ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the categories of pirates and tourists as a means to interpret the simultaneously naive and rebelliously explicit blog. Depending on the angle, the website El Blog del Narco (BDN) can appear to represent a scintillating contestatory hotspot or a blandly conformist compromise. The possible profit motive behind the publication suggests that BDN engages not just in contestatory pirate tactics, but also in more complacent tourism. Both pirates and tourists can be faulted for a lack of originality. The BDN version of the allegorical Lady Justice teeters on tautology: justice is just us. It seems germane to add Avital Ronell's decisive critique of the illogic of prohibition: "Clearly, it is as preposterous to be 'for' drugs as it is to take up a position 'against' drugs". BDN never broadened its coverage of narcoviolence to contemplate root causes and far-reaching solutions.