I have just come back from a 7 day vacation with my sister and her family in Orlando, FL. They are the only reason I would visit that state again. It was so nice to be around family! However, it was truly a cultural shock! Here in SF we live in a bubble. Just being in Florida and getting bombarded by US patriotism was enough to realize how much of a refuge SF has been for me. I also realized how I have almost lost the ability to debate my political views. In SF am surrounded by like-minded “progressive” people, so debating about whether the war should end, or whether we are responsible for the climate crisis we face, or whether gay people choose or not to be gay is out of the question. I just find it absurd to even entertain such ideas.
According to what I saw and to my sister’s stories of the girls’ experiences in school and in their soccer team, that place seems to be flooded with racist people. I was glad to see how my sister and her husband are raising their kids to cope with all that bullshit! That racist bullshit does not exist in Puerto Rico or at least it is not based on HATE. Like Puerto Rican/Newyorrican poet Pedro Pietri beautifully puts it [for a Puerto Rican] “to be called negrito means to be called LOVE.”
I kinda had the same experience with people in Paris (a ‘progressive city’ and all). But you know what? It can quickly change. In the span of 2 years, so-called ‘progressive people’ voted Sarkozy in office and want their Reagan/Thatcher/Bush revolution with a vengeance. And the same bs is happening in the NL.
Somehing tells me when people swap ideas for attitudes it’s very easy to win ‘the culture war’. People in Paris, Amsterdam, SF and other places tend to view certain attitudes vaguely attributed to values (openness to new ideas, behaviors, cultures, peoples, environments, experiences, etc.) as the wardens of civilisation. What they don’t realize is in the process they abandon the traditional left constituencies (hence the whole debate about east coast liberals, blue-state America, the liberal media etc…) which may be swooped down to the other side if the Right’s simplistic arguments echo with the general population (think Reagan 1980, Bush 2000 and 2004) What’s more is since it’s only an attitude and not a core belief in ‘progressive ideals’ that liberal elites hang onto they can change their minds very quickly as well, and be on the ‘right’ side of the playground. (no pun intended)
I do see your point (after reading it twice, though! love you;) and am surrounded by that situation constantly at work. That elite that you are referring to is what I work for: “white liberals.” They, for instance, go to Chiapas, MX, with pre-set paternalistic views toward indigenous communities, or to Costa Rica to get lectured about sustainable living when for indigenous people there sustainability is just a way of living, not something that they have ever thought of labeling. However, I rather having to argue these kind of views (with subtlety you can create awareness) rather than with people who are not even close to understanding or caring for these issues. Thanks for commenting. It reminds me our old times in Cambridge, Bakersfield, CA , US of A…
I, for one, had a great time. Except for the sunburn. But the chick-fil-a did help a lot
te amo titi se ve chulo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! miss you