I don't think it matters if it is in English or not. The Downing Street Memos were in English and barely registered on the news in the US. People just have to break out of their "Fox News" headspace and look around.

well, yes, i guess that's the point i'm making at the end.

yet i do think it matters a lot. as i said, it's not just about this. it's about US citizens' views on the entire world, especially Latin America. the barrier of language creates a great opportunity for politicians to exploit our ignorance, and they do. i've posted on it before, regarding a few issues in Mexico and such. people here have such a skewed version of events and politics south of the border, and that would be harder to maintain and exploit if the language barrier weren't there.

of coures, there is always apathy and self-interest at the expense of others, and that would abound, and always will in some people.

It has been too damn long since I mentioned on here how much I f-ing love you, Nez. I have been reading your posts and thinking it, but I like to say it out loud now and again, too.

Thank you for the translation, btw. And, there are so many reasons for people to speak more than one language and SO many reasons for Spanish to be one of them, especially for people in the US, especially for people in California (and I am still fucking humiliated that my state passed the "English is our official language" law), and it is just so...so...my English fails me, as to how to express what I feel in the face of knowing that my country holds its head higher for what it refuses to know/learn than it thinks anyone else should for all the things they know/learn more than us. Has it ever not been considered a sign of amazingness for people to be multilingual? Except for the US, right now? Christ.

I agree also with what you said about if everything were ever known about GW and his folks, and I also agree with what you said about people wanting to not-know. I was so ruined by the notion that, well, I don't even want to say specifically what it was that I believed I "found out" because I'm so afraid it would make people lose their minds with grief if they believed it also that I don't want to risk it. And that's still a way for a person to essentially not want to have reality out in the open, it doesn't even have to always be evil intentions that keep things hidden in plain sight. Although it's my opinion that it often is. I guess my point is just that I know too well what you mean by "I don't know that the truth will all come out, and if it did, I honestly don't know if the majority of people would be willing to accept it."

On a happier note, the way that you can make me laugh with your, um, enhanced photos and way with words ("George Fugya Bush") is much appreciated.

Joan, I'm glad you do say it from time to time. Because TRUST me, I get a lot of negative attention and feedback, too. That is not always shown here, but I see it. And as much as I laugh about it, well, I've told you the effect it can have on me before. So it really helps to know that it is appreciated. Sometimes it's hard to remember how many people come back here day after day, after all, most are silent.

And laughter....soooo important.

Thanks again, Joan. (I haven't forgotten the audio file...I will send. :)

As I wrote on my blog recently, the bully tactics in Bush's declaration should have been obvious to anyone who knows humans. We are blinded to the antics of our own human race, because of our fear and addictions to power.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -Samuel Adams
When I heard this quote this morning, you were the first to come to my mind.

Jennifer, you put it well. as usual.

--

Janna, that's kickass. Gracias mil.

Sorry Nez,

I'm a little confused on the first paragraph, as it connects with the later comments about understanding other languages...

did you mean

"so many US citizens cannot read/speak English"
or
"so many US citizens cannot read/speak anything other than English"

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

My wife and I have been talking for some years about how belief, rather than objective fact, seems to be the new standard for governance in the US. If those in power believe something to be true -- even if that belief is not supported by proof or is directly contradicted by some extant proof -- then they will seek to institutionalize policies and legislation that rely on and support that belief.

e.g. President 'believes' that Iraq had WMD, so even without objective proof of it, he feels justified in invading. No supportive evidence is found after the fact, but the President continues to justify the invasion by claiming that we 'believed' that Hussein had WMD' (again, belief alone is cited as sufficient reason). Another proffered justification is that 'other nations believed he had WMD' (here, the belief of others is cited as some sort of bizarre corroboration).

I don't want to go too far afield with this, but I'm sure others can think of many other arenas where our conservative associates rely solely on what they think and believe (again, even when contradicted by evidence) in order to justify their positions.

sorry, mimi, fixed. gracias.

I agree with your main premise that the arrogant, ignorant English-only stance of the majority of Americans is offensive to the world and detrimental to the U.S. However, this isn't the way to attack it because the real answer to the problem of Americans being lied to, tricked and brainwashed by the media is that we need better media and better education.

They are two related but separate problems and I think conflating the two creates a smokescreen for the first. If the only problem with a proudly ignorant and arrogant populace is that they get lied to and tricked by the media...that problem is easily fixed without actually addressing the xenophobia and racism inherent in the proud ignorance and arrogance.

tomás, you very well may be on to something. but the thing is, i dont think bush—or any of the rest of them—tells us what he really believes. just what he believes is enough to convince us to go along with what makes him and his kind richer and those he despises weaker and less able.

i see in his eyes and body language and in observing his actions what he believes. but he works hard to keep the raw truth of that under a sheen of speechwritten bullshit.

hi christina b.

all i can really add is that "education" comes in many forms. as it should. humans' ways of learning and hearing takes many forms, so it stands to reason that there can not be One Way to educate.

Nezua, I completely agree with that -- it's two separate issues. Though they may govern by belief, I think you are absolutely correct in saying that they don't tell us what they really believe.

If they did tell us, I think it is highly likely that most Americans would recoil in disgust. And then put some wooden stakes through their hearts, assuming they've got any hearts at all.

okay christina, i would add one more thing, especially because i think i misunderstood your comment (sorry, if so).

if people have one source of information, how hard it is to fool them? but if they have fifty, how hard is it?

so...the more sources of news—and this is my point, that people not knowing spanish cannot read La Jornada or La Prensa, or any of the other sites in spanish, and so have to believe the English sites' reporting on those same issues—the less chance the people can be fooled.

of course, they have to want to not be fooled... :)

Nice translation Nez,-- yes those pesky translations do take time. I read the Spanish Press {various locations on line and El Nuevo Dia, San Juan, in the original newsprint on pulp daily, depending upon events that week} and the reporting is very different compared to the US Press journalism watered down stuff that makes it into the paper papers and the electron papers. The editorials and columns in Spanish are scathing in their commentary about the Empire. Every day you can read famous novelists who write columns in national papers decrying the latest failures of the US foreign relations and even the domestic situation. And events that occur within those countries are reported very differently than they are in the US press. Usually, what is going on in America south of Texas and Miami {it IS a whole hemisphere let us not forget} is mostly ignored and never reported in the US English Press at all. Finally, there are stories from EFE and AP that can be seen in print versions in the English paper and the Spanish paper that are direct translations so comparing them helps to refine the translation skills.

Very very true. I try to read as many foreign publications as I can (and many of them do supply English versions!) and particularly Spanish ones since I do understand Spanish. There's also a lot of just plain news, like what exactly is going on in México in Oaxaca, with Obrador/Calderón etc, that people in this country have absolutely no idea about.

In some fairness, though, Spain has only now published these meetings and memorandum notes, have they not? They weren't published back in March of 2002 -- not that that would have stopped Dear Leader *ptooie*...