The Contradictions of Living in a Developing Nation

macocael

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Something different for a change, not practical but philosophical:

The Contradictions of Life in a Developing Nation:

Where the state cannot guarantee the safety of its citizenry, so everyone goes about armed, a people at war with itself.

Where education is in such low esteem that the poor who attend school learn just enough to stay poor, and the rich who attend private school, learn what they already know, that god and government exist to serve their interests.

Where telecommunications are among the best in Latin America, but there is no electricity to run it all.

Where a peon rides into town on a mule, and a baseball player rides out in a hummer.

Where the public realm is an arena in which private interests clash in a drama regulated by the conventions of a telenovela.

Where a president exercises the prerogatives of strong man politics in order to preserve and amplify a democratic state.

Where a pliant god colludes in the failings of mankind, since, after all, whatever happens, it is his will: Si Dios quiere.

Where progress is a gravy train for the elite and an opiate for the masses, stoned by the light of its televised spectacle.

Where ideas are censored not by the Church or State, but by the free market and the exorbitant price of books.

Where the simple virtues of country life are praised above all others, and everyone frantically tries to escape them.

Where white is the color of money, and no one is black.

Where the eternal rhythms of life are still manifest, and may be ended abruptly by the thief who kills for a cell phone.

Where a peasant will regale a guest with a meal worth three times the pocket change he would deny that same guest.

Where a mulatto people obsessively pursue a regimen of self-improvement: they straighten what is curled, they bleach what is blackened, they trade chacabanas for jeans, sombreros for baseball caps. . . . Pero no se puede corregir lo que nace doblao.

Where the beat of palos echoes through the culture, but no one is African.

Where language expresses ideology instead of ideas: like the dealings of government, it is opaque, the better to obscure the relation between intentions and actions. Appearances count for everything and conspicuous consumption is next to godliness. Xmas begins two months early to make more room in the temple for the usurers.




If it is true, as Galeano once wrote, that we are what we do to change ourselves, that our identity consists in the synthesis of our daily contradictions, then life in a developing nation may be said to be the suspension of this process, its paralysis. Thesis and antithesis forever staring at one another across the breach in which we all dangle.
 

cobraboy

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I see plagiarism isn't one of your personal taboos...

Why not give proper credit to the author?

Unless, of course, you're Jon Anderson.
 

macocael

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plagiarism? How so? Oh I see. Yes, It is I, Jon Anderson, just posting in various places to have a little fun with this series of aphoristic observations. Galeano fascinates me, his style, his ideas. I wanted to see if I could adopt that style. It aint easy. He's a master, I am a mere acolyte.
 
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macocael

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still in Sonador, though we may be moving to the BIG CITY of Bonao -- I prefer the campo but the inconveniences lately are adding up to a big headache. ONe of which is the lack of a good internet connection in the house, which is one reason I dont post here much anymore.
 

Chip

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Where a pliant god colludes in the failings of mankind, since, after all, whatever happens, it is his will: Si Dios quiere.

Better yet, people get from the Creator what they invest in following his principles. In LA, religion is left in the street at the entrances to businesses and government. No wonder ethical practices are almost non existant. This is a stark contrast to Western countries application of these principles, it is easy to see the difference.
 

Conchman

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Only place I know where you can walk into the bank with a gun, but not with a hat. Where you can get a ticket for driving without a seatbelt but nobody stops a family of 5 including babies, without helmets, on motoconchos. Where the police and the proscuters are the criminals. Where your worst enemy in court is most likely your own lawyer.
 
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curiosita

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Only in the "developing world"?

Can't say I agree with all of what you have said, but I vote this among the best things I've seen on DR1.

My question is whether your contradictions are really the province of a "developing nation" (I won't start on the challenges to the use of that term)?

A surprising number of your observations seem equally applicable (sometimes with a very minor tweek) to every country I have lived in (from the Bahamas, Mexico, Honduras, the DR, and South Africa to the US, UK, France, Italy and Spain):

Where education is in such low esteem that the poor who attend school learn just enough to stay poor, and the rich who attend private school, learn what they already know, that god and government exist to serve their interests. ...

Where a president exercises the prerogatives of strong man politics in order to preserve and amplify a democratic state....

Where progress is a gravy train for the elite and an opiate for the masses, stoned by the light of its televised spectacle....


Where white is the color of money, and no one [wants to be] black....

Wonder what that means for the world?
 

Lambada

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It aint easy. He's a master, I am a mere acolyte.

Hey, macoceal, you're doing ok. One heck of a lot better than I could even begin to fathom. Welcome back! :)

If it is true, as Galeano once wrote, that we are what we do to change ourselves, that our identity consists in the synthesis of our daily contradictions, then life in a developing nation may be said to be the suspension of this process, its paralysis.

I don't agree that that process is suspended here - many of the contradictions you describe so eloquently are external to the psyche. If the internal is 'whole' then the process isn't paralysed because it has a dynamic quality. Where I do agree with Galeano is that immortal phrase about Latin America being condemned to amnesia - certainly in the case of the DR.
 

macocael

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quite true Lambada. I am exaggerating a bit, but for the purposes of the exercise I felt I could take a bit of license. Though in some ways the process is suspended. Still I have faith in the people. We are living in interesting times -- which is a proverbial Chinese curse! But ultimately I take a more optimistic view of things. Although, that amnesia line, by the way, is certainly true. I agree.
 

macocael

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Conchman, Ay ay ay!! how true. Ha!
curiosita, a friend of mine from New ORleans reminded me that much of what I wrote -- or similiar contradictions -- were glaringly evident there. No it is not so much a matter of developing nations as of development itself. As Galeano wrote, el desarrollo desarrolla la desigualdad. And this exists in the States as in other places you mention.
 

Chirimoya

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Another one:

Where multi-million fraudsters get a presidential pardon, while salami thieves languish in squalid, overcrowded jails - the ones who were lucky enough to avoid being lynched by an angry crowd or shot on the spot by the police.
 

DominicanBilly

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Sad but true.

Only place I know where you can walk into the bank with a gun, but not with a hat. Where you can get a ticket for driving without a seatbelt but nobody stops a family of 5 including babies, without helmets, on motoconchos. Where the police and the proscuters are the criminals. Where your worst enemy in court is most likely your own lawyer.

This would be funny if it were not true. Sad but true.
 

sparky11867

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I'm a little late to the discussion....

but might I add that I fear that no matter where you live, you will always be disheartened in some way, especially if you are a "thinking" person. I love my country and my city, but I hate it as well. I see the DR as a place I could live, but I know it will carry its own problems, albeit different ones. Unfortunately, one can never be fully content with their environs unless they choose to live with blinders on. Also, I think I have to admit at this point in my life that "paradise" does not exist. I meet Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, etc. who come to America for the same reason that Americans go to live in other countries. Sadly, everyone ends up disappointed in one way or another. Why is that? High expectations? Life? **** happens? I've thought about and seriously considered moving to the DR, but my fear is that life will be great in new ways and worse in others. I guess my point is that no ONE place can provide you with everything you need or want. Or do people disagree?
 

bachata

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A place where it limits of speed is not a problem, where nobody is going your house to put rules, where the Bills is not God but something normal, where the women walk slowly with sensual rate and the men enamor them with piropos.

JJ.
 

bachata

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I wrote that in Spanish and used world microsoft to translate it into English. Do you wnderstand the meaning?
Here is the original in Spanish.
Un lugar donde el limite de velocidad no es un problema, donde nadie va tu casa a poner reglas, donde los Bills no son Dios sino algo normal, donde las mujeres caminan despacio con ritmo sensual y los hombres las enamoran con piropos
JJ
 

cobraboy

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Why is that? High expectations? Life? **** happens?
Pretty much, especially when folks have Utopian expectations.

It's cognitive dissonance quantified on where on the Maslowian Scale one is, and where the country of reference is.

A person from, say, Rwanda may find the DR quite the model of modernization, efficiency, common sense and organization. But a Swiss Bureaucrat might not...

CB's Law of Happiness: "Expect Nothing, and You Won't Be Disappointed..."
 

drtampa

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CB's Law of Happiness: "Expect Nothing, and You Won't Be Disappointed..."[/QUOTE]


Or as may be the case is some circumstances with the current government in the DR, your expectations are completely fulfilled.
 

amparocorp

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the people in the valley are always watching the people on the mountaintop and the people on the mountaintop are always watching the people in the valley................the people on the boat are seasick and want to come ashore, the people on the shore see the boat and want to take sail..............