It's always fun to see a seemingly innocuous thread blow up with racism accusations, and then try to predict how the staff will handle it.
The setup:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/i’m-in-mexico-and-i-drank-the-water-how-dead-am-i.438841/
My wife and I had tacos and burritos and they came with iced tea, which we realized after drinking was probably mixed with tap water.
We’ve heard the horror stories. How dead are we Era?
(Yes we are both vaxxed and wearing masks whenever possible)
The initial reactions are mostly a bunch of already dead memes a la:
As a Mexican I can say that you are totally dead, hope you had a great life op
But this is Era:
What does that even mean ?
What a ignorant borderline racist comment
Im as european as they come (white pale and not used to spices) and I've eaten local DF food for more than 3 weeks without an issue. Many of my meals straight from the street too.
This and all the jokes about being dead are racist but don’t worry mods will ignore it
I do love racist threads on ERA.
About to die according to wypipo.
(Image removed from quote.)
Somebody quick, get me the suicide prevention hotline.
This is ERA:
So you’re making light of suicide to battle a legit concern about travellers diarrhoea?
Hecht and Morrigan do eventually weigh in that the concerns are valid and worrying about illness from the water isn't racism, but their posts are boring.
The thread keeps going though. OK, maybe it's not racist in concept, but the way the thread was done feels wrong:
The water is bad yea, nothing wrong saying it. But this thread does feel like it just exits to make fun of the issue rather than talking about it, which is the weird part imo
And this just feels like a signal flare went up somewhere that a racism was occurring, but the guy has no basic comprehension of the situation:
I don't get it, what's it about the water in Mexico?
I hope there is an explanation so that's not as racist and elitist as it sounds.
No one is being racist or elitist. People posted about it earlier and everyone yelling outrage as “racism” obviously hasn’t traveled to Mexico. One of the things they make a big deal of is to never drink tap water or even ice since it comes from tap. Why? Filtration is different and our stomachs will probably get upset due to it. Minerals, quality, etc. You get used to it after that first bout of diarrea (source: me. Went out to Cozumel to get tacos like the OP and the next three days weren’t fun lol) but afterward your stomach gets used to it.
it’s very well known so you all can chill with the racism commentary. Hell, people in Mexico actively tell you to avoid it and drink bottled water. In resorts they even bring the bottle to you and open it in front of you.
We don't drink tap water in Brazil either, so places that sell food use filtered water to make their beverages.
I can't speak for Mexican people, but I wouldn't like to hear a tourist saying they're afraid of dying because they drank our water, automatically assuming every restaurant is unsanitary enough to serve food made with untreated water.
Also I would be more careful and tactful when speaking about other countries' sanitary conditions regardless, especially in a place with a mixed community like era, but hey, that's just me. Be my guest to do your thing.
Alright, fair enough. I just thought it was weird because our tap water isn't potable either, so we just don't drink it nor serve it to guests/costumers. Drinking water straight from the tap simply isn't a thing in our culture, to the point we find it weird when we see people in other countries doing it.
Honestly kind of a low-key thread in terms of era outrage, and since the staff don't believe you can be racist against tap water the way you can against music not a graveyard, but I really appreciate the user base's commitment to finding an -ism in every situation.
