HARRISONBURG, United States. — Cubans are not only the only Latin Americans to suffer from the longest dictatorship in the Western world, but we are also characterized by a certain proclivity to exaltation and other tendencies.
These tendencies make up a wide spectrum that goes from believing that we know everything to that we are the best at everything. Also that of criticizing someone or something without having all the elements to do it fairly.
A few days ago I verified how ingrained among us this sterile habit of giving an opinion about another to try to impose an opinion or discredit him, because I was the object of one of those attacks.
On March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, CubaNet published an article of my authorship titled They will not be mentioned in the newsin which it can be clearly seen that my intention was to praise the courage that several Cuban women have shown —and show— in the already long fight against the dictatorship.
A reader identified as “Cuban in Patagonia” lashed out at me without thinking twice, who made this comment, which I transcribe verbatim:
“I want to be respectful of the writer of this article. But the theme of it shows me that the communist dictatorship of Cuba has managed to colonize the intelligence of the majority of Cubans and this is the case, even when they are in Harrisburg (sic). March 8 is a date with deep communist roots. And the fact (sic) that the UN promotes the official celebration in all member countries, only shows that the UN, so progressive with its 2030 agenda, is also in the hands of those who aspire to lead a world dictatorship with a communist and genocidal edge. ”.
Complying with the guidelines of the newspaper’s management, I refrain from participating in the debates. I would add that I do not like to exchange with someone who does not reveal their identity, but, in this case, considering the palpable injustice of the comment, I answered him, although it seems that I did not do it correctly, since my answer was not registered.
I reiterate that if I have taken this event as a reference, it is only to point out how pure this way of gratuitously insulting another person without knowing it is among us.
From the beginning of the reader’s comment, an undeniable whiff of arrogance can be seen when he states: “I want to be respectful of the writer of this article”, that is, the opinion maker turns what is a “must” into a “want”. Even more evident is that he thinks he has the right to offend me and if he doesn’t do it, it’s out of condescension. He places himself in a situation from which the supposed right to distribute blame is abrogated.
Next, the Patagonian Cuban affirmed that my intelligence has also been colonized by the communist dictatorship, because it supposes that I do not know the origins of the celebration of the date.
This apparently trivial fact shows how much we still have to learn in terms of a culture of exchange and tolerance towards others and how difficult it will be to achieve it when the dictatorship disappears, a moment when the homeland is going to need many Cubans with a culture and an attitude very strong civics
I refer to that apprehension that is achieved with reading, life experience, decency and patriotism, gains that allow us to act correctly and make the necessary demarcations so as not to be fooled by the opinions of presumed know-how.
We must achieve the necessary maturity so as not to be blinded by ideology, even if it is very difficult to find the golden mean. Many times, even knowing where it is, we run towards the part that interests us to avoid being questioned.
Not reading the extraordinary plea that is Report at the foot of the gallows, written by Julius Fucik, or the excellent writer that was Alejo Carpentier for the mere fact that they were convinced communists, is indeed a sample of intellectual colonialism from that right that questions everything. Attacking or defending everything that comes from the left and defending everything that the right does “to be politically correct” —when you are against the dictatorship, obviously—, is also politically correct.
We must begin to build the homeland that we want from our imagination, but also with concrete actions, especially those that tend to improve ourselves.
Because once the much-needed and longed-for justice has been achieved, we will do nothing right if in that new republic we impose the same discriminatory codes that the communists have used; We will not do anything right without a deep and unprejudiced analysis of our mistakes so as not to repeat them and not to fertilize the causes that caused March 10, 1952 and January 1, 1959. We will do nothing right if we continue compromising with vulgarity and indecency .
That homeland “With everyone and for the good of all” that Martí dreamed of, goes through the unavoidable act of knowing how to respect the other.
No, “Cuban in Patagonia”, I am not an intellectual colonized by the dictatorship and I am convinced that in CubaNet there is no collaborator to whom that label can be applied.
And I also tell you that if State Security could not silence me when I was in Cuba, subject to repression, threatened and restricted in my movement inside Guantánamo, much less am I going to silence my opinion now, when I live in freedom. No one, no matter how powerful or pedantic they may be, is going to make me give up my right to express my convictions, be it in CubaNet or in Cochinchina. You don’t have to be “from the big scene” to express our opinions, as long as we do it with respect for the other, much more if he is Cuban and is on our side.
You read me, and although you did not do it well, I thank you. Then he offended me gratuitously and I already turned the page.
May God bless you and help you grow as a person. It is the same thing that I ask every day for myself, for the people I love and also, why not?, for those who did me so much harm in Cuba.
OPINION ARTICLE
The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the person who issues them and do not necessarily represent the opinion of CubaNet.
