July 30th, 2009 (re-posted from vVvAlog at mit)
after almost two months of being in my home country i want to write a few things about the public life, the news, the politics, the jet set, the reality that is public to everybody. the narrative strategy of the telenovela has permeated everything. it seems to me that is a kind of filter, or maybe better a sort of distorted mirror in which colombians like to see themselves. the way the political news are presented is an example of it, specially regarding the corruption inside the political system. escandals. dramas. treasons. revenges. likewise, on the streets, the open spaces, the public space of our cities, there is also drama of different kinds. the one of exclusion and inequality is perhaps the worst. the drama of displaced peoples from rural areas of the country, most of them afrocolombians, indigenous and mestizos. the drama if homeless citizens that have been expelled out from their rural land by the guerrilla, paramilitary and state armies. the relations with our international neighbors has been also dramatized so much that it has become normal to break diplomatic relationships year by year. it is perhaps the drama of the war what continues to increase this telenovelesque environment. the guerillas, the paramilitars, the militars, the police, the thief, the president, the watchmen. the danger of a betrayal, of a fraud, of a back stab, are part not only of the fiction narratives but also of the politics, the economy, and it seem to be in the public space as well. specially in the cities. and specially in bogota. even if such a thing is not true, it seems to be a sort of unconscious feeling of the people. that is perhaps why it has been so nice to travel in this country after many years of distance. it seems like i am not afraid. it seems that i can better understand the chaotic mix and take distance. it is necessary to change this narrative strategy, this rhythm, this melodramatic tempo. enough is enough. lets explore other genres and forget the telenovela.
