Well my friend. Many of us that live here do in fact have a vested interest in the community. This is why ligitimate consternation is directed at the overbearing shutdowns. No tears for bums that don't want to work even in the best of times, just for those that want to but are unable because of meaningless business closures.
- Thread starter Ken
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Curfew Tightened Considerably
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That wasn't his point. He was saying that those who occasionally post support for poor Dominicans are p'ssing in the wind on this forum because the majority on here are expats who don't really connect with what life is really like in DR. At least that was my take on it.
An ex-pat writing to the editors of the local publications has "zero" influence and is tantamount to spitting in the wind (unless you're the U.S. Ambassador, then you'l be 'tolerated')
It may even get you a "don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong" response from natives.
Do you read the local rags?
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Many of us are married to Dominicans and have dominican children and extended Dominican families as well as employing Dominicans. Maybe some of those living in gated communities are living in a bit of a bubble but I don't think that is the majority of the members of DR1. I interact daily with many poor and working class Dominicans. I am not fluent in Spanish but I can make myself understood and carry on a basic conversation. I think this is true for many of our members. Some are fluent in the native tongue. These shutdowns have a huge negative effect on most working class Dominicans.
What really surprised me was the article the other day about an unexpected side effect of the Pandemic: More people are opening and using savings accounts here than ever before.
Not everything is bad.
I just tried twitch on my cell Android, moto g7. There is no one click stream option. Press here, press there, turn phone sideways and then it still did not save the video most times. Maybe I am doing it wrong.
Is there not an app with reliable one touch streaming/saving?
That was exactly my point. It is nothing more than grandstanding with this show of "solidarity". Now there might be a handful of people who care and who want to be part of the "locals" and I respect that. Most, and I have seen these types over a decade, living on a policeman or a firefighter's accelerated pension, that spend time there, live in a limbo.
As to your last question, while I am perfectly able to read, speak and write in the language of say,"Diario Libre", the conversation is about those that apparently feel for the locals but only opine as keyboard warriors in a forum that is clearly meant for and cater to a whole different audience.
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No Monday morning quarterbacking here. 90% of my friends down here are Dominicans, most of whom have never left the island. Although some do have family living in Nueva York (abroad) who send money, a lot of them do not. I will continue to voice my concern for them as well as share their opinions about these draconian measures this idiot group in this puppet government has stuck them with.
Pardon me but I am speaking based on the Expats I have interacted with in the DR which may not be representative of you.
I have no doubt that it is hurting those at the bottom end of the food chain, including in my country. So there are two camps - the virus deniers and those that believe in the science. Speaking of the second group, most governments, to my knowledge, short of an effective vaccine have no recourse but masks and curfews, especially in a land like the DR where rules are meant to be broken. This is why there are overbearing shutdowns in many parts of the world, even as far as NZ and Australia.
In Italian, there is an expression: "Piove, Governo ladro!" In that context, railing against the Government, is a boring and oft repeated refrain, that does not help those that need it, and is particularly rich, coming especially from some that benefit from a Government pension and gracias a eso, living in someone else's island of sun and sand.
Well, no one believes that they are making a change to Dominican policy or that the government is listening, so that's that. As far as the "virus deniers" you speak of, I don't think there is a single person posting here that believes that the virus does not exist. They simply disagree with you that it is a death sentence if you pass someone while walking on a desolate beach and the only way to fight it is to lock people in their homes for months on end and close commerce. Since you seem to fancy foreign expressions, here is a well known gringo business saying : money talks and bull shit walks
I also have lived here ten years and don't have any friends at all who are expats. All my friends are Dominicans. My god daughter was born in Guandules and you're far more likely to see me propping up a bar in the colmado in a barrio than in Bella Vista. And as far as grand standing is concerned I was personally very involved in getting the laws changed on noise and am also fighting a big legal battle with the government at the moment to get a law changed. I agree there are lots of posters on here who don't step out of their gated communities but also a significant number of us who are fully involved in society.
100% agreed.
There are those of us who live here in a bubble and
there are those of us who live here.
And then there are those of us who live in their bubble in the US but like to pontificate here.
Far removed from the everyday struggles the average Dominican has to deal with here
on a regular basis. Sweet.
I would also like to see an executive order redirecting the funds of those
who support these draconian restrictions to those who's livelihood's they
have destroyed. Take away their cushions and I guaran damn tee ya, they'll
change their tune real fast.
I will only have to say "Kudos" to you in that case, if you are walking the walk....talk is cheap which abounds here. I too, am doing the talking but have no additional pretense.
So, those that disagree (and in my country, there are 70 million of them), I would only say, "Join the revolution". One can of course, always opine but let that be in an anodyne mode, rather than venting and often, on DR1, on how stupid the DR Government is. Boring....
Lot more money than usual being sent from out of country. More Dominicans that have residency in other countries leaving to work, even though they prefer to be in the DR. A lot of construction going on.
Do you feel that way about others living in your birth country, that they should by law have to converse in the official language of said country.
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