesting tidbit while surfing

[Occhidiangela]

Oh, Villa was certainly a criminal. He was an insurgent, a self-confessed murderer, a theif, and, depending on who you ask, a traitor (or a hero).

He wasn't corrupt, though.

-Jester

He hadn't been in office long enough to earn enough XP to open the "corruption" skill. :P His behavior patterns were sufficiently odious to ensure any long lasting "reign" would be standard Mexican Hacendado style corruption.

The depiction of Villa as virtuous is a fascinating piece of revisionism.

Occhi

[Jester]

He hadn't been in office long enough to earn enough XP to open the "corruption" skill. :P His behavior patterns were sufficiently odious to ensure any long lasting "reign" would be standard Mexican Hacendado style corruption.

The depiction of Villa as virtuous is a fascinating piece of revisionism.

Occhi

Actually, the bandito version of Villa is the more recent, "revised" one. The pre-Carranza view of him, at least by the Americans, was more like a boisterous, liberty-loving revolutionary who loved his country and its people. But, of course, after attacking the United States, and opposing the eventual winners of the revolution, he was dragged through the historical muck as a matter of course. No matter who you think writes history, you can be pretty sure it isn't Chihuahuan peasants.

Villa was certainly not "virtuous" by any American standard. He was, however, a man who lived by his own code of ethics that fit remarkably well with his time and place. And corruption was not a part of it, but rather one of the defining elements of his enemies.

Which, to my mind, is something to recommend him over a fairly broad swath of Mexican and American politicians alike, both current and historical.

-Jester

[kandrathe]

Oh, Villa was certainly a criminal. He was an insurgent, a self-confessed murderer, a thief, and, depending on who you ask, a traitor (or a hero).

He wasn't corrupt, though.

-Jester

I never claimed that HE was. My claim was that not much has changed in Mexico from those days.

[kandrathe]

Actually, the bandito version of Villa is the more recent, "revised" one. The pre-Carranza view of him, at least by the Americans, was more like a boisterous, liberty-loving revolutionary who loved his country and its people. But, of course, after attacking the United States, and opposing the eventual winners of the revolution, he was dragged through the historical muck as a matter of course. No matter who you think writes history, you can be pretty sure it isn't Chihuahuan peasants.

Villa was certainly not "virtuous" by any American standard. He was, however, a man who lived by his own code of ethics that fit remarkably well with his time and place. And corruption was not a part of it, but rather one of the defining elements of his enemies.

Which, to my mind, is something to recommend him over a fairly broad swath of Mexican and American politicians alike, both current and historical.

-Jester

He and his men remind me a bit of Wild Bill, or Judge Roy Bean.