Not that many have the hot blackberry and those that do would pay for it little by little at an exorbitant interest rate.
- Thread starter Robert
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Why Are Dominicans So Apathetic?
Not that many have the hot blackberry and those that do would pay for it little by little at an exorbitant interest rate.
The impetus for change must come from the Dominican who live outside the company. Unfortunately, it would seem their only interest is to make themselves look good to the Dominicans at home.
The type of demonstrations that were seen in the street, when there talk of deportation of illegal alien. There should be a similar outcry from Dominicans about their homeland which leaves their relatives like virtual peasants. They need to form some type of coalition or group and bring pressure to bear on the dominican government buy lobbying the American government.
How these people can watch arab nation take on their ruthless oppressive governments, while they sit by and let fellow Dominicans suffer is reprehensible.
It is not the Resident Dominicans who are the problem, they are powerless. it is those who are abroad who are letting their countrymen down.
The type of demonstrations that were seen in the street, when there talk of deportation of illegal alien. There should be a similar outcry from Dominicans about their homeland which leaves their relatives like virtual peasants. They need to form some type of coalition or group and bring pressure to bear on the dominican government buy lobbying the American government.
How these people can watch arab nation take on their ruthless oppressive governments, while they sit by and let fellow Dominicans suffer is reprehensible.
It is not the Resident Dominicans who are the problem, they are powerless. it is those who are abroad who are letting their countrymen down.
I call that reponsible spending rather than planning.
Honestly, the more I make, the more planning I need because I get offered money left and right because I now "look" like I can pay back (with exhobitant rates too).
In my college days, I was broke, no planning needed. I just had enough to get by after rent and tuition. Unless I ate every other day or walked around naked, I couldn't plan, nor save.
Dominicans abroad aren't going to do anything. Many prefer the country the way it is, others will make an effort but be stymied by the first group and the third group want really nothing to do with DR and are too busy living in their current country. I work with at least 10 Dominicans and my calls for to at least support monetarily Alianza Pais were given that spaced out look ppl give you when they aren't paying attention to what your saying.
I remember in one of my tirades against them, one guy told me "pero metete a diputado"....
Mire, no ombe...
I remember in one of my tirades against them, one guy told me "pero metete a diputado"....
Mire, no ombe...
Just to clarify my point about planning (financial and family planning) - my neighbors are all 'well to do' supposedly. Professionals living in the city center of Santo Domingo. Working the doctor, dentist, lawyer type jobs. None of these girls (or especially guys), do ANY planning or budget thinking. They're all running paycheck to paycheck, with prestamos on everything. For these people, credit seems to come easily because of their jobs and affiliations, but they don't seem responsible enough to handle it.
I'm not saying there aren't Americans who don't live like this, but they're usually not the dentist, lawyer, doctor type. And if they are, we have a name for them back home: degenerate gamblers, or nouveau riche white trash. Here, it's appears to be the norm. Relatively easy credit + competing with each other to out spend + worrying more about today and pushing away problems to 'later' = big recipe for disaster.
It also answers the question on apathy. The 'elite' won't have a revolution because they have debt to service, so they're imprisoned by debt...
I'm not saying there aren't Americans who don't live like this, but they're usually not the dentist, lawyer, doctor type. And if they are, we have a name for them back home: degenerate gamblers, or nouveau riche white trash. Here, it's appears to be the norm. Relatively easy credit + competing with each other to out spend + worrying more about today and pushing away problems to 'later' = big recipe for disaster.
It also answers the question on apathy. The 'elite' won't have a revolution because they have debt to service, so they're imprisoned by debt...
comparing the DR to arab nations is silly. waiting for a dominican to come from outside of the DR or even blaming dominicans outside of the DR for any domestic problems is silly.
surely the "apathy" we are talking about stems from the fact that most people are generally happy with their lot.
discussions about corruption in general, politics, etc. are all good and well over a few drinks down the colmado.
that's as far as it goes though (unless some nut has brought his pistol with him). looking after one's family come first in the DR, well before any national problems need to be resolved.
If it is true that corruption breeds apathy then you have to admire recent events in Nigeria. a country renowned for its corruption, but the government just backed down after mass protests against the removal of fuel subsidies. mass protests....hardly apathetic.
Could it be that lack of responsibility breeds apathy? if someone in the DR stood up, rooted out the corrupt people and had them all thrown in jail......and then took responsibility for his actions......then............not going to happen.
surely the "apathy" we are talking about stems from the fact that most people are generally happy with their lot.
discussions about corruption in general, politics, etc. are all good and well over a few drinks down the colmado.
that's as far as it goes though (unless some nut has brought his pistol with him). looking after one's family come first in the DR, well before any national problems need to be resolved.
If it is true that corruption breeds apathy then you have to admire recent events in Nigeria. a country renowned for its corruption, but the government just backed down after mass protests against the removal of fuel subsidies. mass protests....hardly apathetic.
Could it be that lack of responsibility breeds apathy? if someone in the DR stood up, rooted out the corrupt people and had them all thrown in jail......and then took responsibility for his actions......then............not going to happen.
You cannot be serious ??? You have been in the DR too long, you are idealizing where you came from. That is the EXACT reason why the USA is going bankrupt. The country lives on credit. Prestamo are just in the form of credit cards, I know plenty of people with 65 year mortgage up their ass (that they got just after paying off their crazy student loans), who can afford sh*t because of it !!
Funny you should mention cops and corruption, because I had an incident of corruption with one New York State trooper way back in 1991. This "trooper" pulls me over on i95 for speeding, I was certain I wasn't speeding, because after all, I was driving with my cruise control switched on at 5 miles an hour under the speed limit.
The "trooper" tells me that he was willing to save me the hassle of missing a day of work, by not having to appear in court, IF I was willing to give him the cash to pay for the ticket. Obviously I found this to be strange and asked the "trooper" to show me the registered speed on his radar-gun. The "trooper" then tells me that he didn't have a radar-gun, but that he knew I was driving over the speed limit, because he "counted the time it took for me to drive from one fixed point on the road to another fixed point" there by getting an "idea" of my speed.
This to me was, less than scientific, so I told the "trooper" to go ahead and write up the ticket because I was willing to contest it in court. Needless to say I drove away witout the speeding ticket.
I know the corrupt actions of this "trooper" is NOT indicative of all State Troopers in New York State, on the same token, neither are the actions of one Dominican family not able to budget themselves; or one person throwing gardage on the floor indicative of all Dominicans.
The ?Tiguere?, ?Pendejo / Pariguayo? adjectives are misrepresented here.
Dominicans do not think of politicians as ?Tigueres?. The consensus is that politicians are thugs.
one trooper, in 1991. tried that one lately, after measures have been taken to stamp out the kinds of corruption that existed 20 years ago?
The entire post WWII generation in the developed World who are commonly referred to as "Baby Boomers" found that the only way to exponentially increase their standard of living was through credit. Our generation spent our entire youths establishing good credit so we could get bigger houses in better neighborhoods and wear better clothes and send our children through college and drive reliable new vehicles, etc, etc, etc. All that "credit-worthiness" did was provide the illusion of prosperity. Now we look around us and see how it actually drove prices through the roof in response to the artificial demand caused by illusory wealth.
The Dominicans we're seeing referred to as "apathetic" here don't live in a World like we lived in but more like the one that our Grandparents lived in when poverty was pretty much the norm and "credit" was the nickname of the guy in the neighborhood who helped people out of a jam for a hefty "vig" and everyone pretty much got surprised at dinnertime every night. The D.R. of today is more like the depression era 1st World than we want to admit and I remember hearing all the depression stories like it was some kind of ghost story from my parents and grandparents.
What I see in the D.R. looks alot like what I heard about 50 years ago. Back then Grandma and Grandpa had the attitude of "Go along to get along" because survival was worth more than justice to them and their children. It was even harder for folks living in rural areas and smaller cities....just like in the D.R. and back in the day officials were nowhere near as sophisticated in their thievery. They stole nickels, just like in the D.R. today and it wasn't until our descent into credit Hell that we demanded full accountability and started prosecuting those who stole nickels. But we made heroes out of the ones who stole millions.
Then the "ME" generation and generations "x" and "why" and pretty soon we will have come full circle back to the new depression and the only difference between us and Dominicans in our shared apathy will be the fact that they can reach up and pull a mango off the tree.
Dominicans have a fatalistic attitude, which is evidenced by the repetitive refrain, Si Dios Quiere. they believe that they cannot change much, because their lot is preordained. when you live in a society that has just about no social mobility, wherein the people who control everything can trace their family tree back to the Santa Maria, and their gardeners and maids can trace theirs to a mud shack in Moca, there is going to be apathy. they have been conditioned, and formatted, to leave things they way they are. that is why the protests for the 4% allocation of GDP for education can be held in a phone booth. as long as they can put some food on the table, buy some Brugal, and end up at the cabana, why risk having some cop crack your skull, protesting corruption? heck, maybe they will get their turn to loot the coffers, Si Dios Quiere.
I sure am glad that was worked out, now let's work on stopping troopers from profiling people while driving on highways.
There is hardly such a thing in the DR... I never saw a peaceful demonstration while living there...
If there are peaceful welgas now, my paisanos have come a long way ...
