jueves, 5 de octubre de 2017

Cuba Counter Revolution On Childrens TV here? Give Guantanamo back to the cubans NOW Chaubloqueo

De: Sean Joseph Clancy [mailto:seanjosephclancy@gmail.com]
Asunto: Counter Revolution On Childrens TV here?

SOCIALIST VOICE APRIL 2017

Letter From Cuba

In Tribute to the Memory of Eoghan O Neill.

Comrades,

At 6pm on what is generally good weekday children's TV in Cuba,  there is a super hero series called "The Flash", aimed at an audience  primarily in the 6 to 12 year old range.


It is popular, North American made and shown here with English subtitles.

Because of very high literacy rates, dubbing is thankfully not  necessary or that common in any of the Cuban TV genres.

In what I, as a revolutionary parent, inspired by the beauty of what  Marti believed, consider was a grossly offensive -- and by no means  unique or casual -- act of cultural counter revolution, the subtitled  translation of, for example, age-appropriate verbal exchanges between  characters on last nights episode, such as "I messed up" or "oh no",  read in Spanish as "I just shit all over that" (Cago por encima) and  "oh shit" (Mierda)...


That such a thing could occur on the Fidel inspired educational TV channel (Canal Educativo 1) is so far beyond ironic that it is hard not to simply smile, or sigh in fatalistic resignation at an unstoppable avalanche and silently surrender to an unwelcome but higher power.

I'm not quite there, but not beyond the smile, yet.....

The fact that these vulgar and inappropriate expressions were  manipulations that did not remotely represent a true translation from  the original material -- that of itself warranted no such concerns --  raises questions equally or more important than the obvious "who  allows the airing of this kind of thing of children's TV?"

In a nation struggling on a daily basis with what is a scenario of  chronic domestic economic unmanageability, anarchy and chaos, a savage  and debilitating illegal Blockade by the US and a range of other not  insignificant man made and natural obstacles, a few profanities  uttered in script by a second rate Batman early on a Thurs evening  might not seem worthy of a second thought....

However, one must first accept that only someone who has lived or  lives here (and sadly what is a national reality is ever more  exaggerated in the particular area that I live within) could even  remotely understand the extent to which the moral fiber of the nation  was ripped to shreds by the so-called "special period" that followed  the collapse of the socialist bloc and the grave consequences that we  here still live on a daily basis.

It was Chernobylesque and the economic, social, ethical and moral  contamination that seeped into the very fabric of what had been  previously a relatively moral, sane and decent civil society has  created horrible mutations that make everyday life in Cuba  frustrating, sad, difficult, infuriating and depressing beyond belief  by times.

Having such a vile, venomous and bitter enemy lying offshore in wait  to pounce, means that there are valid reasons not to go into specific  details here about even many of the more mundane or everyday  manifestations of this toxic radiation.


Giving an enemy ammunition to kill something that needs to be fixed  from within, would be  equally as unwise as silently allowing certain  things to pass unchallenged.


Excessive, highly aggressive and overtly sexualized bad language has  become the norm here.


One hears it everywhere.                                       

I hear waiters, doctors, judges, tax-inspectors, vets, farmers,  scientists, politicians, military officials in and out of uniform, shop assistants,  teachers, bank workers, carpenters, taxi-drivers, lawyers, sculptors  and almost everyone else under 40 years of age I come into contact  with, use the most extreme expressions in their everyday professional,  social and personal discourses without any self-awareness of how  abnormal this would be considered elsewhere, or the raising of an  eyebrow from their audiences who equally respond in kind.

And I really do mean the most extreme....

I personally use bad language more frequently than I should.

I don't mind it generally and I think a few f**ks when fishing or with  contemporaries elsewhere are fine. I consider it "ok-ish" as an adult  thing, in certain contexts.

But I don't want my six year old son swearing freely or thinking that  it is normal to do so everywhere and anywhere.

And I don't want him being subtly seduced into believing that - even  if they originally entered the Cuban reality through very real crisis  induced desperation -- that it has become normal or acceptable to lie,  cheat, manipulate, defraud, pilfer, undermine or thieve in order to  get what you want.
                                                                                                      
All of these form part of the everyday discourse here and often make  life truly miserable.

I consider and experience all as representations of as grave a threat  to the integrity, viability and ultimate survival of the Revolutionary  Project here as anything our Imperialist foe has overtly or covertly  endeavored to do to date. Socialism is thus betrayed.

If Uncle Sam had made the advances here that the internal and often  subtle social, economic, moral, financial and personal counter  revolution has, Cuba would have been sipping Starbucks lattes,  munching Dunkin Donuts, reintroducing rampant poverty, illiteracy and  malnutrition for the "good of the economy" and profiteering from the  misery of our noble Palestinian brothers and sisters, many moons ago.

Mischievously inserted vulgarities on children's TV are the thin edge of a  very broad sword.

They are also such a savage affront to the very essence of a beautiful  legacy we have been left to aspire to by Marti, Fidel and a multitude  of regional revolutionary giants and to the love I feel for my own  beautiful son, that a brute like me will never convey in words why  they induce such a profound and worrisome sadness....

Hasta Mayo...   Sean

Libre de virus. www.avast.com