‘I’m Shocked, Shocked! To Find That Hate Is Going On in Here,’ Said the World Wide Web of Hate

July 15, 2020

Published in El País
(Spain) on 25 June 2020
by Berna González Harbour (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Madeleine Brink. Edited by Elizabeth Cosgriff.

Today’s giants cannot be attacked by copying how Don Quixote attacked the windmills, or the way today’s iconoclasts have vandalized his statue, but they can be defeated at the polls

To what point of inflating the importance of the minuscule have we come that we are so immune to the hate that emanates from Donald Trump in his every gesture, utterance, or action, that we need Twitter to warn us that some of his tweets are acts of hatred and/or glorification of violence. Twitter has finally realized this! The algorithm affirmed what we already knew, and what we are surprised by is that the spotlight is broken. Like beginning drivers who need constant signage on the highway to warn us which roads lead us in the wrong direction, or what is the speed limit, it would seem that we need warnings to accompany each packet of hate that is fed to us by the leaders we have chosen precisely because their hate aligns with ours. And, while we’re at it, public media also assure us that today we require signs to help us identify films that contain racism. “I’m shocked, shocked! To find that gambling is going on in here,” says Renault in “Casablanca.” “I’m shocked to find that hate is going on in here!” says the web, where the world war of hate has been occurring.

Do you remember the two diamonds used on TV to warn us that what was about to appear was an adult film? We were young when we learned what those diamonds meant, but now we know that they did nothing to save us from life’s perversion. The infantilization of society cannot be the medicine against today’s invasion of hate, irrationality and the exhibitionism of ignorance, which is all too real. So, what do we do?

When a president has proposed injecting UV rays and bleach into the body in order to kill the coronavirus, how can you explain to those who attack statues of Miguel de Cervantes that the writer never sold slaves in the Americas, or that Fr. Junipero Serra may not have taken into account the LGBTI slogans that today guide us? Even more, how do we explain that these are not the enemies that need to be fought?

Cervantes’ character, Don Quixote, thought he was attacking powerful giants when he crashed against the windmills, getting beat up in the process. His largest contribution to his era’s spirit of conquest and repression may have been “giving” Cheapy Island (la ínsula Barataria), to Sancho Panza to govern (the townspeople went along with Don Quixote's craziness at his expense). For his part, Sancho preferred to return to his soup, greasy food and manchego wine rather than being in charge of anything. Intelligent.

But we haven’t learned much. Neither Cervantes nor Junipero are the enemies of equality. And Don Quixote's windmills were not the enemies of justice. Today’s giants, unlike Don Quixote’s, are visible. And they need not be torn down because they can be defeated. By voting. Today’s giants are Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, the Spanish political party Vox along with its intolerance, Boris Johnson and his lies about the European Union and any other nation’s facsimile of these figures.

Infantilizing society is not the remedy, I was saying, but rather an adult construction of society, based on education, and including citizens’ well-being. These should be our focus.

A los gigantes de hoy no se les ataca como hizo el Quijote o hacen quienes vandalizan estatuas de su autor, sino que se les derrota en las urnas

Hasta qué punto hemos llegado en la hipervaloración de lo minúsculo que ya no sorprende el odio que emana Donald Trump en cada uno de sus gestos, consignas y acciones, sino que Twitter nos haya advertido de que algunos de sus tuits son un acto de odio y glorificación de la violencia. ¡Twitter se ha dado cuenta! Cuando el algoritmo al fin ha aprendido lo que ya sabíamos y además nos sorprende es que el foco general está averiado. Como conductores novatos que necesitáramos constantes señales en carretera para advertirnos de las vías prohibidas o la velocidad adecuada, pareciera que hoy necesitamos advertencias en las redes sobre los paquetitos de odio con el que nos alimentan los líderes que elegimos precisamente porque sintonizaron con nuestro odio. Y, por necesitar, nos aseguran que hoy también requerimos avisos en las películas que albergan racismo. “¡Qué escándalo, aquí se juega!”, que dijo Renault en Casablanca. “¡Qué escándalo, aquí se odia!” dice la red en la que transcurre la guerra mundial del odio.

¿Se acuerdan de los dos rombos en las películas de adultos? Entonces éramos pequeños, pero hoy ya sabemos que aquello no nos salvó de perversión alguna, como sabemos que la infantilización social no puede ser la medicina contra esta invasión del odio, de irracionalidad y la exhibición de ignorancia que es real. ¿Así que ahora qué hacemos?

Cuando un presidente ha propuesto inocular rayos violeta o lejía en el cuerpo para anular el coronavirus, ¿cómo explicas a quienes atacan estatuas de Cervantes que el escritor no llevó esclavos a América o que Fray Junípero puede que no tuviera en cuenta las consignas LGTBI que hoy nos guían, pero que no es el enemigo a batir?

El Quijote también creía atacar a poderosos gigantes mientras se estrellaba contra molinos para acabar magullado, y su máxima contribución al espíritu de conquista y represión de la época pudo ser la ínsula Barataria que consiguió para el buen gobierno de Sancho, que antes prefirió sin embargo regresar a las sopas, grasas y vinos manchegos que seguir al mando de nada. Y con razón.

Pero no hemos aprendido gran cosa. Ni Cervantes ni Junípero son los enemigos de la igualdad, ni los molinos de viento lo eran de la justicia. La diferencia es que los gigantes de hoy, a diferencia de los quijotescos, son visibles y además no hace falta derribarlos porque se les puede derrotar. Bastan los votos. Son Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, es Vox con su intolerancia, es Boris Johnson con sus mentiras sobre la Unión Europea, y quien dice Vox dice. Dice.

No es la infantilización el remedio, decíamos, sino, por el contrario, la construcción adulta de una sociedad a través de la educación y sin que falte el bienestar. Y ése debe ser el foco.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .