The recent news summary from DR1.com made mention of a particularly good blog written by Federico Martinez, a business consultant who likes to comment on socioeconomic issues. The blog is called Tomando en cuento. For those of you who read Spanish I highly recommend it. Anyway, he commented on the prevalance of yipetas on the island:
Todo el mundo tiene derecho a disfrutar el resultado de su esfuerzo, pero cuando ese disfrute ofende la precariedad con la que se desenvuelven aquellos cong?neres cuya desgracia es no haber nacido de padres con posibilidades o no haber tenido el chance de engancharse en un partido ganador, ese consumo debe considerarse obsceno.
Mi hermana anduvo por Argentina a principios de a?o; entre las cosas que le llam? la atenci?n fue la ausencia de yipetas en Buenos Aires. Quiz?s la explicaci?n de esa ausencia se debe a que los argentinos tienen las piernas m?s cortas que los dominicanos y les da trabajo ?treparse? a esos veh?culos tan altos. Otra posible explicaci?n es que Argentina produjo a Borges, S?bato y Cortazar y nosotros peloteros y El A?o?aito.
(Trans: Everyone has the right to enjoy the fruits of one's labors, but when this enjoyment flies in the face of the precariousness that bedevils those whose misfortune is not to have been born of affluent parents or not to have had the chance to hook up with the winning party, then this consumption must be considered obscene.
My sister went to Argentina at the beginning of the year; among the things she noted was the absence of yipetas in Buenos Aires. Perhaps this absence is owing to the fact that Argentinians have shorter legs than Dominicans and thus are discomfited by the climb into a higher vehicle. Another possible explanation is that Argentina produced Borges, S?bato and Cortazar, while we have produced ballplayers and El A?o?aito. )
ooo, that was a shot! Well, it occurred to me to ask what people thought of the tendency toward conspicuous consumption represented by the ubiquitous yipeta, and its relation to poverty and an implied lack of "culture" -- to be fair, I dont think that the author of these comments would deny that Dominican baseball or merengue, bachata and other popular cultural forms are in themselves negligible products; rather, I think the implication is that there is not a widespread knowledge or appreciation of other equally important cultural manifestations such as literature, and that we are mired in a quest for material pleasures without taking into consideration the value of other cultural pursuits. The article ought to be read in its entirety, but the central theme is ripe for observations here.
Todo el mundo tiene derecho a disfrutar el resultado de su esfuerzo, pero cuando ese disfrute ofende la precariedad con la que se desenvuelven aquellos cong?neres cuya desgracia es no haber nacido de padres con posibilidades o no haber tenido el chance de engancharse en un partido ganador, ese consumo debe considerarse obsceno.
Mi hermana anduvo por Argentina a principios de a?o; entre las cosas que le llam? la atenci?n fue la ausencia de yipetas en Buenos Aires. Quiz?s la explicaci?n de esa ausencia se debe a que los argentinos tienen las piernas m?s cortas que los dominicanos y les da trabajo ?treparse? a esos veh?culos tan altos. Otra posible explicaci?n es que Argentina produjo a Borges, S?bato y Cortazar y nosotros peloteros y El A?o?aito.
(Trans: Everyone has the right to enjoy the fruits of one's labors, but when this enjoyment flies in the face of the precariousness that bedevils those whose misfortune is not to have been born of affluent parents or not to have had the chance to hook up with the winning party, then this consumption must be considered obscene.
My sister went to Argentina at the beginning of the year; among the things she noted was the absence of yipetas in Buenos Aires. Perhaps this absence is owing to the fact that Argentinians have shorter legs than Dominicans and thus are discomfited by the climb into a higher vehicle. Another possible explanation is that Argentina produced Borges, S?bato and Cortazar, while we have produced ballplayers and El A?o?aito. )
ooo, that was a shot! Well, it occurred to me to ask what people thought of the tendency toward conspicuous consumption represented by the ubiquitous yipeta, and its relation to poverty and an implied lack of "culture" -- to be fair, I dont think that the author of these comments would deny that Dominican baseball or merengue, bachata and other popular cultural forms are in themselves negligible products; rather, I think the implication is that there is not a widespread knowledge or appreciation of other equally important cultural manifestations such as literature, and that we are mired in a quest for material pleasures without taking into consideration the value of other cultural pursuits. The article ought to be read in its entirety, but the central theme is ripe for observations here.