Americans who act liberal and open-minded can be just as annoying those knee-jerk conservatives. I find that for some, the liberalism they espouse is just a show put on to convince the rest of us that they are quite modern, quite appropriate, and of course en vogue. There is a difference between on one hand recognizing the problems in society and consequently trying to improve them and on the other choosing to act like those problems never ever apply to you. What do I mean? Here is an example:

I am taking a class with the study abroad program called Historical Perspectives of Chile or something to that effect. There are two particularly white (and one particularly obnoxious) women in the class who find it necessary to comment upon every little thing said by the professor. It gets to be quite annoying after awhile, especially when they don’t particularly add anything intelligent to the topic or the conversation. (Example 1 Professor: Chileans don’t like Peruvians. Girl One: Oh I know. My brother said something to that effect yesterday. Example 2 Professor: Isn’t that funny? Girl Two: HAHAHAHAHA.)

Last class, the professor was relating to us a particular news article about discrimination published by El Mercurio, one of the more popular daily papers here. It turns out that people feel like there is a fair amount discrimination based upon your physical appearance, and in fact that category of discrimination appeared second in the list with a response of 24%. As an example, the professor told us a story about how he was walking in the streets in the center of the city alone in the middle of the night, which of course is pretty dangerous especially when he was carrying a bag, and he saw two people walking towards him. Judging by the facial characteristics of these two men, my professor had a gut reaction to flee in order to save his wallet and perhaps a trip to the hospital (which he mentioned later saved him two other times in the center of the city). But right before he decided to bolt, he heard that their accent was Peruvian, and immediately he calmed down. However, afterwards it struck him quite hard because it showed that there are facial characteristics associated with criminals or dangerous people based upon how indigenous you look. Although Chileans refuse to recognize it, racism exists.

What were the reactions of these two (white, blonde, well-dressed, private university attending, expatriate) girls? Imagine this nearly simultaneously:

Girl Two: OMG, I can’t believe you did that. It’s so ironic that you had that reaction, especially when you teach what you teach and you think what you think. It is quite inappropriate, and it is so horrible that Chileans have this racism against the indigenous people and against Peruvians. I can’t believe it.

Girl One: Oh that’s ok. You know what? I had the very same thing happen to me when I was in the United States, but nothing really happened. It’s so horrible and cruel and it makes no sense. Don’t worry, it’s ok.

Girl Two: You know what, I went to this rap concert in Chile with some group and they were like saying stuff that was so blatantly offensive I couldn’t believe it. Do you know what they were saying? Qué pasa, negro? And I was like sitting there, thinking, OMG I am like 60 years in the past! I can’t believe that people think like this…………

And so on and so forth.

Blabbering like that doesn’t prove anything about you nor does it solve any of the problems of the society. In fact, ultimately it sounds more like an exercise in political correctness, which basically tries to avoid critical social issues under this veil of politeness and respect. I can’t imagine these particular girls, walking in the streets of an urban downtown area and seeing two black men approach them, would feel quite happy and safe, affirming that in America we respect other people and their identities. By my judgment, they would scream, call the cops, call their mother, call their ex-boyfriend’s frat brothers, pray to God, pray to the Devil, pray to oh what was that Hindu god that I studied in my hip college religion class?, and pull out their can of mace (or a gun, depending on how pro-Second Amendment Republican their father is). To me it makes no sense for them to pretend like the professor’s reaction was out of place or that they don’t have such strong reactions to racial stereotypes.

Aside: The rhetoric surrounding this whole discussion is somewhat ironic as well. The very fact that these girls claim to have already accepted those with pejorative racial characteristics still suggests that there is a hierarchy of power: there are people who need to accept (the majority with the valorized racial characteristics) as well as the people who need to be accepted (those with pejorative racial characteristics).

In the end, those girls do have racial stereotypes and in a dangerous situation they will act upon them. Everybody does. To pretend like they don’t perhaps is part of the racial problem in America. It seems like the first thing people say is “I am not racist, but…” Just because you take a certain position in front of your coffee-shop friends doesn’t necessarily mean that in real life you think or act that way. Just because you sit in a classroom and act offended on behalf of black people around the world doesn’t mean that two lifetime criminals are not going to rob that white drunk ass sorority girl stumbling confusedly in the streets of New Orleans. I find it really doesn’t help in the end.* It doesn’t really change you nor does it change the situation. And thus, such an attitude is just for show.

*Don’t get me wrong. I think discussions about the senselessness of racism and the arbitrariness of the values of racial characteristics are very helpful. But to claim or imply that such racist tendencies don’t apply to you (and this of course goes from any racial/social/cultural perspective) is just false, and ultimately it doesn’t really serve anybody. Why do they take such offense? Why are they so horrified? Those same attitudes, like it or not, are a part of the landscape of American culture. To valorize their positions as holier-than-thou, sinless angels not only alienates others but worsens a fundamental problem of the American society.

Labels: chile, complaints

Peru got hit by an earthquake, a 7.9 on the Richter scale. It surprises me how the earth's plates shift probably a few hours north by plane and I don't feel anything. People build cities in stupid places like along fault lines, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and so on and so forth. It is quite scary how there is the potential for the earth to move and me to die. I don't like dying.

I also find it interesting how Peru just published a map, claiming water that has been Chile's for 200 years or so. Three days later, they get hit by an earthquake. Coincidence? I think not. I hope that no other countries make any diplomatic faux pas in the near future against Chile.

Labels: chile, fears

This reminds me of various movies that have come out in recent history. There must be a lot of people in the entertainment world that have a lot of money to spend on really dumb projects like Fantastic Four or the Matrix and so on and so forth. How is it difficult to get published when stuff like this makes it to press?

Labels: literary

Imagine being a rather tired old man from a different part of the city. You need to find a particular street corner to deliver a basket of goods in the economic sense to a friend of a friend as a favor. You approach a rather smug and somewhat foreign looking guy standing close to the maps at the bus station. You ask him if he knows where that particular street corner is, and he pauses for a second, and then pulls out a few coins and tries to hand them to you. You stare at him confusedly and repeat the question. Flustered, he replies that he does not know. Then you realize that he is just some chino.

Sometimes, I feel like I will never understand Spanish.

An American-Indian girl asked me today if she could have me email and password combination for the U Católica network so that her sister, who is visiting from out of the country, could have something to do while she attends class. This surprised me, especially considering that it was perhaps the 30th sentence we exchanged (outside of a few emails asking whether or not the other person was going to take the Salazar class), and obviously, I gave it to her. This of course annoys me. Why: 1. She started off the sentence "Would it be too much to ask if..." Now if you start off a sentence like that, you already know that it is too much to ask if. 2. I don't even really know her. 3. She is not that attractive, and so I would have no real reason outside of being a nice guy (or a wimp who doesn't want to deal with the social awkwardness of refusing a request) to give her my email and password. Yes, I am that shallow.

Fact: Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada. The capital of Canada is Ottowa. I found the first fact after reading a BBC Spanish article about how Americans don't know who the president of Mexico or the president of Brasil are. (I find this type of article quite stupid. Ask the random Brasilian or Mexican if they know who the president of Russia is or the president of Argentina.)

EDIT: And by American-Indian, I mean Indian-American. This girl was so light, I thought she was...well I didn't know what I thought she was (sort of mediterranean european?), but I was quite surprised when I heard Indian.

Labels: chile, complaints, musings

...the classes that you take is* equal to the level of spanish that you have.

I lie to myself by saying that I am taking this new class, Music in Chile and America, because I really do like music and I really do want to learn about it. Sure that is true but quite untrue at the same time. I find it interesting how this new class is almost completely opposite to the history course. Whereas the history class probably would have changed my perspective on a lot of things, the music class is blatently apolitical. Of course, the class is in the Católica where the money flows. Oh how wonderful it is up here in the ivory tower, the view is spectacular.

On Friday, I went to Pomaire, a small rural city about an hour south of Santiago to visit an artesana who works with grieda (or something to that effect) or clay. The first attempt at making something out of clay worked quite well. I consequently spent the next hour trying to duplicate that effort to no avail. Life out in the rural areas of Chile is obviously much different than Santiago, but I couldn't help thinking that the town looked a lot like Mexico (in particular Tequila) and some parts of Saipan. It makes me think that all underdeveloped somewhat touristy towns have that same sort of run-down but commercialized feel to them.

random thought: Whenever I travel, people ask whether or not I like the women in the country I am staying. Probably it is just a universal custom between men around the world. I could see myself asking someone who came from out of the country what they thought of American women (although I would feel a little strange considering that I don't phenotipically represent the common American man). The question itself is a little strange because you have to say some form of compliment unless you want to offend somebody. But usually you don't have to lie in any case. It seems to me women in general are pretty attractive wherever you go, save Mexico. They are quite so-so in Mexico.

*I suppose the correct verb conjugation would be are, but then it would sound even less like the song, and since "have" doesn't sound like "make" I was worried that...and so on and so forth.

Labels: chile, musings

There are two main universities in Chile. One is the University of Chile, known for its socialist, sweater-wearing, pesoless students, and the other is the Pontifica Universidad Catòlica de Chile, which is known for its catholic, conservative, white-trendy-downjacket-wearing, pesoful students. The University of Chile, after declaring itself a secular instituion probably like 200 years ago, led to the creation of the Catòlica, which swore allegiance to all that is conservative or in more religious terms, the Catholic Church.

Example: At the University of Chile, you can take a class with Gabriel Salazar, the premier historian of Chile known for his marxist (and by Marx, I mean some version of Marx and social theory and what not) interpretation of history. At the Catòlica, you can take an economics class with the ex-minister of economy under the all-lovable Pinochet.

The campuses obviously are quite distinct as well. UChile is run down, graffiti laden, pictures of hammers and sickles, Che Guevara, murals of the horrors of the capitalist system. Catòlica is basically any sort of rich American university.

Seeing the two campuses, I can't help but feel a bit of animosity and contempt for the Catòlica, and I can't quite figure out why. Perhaps it is self-hatred, especially since I am typing this in a particularly nice (and heated!) computer lab where the moderator of the lab is listening to Queen and the girl next to me is extremely attractive in her designer clothes and perfectly done hair. All I can say is, after attending classes at the UChile, all of this money and all of these nicities seem so false, even as I use them. I appreciate how nice they are, but that doesn't take away from how damn shallow it is. A good illustration of this is how prevalent brand names are on the clothing at the Catòlica versus UChile. It's that simple. Another good example is the high concentration of gringos here. You hear English half of the time here. Que fome.

How shallow I was (am?) to berate Tulane for its lack of facilities and its inferior equipment compared to schools like Wash U or whatever other 40k school you want to think of. Granted Tulane still sort of sucks, but not for its lack of facilities or its lack of money. I mean, wanna see poor? UChile can't even afford toilet paper for its public bathrooms. Keep that in mind when you leave to take a shit. You don't want to do the duck walk through campus.

Labels: chile, musings

On the topic of choosing classes once again. I wish I could judge how much work my classes are going to be before I take them. Sure I can understand the professor. Sure, the class seems pretty interesting. That isn't the point. How much work is the class going to be?

Right now, I am currently registered in a class taught by a professor named Gabriel Salazar. I want to take this class because he is one of the most prominent leftist thinkers in Chile. All the hair on his head as well as his face is white and coupled with his booming voice, I thought that God walked into the room on the first day. However, I am almost positive that that class is going to be extremely difficult. So then, now what?

The other classes I am taking seem to be peppered with gringos. On one hand, it is comforting because then I know that other people are just as stumped as I am. On the other hand, it may be dumbed down for gringos as well. Examples: polìtica latinoamericana, analisis de conflictos internacionales y cine foro. Not that these courses will not be difficult, it is just that they have a bunch of foreigners in them.

I hate school.

Classes have started, and as you can guess, my stress levels have increased dramatically since then. I am not sure exactly how I am going to survive, considering that my spanish is at the level of perhaps a fifth grader.

Transantiago is the name of the new public transportation system put into place by the Chilean government. Today in a taxi - since all of the buses were full, packed with people so much so that the doors couldnt close - I saw a man crumpled flat on the ground, run over by a car. A policeman was there waving his arms or something, some cars were honking. I think I saw the man's hands move a bit. The driver proceeded to tell me that those pedestrians never respect the rules of the road, and that 90% of the times that he has seen those types of accidents, it is the fault of the pedestrian, and not the car. I will keep this in mind the next time I decide to jaywalk.

The metro was also filled to the brim. When the metro stops, the doors open, and you see all of these chileans staring at you, mute and stone-like, hundreds 'em. I had to kick some ass to get in(to the third metro that passed, and by kicking ass I mean I had to squirm to shove myself into a narrow nook). As a consequence, my back was pushed up against a wheezing fat guy who had to suck in his breath every time the doors closed, and of course, my backpack was rammed into my stomach. Two women were in front of me, but Lady Fortuna decided to give me enough room to put my hands unintrusively in front of myself to hold my backpack. Anything else would have been uncomfortable. I, of course, was 30 minutes late, but that was alright since the profesor didnt show up. Así es la vida en Chile.

I just got out of a class of ethics. I just wanted to try it out, see if I might be able to hack it. We started with Kant's big book on reason. I successfully attempted my sudden urge to laugh, but then was quickly put to sleep by the profound boringness of the professor. Reason, as it so seems, leads me to conclude that I will not be taking such a class.

I figure that the commute to the class this morning was horrible, but at least I understand the professor, in which case, I should take the class and wake up at the buttcrack of dawn. Good goddamn.

Labels: chile, fears, musings