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No Fear or Loathing Here

By Miuler.

January 24, 2012

A certain Huffington Post conjecture written by Monica Gutierrez has been floating around the Internet for the past few days. It presents a number of facts and uses anecdotal evidence intertwined with sagacious metaphor to hide an underlying insult that cannot be left unattended.

First she says logic doesn’t apply to my island but that could just be dismissed as a mere attempt at using exaggeration to express incomprehension. This could only be the case since she certainly doesn’t hold the master key of logical thought. Then she generalises by saying most Puerto Ricans believe agriculture is denigrating. Maybe in San Juan, there may exist the idea that agriculture is beneath civil society but not where I come from and most of the people I know do not feel this way. They may not all work in agriculture but just because you’re not an architect it doesn’t mean you hate buildings. The recent movement that has seen the rise of artisanal coffee production is proof of what Puerto Ricans really think about agriculture, that it lies at the core of our identity.

Then she moves on to the old paternalistic tactics of divide and conquer in a very post colonial and condescending sort of way. According to her, poor people often act like rich people. Although this may sound like an assertion of an apparent arrogance or consumerism in the pauperised majority, there is more to what meets the eye. In addition, “educated people are often very ignorant of their own culture and history.” But to top it all off, “simple people possess a tightly knitted thread of intelligence that goes from one generation to the next and weaves the fabric of an undeniable insular identity.”

Many things bothered me but the one execration that pushed me off the edge was that educated people are often very ignorant. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees so I consider myself educated. Most of my friends have college degrees also so I consider them educated. Even those friends of mine who do not hold a college degree are quite capable so even they are educated. Often means frequently and if we are recurrently ignorant then we are ignorant more than 50% of the time which is the same as to say my friends and I are mostly ignorant or ignorant most of the time.

Then the author goes on to offend what is left of the populace or what she calls simple people. I know her style and choice of words perfumed her prose but she cannot fool me; an insult imbued in metaphor is still an insult. A “tightly knitted thread of intelligence” is a paradoxical oxymoron. Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skill. Intelligence is therefore flexible, unassuming, uncluttered and inquisitive. A tightly knitted thread of anything is inflexible, unchanging, pre-programmed and thick. Therefore, at the very least what she could have meant was the possession of a very limited and stubborn type of intelligence that, to make matters worse, passes from generation to generation and constitutes the mark of our “undeniable insular identity.” What is an insular identity in simple people, one asks? Assuming that by simple she means poor, the kind of identity that thinks they’re rich when they’re not. Therefore, the intelligence of the simple minded is, arguably, arrogance and consumerism.

The rest of the post is what I call the pessimistic portrayal of our lives and our future and I stress what I’ve said before about this, it is not that some of the facts she mentioned are not true, but that her way of presenting them make it impossible to think there is any way out of this mess. She pays lip service in the end to progressive rhetoric but she provides no light at the end of the tunnel, not even the hope of one.

I am one who believes my island is falling in a seemingly unending abyss but I think the abyss is but a mirage that can be overcome. I know of entrepreneurs in anything from producing honey to rethinking project management software. I have met victims of crime who have come to accept their fates and overcome their tribulations. I have seen, regularly, intelligent individuals gather in blogs to discuss their opinions with eloquence and respect. But most importantly, I know the history of my people and in it I see a group of individuals who overcame adversity and thrived regardless of what stones were thrown at them.

Puerto Rico was a Spanish soldier colony where no one wanted to come. My own family, five generations ago, were on their way to Peru but were stuck in the island when the boat transporting them capsized near Culebra. The island had to lure Europeans because there weren’t enough people to populate the country and the slave trade was so slow the result is an island where just a small percentage of the population is of black descent; compare to Cuba and Dominican Republic to see the truth in this.

In spite of all of this, Puerto Ricans did their best to survive by cultivating fields with what was available, engaging in contraband trade because it was necessary and creating a culture of its own that has given us delicious food, rhythmic music and a body of law that rivals that of our neighbours.

We lived through difficult times in the beginning of the last century with political strife and famine but overcame it with 50 years and two top notch universities that created a generation of winners that never knew the face of misery that their parents recognised well. It was not the Americans who graduated from University and became successful engineers and biologists that lead people into producing the goods that drove the economy of the last century, those were my parents. And the parents of my compatriots were the lawyers, teachers, doctors, musicians, entrepreneurs, architects, entertainers, bread bakers, journalists, construction workers and even government employees, among the rest of the productive members of our society.

Being ignorant about our history is failing to recognise that one hundred years ago, Puerto Rico was a real nightmare. Nowadays we may have high unemployment rates but at least we don’t have the “jornalero” system anymore where sugar cane labourers became practical slaves of the industry. We may now have high crime rates but at least we now have rates in existence. In the times of my grandfathers, people died “de repente” which was code for they died in a bar fight or as a result of some other sort of honour violence. They also died of polio, pneumonia, dengue and starvation.

Understanding context is seeing how most other countries have worse problems than ours. Mexico’s problem is not with drug smuggling and addiction, it’s with drug violence that renders entire towns, cities and even departments ungovernable. Colombia has a guerrilla. Venezuela has a dictator that closes down entire news organisations. If you compare us with the US and Europe, you may be deceived into thinking that the island is in a dismal crisis but that’s what happens when you compare apples and oranges.

We now have a culture and it is not one that was born over night nor is it the same one we had one hundred years ago. There are many words for it: Ay bendito, salsa, la loza, chichaito, jíbaro, Mr. Ñemerson, Medalla, parranda, Sanse, coquito, belguelking, Mayawest, un millon de copias obliga’o y lo demás es parking. We are also well aware of it and just because some of us don’t take part or approve in one or a number of these activities it doesn’t mean we aren’t. Not all British people eat bangers and mash regularly; some of them even eat curry daily.

The author has her own style of expressing her opinion; she uses truisms. It’s writing something so general and true that the reader will just take the undeniable idea presented and add the details themselves. This is similar to what Walter Mercado does. Here’s an example: “to solve the pressing emergency on the Island [Puerto Ricans] will have to stand up, work hard, be united, combat ignorance, learn to love their land and respect it, come together as a people and sit -as equals- to negotiate or just declare a dignified solution on their own.” This is not a custom made solution to our problems, this is what every nation, including the United States, needs to do in the name of progress.

I don’t claim to have custom made solutions to our evils, in fact, my solutions are more or less the same as anyone’s and if you’re interested just read my previous posts. But I at least have one thing and that is optimism. I believe in the ability of my compatriots to rise to the occasion and move forward. I am the product of their resilience and so is everyone else. We are all the product of this history and we are proud of it, warts and all.

Follow the author on Twitter @MrMullers and Google+ @Gabriel Müller.

This post was written with British English spelling.

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  • Boom

    You have something that Ms. Gutierrez doesn’t have… the experiece of ACTUALLY living in PR!   She writes as  she’s an expert but she’s only visited the island several times.   Personally, I think she’s an ignorant woman.

  • http://www.facebook.com/pablo.tirado Pablo Tirado

    A mi me sentó mal el ensayo de la Gutierrez.
    Yo creo que diste en el clavo. O sabe muy poco de PR, o se está haciendo la loca.
    Somos muchos que trabajamos día a día por mejorar la isla, y me duele cuando viene la Nuyorican a condenarnos con un articulo en el HuffPo.

    • melendez

      No es nuyorican pa colmo es Colombiana!!!!! Viviendo en uno de los basureros mas grande Nueva York!

       Para ser mas especifica Brooklyn, New York donde ocurren casi todos los dias asaltos y otros crimenes.

      Cuando escuchen a Luis Jimenez en el vacilon dando una mala noticia diciendo en donde ocurrio? en Brooklyn! y se rie pues no es chiste.

    • Paddlejlemon

      Ese es el problema. Enseguida que alguien dice algo ya buscamos la forma de escurrirnos. No estamos hablando de Colombia o Broklin. No hay que po.erse defensivo, sino mirar lo qur esta pasando en la isla y buscar soluciones para que no haya una destruccion total de nuestra isla.

  • Syrie

    If you want to refute something a journalist wrote, you better learn how to spell….

    • Robert

      The article was written in British English as the author currently resides in London (although he was born, raised, and educated in Puerto Rico; and returns to the island more than once every 3 years).

      All the best.  

      • Anon

         You hicks don’t even know what real English is. Maybe Ms. Gutierrez is right after all.

        • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

          Hick, an unsophisticated provincial person. This is a word created in America to describe most Americans.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Also, her piece was an OpEd, not a journalistic piece.

    • http://twitter.com/Arturo_Ulises Arturo Ulises

      This is a thousand times better written than that joke over at Huff Po.

    • Spell Check

      It’s not “you better” but “you’d better”.
      You’d better learn how to spell before you try to refute something that a journalist wrote about another journalist on a blog.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/34GJAMVAPKCW5VXCKTXPTCAQ7E Tania Colon

    I think the truth is between the two articles.

  • Carmela

    Super.  Me encanto.  En verdad que yo tiendo a ser BIEN negativa cuando pienso en Puerto Rico pq vivo en Nueva York y lo unico que escucho es “mataron a este”, “hubo un tiroteo alla”, “le robaron a fulano” y me endiabla.  Pero tienes toda la razon de que los que han hecho algo positivo en la isla son puertorriquenos.  Los doctores, abogados, maestros, dentistas como papi, etc.  Recomiendas un buen libro de la verdadera historia de la isla?

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Gracias por el comentario. En cuanto a libros, te recomiendo el de Fernando Picó titulado “Historia General de Puerto Rico.” It’s a bit biased y el estilo es particular pero es un excelente repositorio de datos interesantísimos.

  • Sajuliana

    Nice comment, please add the z to your key board, no offense but talking about education..well I have to make the notation..Anyway I think your article is very well written and very thoughtful.It make me think about the new advertising saying”las cosas estan malas”, okay it can begin with our attitudes , but when you think about it…it is more than that because the government is not doing anything about it; instead they plead innocent a government representant for doing things that in every case..they find guilty the offender; and they fire women that to their “satisfaction”has done something wrong..everything is so wrong..it depends on the view..of some people.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Please excuse the z’s. It’s British English. I live here now and it’s become part of me.

      • Robert

        ‘ello guv’nor.

  • Fernando Zambrana

    As a fellow Boricua (Puertorican), I can agree with as much as the fact that Gutierrez exaggerates and, perhaps, generalizes much about our society beyond acceptable parameters. Furthermore, I’ve seen how, in the last few days, many friends and acquaintances (most from privileged backgrounds) have reacted with indignation to the above referenced article. The linchpin of their rejection is that Gutierrez “no es de aquí” (is an outsider), therefore, her opinion is not acceptable. Their reasoning is mostly based upon the fact that, given that Gutierrez basically comes to Puerto Rico to sunbathe for a few days every couple of years or so, she’s not entitled to an opinion on our current situation. 

    Gutierrez did manage to score a hit at our weakest spot: our national pride, and God, we Puertoricans ARE PROUD. No matter how much an argument holds water, or an observation for that matter, if it hurts the national pride, boy, you are in deep trouble. 

    Others have said that Gutierrez narrated the story of all the peoples of the world, but she unfairly and squarely placed all of these problems on the shoulders of Puerto Rico. Can anybody name a country with zero crime rate, no drug consumption, and a society that perfectly and harmoniously marches in (real or apparent) lockstep towards the common good, even if under the thumb of a vicious dictatorship? And no, North Korea is not the correct answer, even if you took for granted all of the crap that their propaganda machinery generates.

    But even if Gutierrez DID squarely place all of these maladies at Puerto Rico’s doorstep, it is ONLY because the op ed deals with Puerto Rico. She’s not writing about the election by fiat of the next president of the Russian Federation, a narco state such as Mexico or the income inequalities of Brasil. 

    Now, let’s say that, for the sake of argument, that this op ed was my idea, instead of Ms. Gutierrez’s. I know that I would get flak from quite a few proud, fellow Boricuas for saying that my people are high on drugs, ignorant, consumerist, and just simple minded idiots who were, wide and large, happy to live off welfare. It is way too soon to say something like that, given that the scars caused by Amaury Nolasco’s line in ABC’s “Work It” have barely healed (“But I’m Puertorican. I’ll be great selling drugs”). I would get so much heat that would put Finnish saunas to shame for saying that our politicians are corrupt and Puerto Rico deserves the people that WE placed in power. I could be even ostracized until the day my name is forgotten by the likes of El Nuevo Dia, la Comay, el Vocero and Channels 2, 4 and 11 if I ever said that a great number of our politicians are as rotten as the contents of a compost garbage bin. Woe to me if I ever said that not many people want to work our fields, even though four months ago our Secretary of Agriculture went on the air on one of Puerto Rico’s main AM radio stations in a morning politics show to rally our people to participate in the collection of coffee grains from the fields, even if PENNIES are paid for every pound of coffee collected. And yes, many of our lampposts are only noticeable during the day because people steal the copper in the wires to sell it in the black market. Just ask any employee from the Roads Authority (Autoridad de Carreteras) or the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. If you have any doubts, why then did our legislature criminalize the theft of (SPECIFICALLY) copper about five years ago? 

    But still, I also know, for a fact, that many people (from “la loza”, that is from privileged backgrounds, and otherwise) would agree with me, even if in private. And I am not going on a limb here, because I’VE HEARD dozens of people, from all over our society say this. 

    Placing the generalizations made by Ms. Gutierrez aside, I am of the opinion that the outrage caused by the article represents one of two things: that our national pride was hurt by truth (or half truths), or that people are angry because Ms. Gutierrez is full of it” and so happens to have a forum to propagate her venomous and slanderous message. I feel that I belong to the first group. 

    I am sad to report that, as a Puertorican on the trenches, this island is hardly governable, and I do not see a way out of our tribulations, social and otherwise, at present. It seems that drug kingpins, corrupt politicians and self-centered individuals who care little about the common good and civility (i.e., the bastards that are always trying to “pasarse de listo”) have the upper hand. My conclusion is that, as a society, all of our problems seem that they have no head or tails. The funny thing is that my dismay makes me feel that we have something in common, as a people, with the community of nations. 

    Many will hate and disagree with my gloomy assessment of our situation. I am not implying that our paradise will be perpetually lost. Ms. Gutierrez’s truism that people have to respect themselves and work together to get Puerto Rico out of its quagmire is shallow at best. Nonetheless, I don’t expect a roadmap to recovery from an op ed, as creating one and acting upon it is up to us. I am glad, however, that somebody from the outside is criticizing us, even if we are cast in a bad light, since it will get US thinking about how OTHERS see us. And sometimes, that is the first step towards recovery. 

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      The thing is, I can’t put her generalisations aside because that is the premise upon which she bases her argument. I’m not blind to our problems but neither am I impervious to insult on this scale.

      • Paddlejlemon

        La verdad aunque duela es la verdad. Por mas orgullo que yo tenga de ser Puertoriquena. Eso no me llena la barriga. Mi abuelo cultivaba para complementar la comida de sus hijos. Los vecinos hacian lo mismo. La gente compartian la vaca que mataban, y ponian un catre en cualquier sitio para acomodar los visitantes. En la escuela aprendi leyendo aqui y alla y oyendo a los viejos hablar, lo que havia pasado con la agricultura. Lo cual expone la Sra. Guitirrez, y estoy de acuerdo. Ser Puertoriqueno para mi es mas que cantar y bailar las canciones del ayer, volar la bandera y hacer huelgas en la yupi, pero como yo actuo para elebar mi cultura y para que otros respeten lo que somos. Cada vez que visito PR, quiero salir corriendo, por que lo que veo es basura en todas partes, gente hablando malo, fiestas y borrachos, hijos que insultan a los padres y vs. Como dijo otra persona, bebe y baila con nosotros, pero no te atrevas a “criticarnos”, porque aqui nosotros somos como somos

    • abrelosojos

      of course, giving up, packing your bags and heading for the hills of beverly is the way to go. and don’t give me the “I´m glad somebody from the outside is criticizing us” bit. EVERYBODY from the outside criticizes us, and we have usually taken it sitting down in a humble manner, because we thing we deserve it. I am glad so many public replies of “basta ya” have come forward to all these fluff pieces that keep portraying Puerto Rico as tierra de nadie. THAT is the first step to finding a solution to our problems, pushing back against all the negative that everybody else thinks we are.

      • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

        That is the first step, indeed. Hay que recuperar nuestra dignidad.

    • Solmari Perez

      Fernando, espero no sea un problema si me permito de compartir tu análisis en la pagina de “Buscando a Batman” en Facebook. De todas las reacciones al ariculo de la Sra. Gutiérrez, con el cual estoy de acuerdo, encuentro que la suya explica de manera ejemplar lo que en realidad disturba del mismo. El orgullo Boricua herido por un extranjero. Estoy casada con un italiano, frecuento muchísimos extrajeros y todos concuerdan en que si deseas estar bien con los boricuas, hanguea, bebe y no los critiques!

  • Correodejalil

    El articulo es una opinión. no es un trabajo de investigación. La respuesta también es una opinión. Ninguno es representativo de una verdad absoluta. Veamoslo solo como eso, opiniones. Yo particularmente estoy en desacuerdo con ambas opiniones pero esa es solo mi opinión.  

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      In what way do you disagree?

  • Whoreje Bauza

    Pienso que simplemente estan llorando porque el articulo original les cayo pesado. La mujer que escribio aquel articulo no habra vivido en PR la mayoria de su vida pero todo lo que describio es exactamente como yo se lo contaria a alguien, y yo si he vivido aqui to’a la vida. No es pesimismo, analicen bien y piensen bien… es simplemente no estar en negacion. Yo puedo ser la persona mas optimista y tener una inmensa fe en la gente de PR y comoquiera, si fallo al reconocer y aceptar en donde estamos y lo que esta pasando, falle. No me sirve de nada. Estoy pajariau viviendo en mi mente idealista… hasta que algun incidente me pase cercano, claro esta (asalto, muerte, injusticia, despido etc). Pienso que este articulo esta sumergido en una piscina de negacion. Frases como “por lo menos no estamos tan mal” me han hecho repetir lo que comi hace unas horas. Y el mencionar las cosas buenas y las personas buenas que han vivido aqui en PR y forman parte de nuestra historia son pensamientos placenteros y nos llenan de orgullo, pero aqui en el contexto correcto en el que estamos, no vienen al caso… irrelevantes. Es simplemente otra curita consoladora. Get real. Hay que estar claro, mirarse al espejo, aceptarse, darse una bofetada, para entonces echar pa lante. El decir “no estoy tan mal por lo menos no estoy como aquel” es una receta muy especifica y se dirige al fracaso.

    • Miuler

      But that’s just my second argument. What about the fact that she called you either ignorant or someone of limited intelligence depending on your education and living complexity?

    • melendez

      Mudate a Colombia  o Nueva York que es de donde ella viene quizas es mejor lugar. Creo q en un ano quizas regreses a la isla que no existe!

  • Heimo79

    As a fellow Puertorican, I too agree with most of your post. I also think Gutierres missed the point and only sees the island as an outsider who probably never left the confines of the San Juan metro area. I too hold undergraduate and graduate degrees and know that I am not the only Puertorican to have so, Im also not ignorant and neither are my friends, the educated and not educated. I have to add one thing, that despite the fact that we have eliminated many of the problems that we had as a poor nation 100 years ago, we have adopted the problems of our colonizer.You can pretty much draw a direct correlation line between problems Gutierres mentions and in many other states in the mainland (ie. dissent of working in agriculture, poor primary education, drugs, gun violence, domestic violence and to add a few, obesity). Id like to see Gutierres make a better argument on the problems of the island by using comparative reasoning: life expectancy in Colombia vs Puerto Rico, poverty in Colombia vs Puerto Rico, ignorance in Colombia vs Puerto Rico, consumerism in USA vs PR,  drug use in USA vs PR, ignorance of educated people  in USA vs PR. Because despite geographical limitations, no people are an island, specially in this day and age.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Good idea.

  • Heimo79

    yea, Puertoricans like the slap in the face, in fact we happily welcome it and then we never really move on, probably because we’ve come to believe that we deserve that slap and will never do better. much like a continuously beaten wife. as i said before, our problems are not that different from the northamerican problem. make a list, including what Gutierrez mentions and the ones you see for yourself living in the island, then erase the ones you dont hear about in many states in the mainland and see what are the true Puertorican problems. but for this you need honesty, not just for the problems in PR but for the problems in the USA. go ahead and analyze it for real this time, and stop asking for the others to step on you and us in the process.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      I made this psychological point on my first draft but then took it out for the sake of maintaining a unified argument and because it’s a difficult contention to substantiate. But you could be right. It may be that some believe that they deserve insults relating to the critical state of our civil society which would explain why so many felt no offence when reading Ms Gutierrez’s piece.

  • Beatriz Ramirez Betances

    Excellent answer. Thanks!

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Thank you.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507954300 Alberto Perez

    No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver. Muchos trabajamos duro en PR pero no los suficientes, difiero de este articulo en su mayoría. No podemos dejar que el orgullo no nos permita ver claro, seria como el adicto que no acepta su condición. Creo que Gutierrez menciona todos los puntos que normalmente un puertorriqueño le conversa a otro Puertorriqueño cuando se habla de  ”Como esta la cosa”, Pero es lamentable que se ofenden si viene de alguien que ya no vive en la isla o que viene de visita. Es como el que ve un sitcom en la televisión y se ríe a carcajadas cuando se burlan de alguna nacionalidad, pero si se burlan de algo que tiene que ver con nuestra nacionalidad se les olvida fácilmente como rieron con las demás pero se ofenden si alguien lo hace con la nuestra. La opinión de como nos ven de afuera debe ser de mucha importancia para los que vivimos en la isla porque ademas del la agricultura (que esta en un momento critico) y la mano de obra nuestro recurso de gran volumen es el Turismo el cual se afecta en relación de como se nos ve desde el exterior. Quizás en unos puntos Gutierrez exagera, pero en la mayoría para ser justo tengo que otorgarle razón, en este articulo el autor Miuler con todo su derecho muestra otra perspectiva de asunto, pero carece en contradecir o darnos a entender el porque la visión de Gutiérrez es errónea o borrosa, en vez de llenarnos con historias de siglos pasados necesitamos concentrarnos en el ahora porque la discusión es del hoy de nuestra realidad Puertorriqueña.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Una cosa es apuntar al
      problema de drogadicción el cual no niego y otra cosa es decir que,
      además de lo de las drogas, somos unos ignorantes sin identidad que
      desconocemos nuestra propia historia y cultura. Quizás habrá gente que
      la desconoce y habrán algunos ignorantes pero decir que la mayoría
      sufrimos de esta condición es un insulto.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507954300 Alberto Perez

    Yo muy bien entendí que lo que ella trato de presentar en el articulo es que una gran mayoría de los profesionales que tienen grados en bachillerato y aveces en maestría carecen del conocimiento básico de quienes somos y hacia donde vamos. Trabajo con profesionales que son excelente en sus respectivos trabajos pero saben muy poco de sus historia como puertorriqueño y de la lo mismo o no le interesa hacerlo, pero si te pueden hablar de la historia deportiva de varios deportes populares. También hay un tipo de profesional en que como mencione son excelentes en su profesión pero fuera de ella no se comportan con educación, no respetan las leyes y tratan de ir por encima de las mismas, conocen muy poco de otros temas generales el punto es que muy pocos leen o se educan fuera de lo que hacen porque no hay sed de ser mejor o de aportar a mi país. Se vive en un “Insularismo” en donde en su mayoría domina el “Faranduleo” o “Soy lo que compro o poseo aunque no pueda pagarlo” solo importa lo que pasa en la isla como si no ocurriera nada fuera de la isla.

  • Myovni

    No se puede tapar el cielo con la mano. Everything she said in that article is true. One thing is to be proud of your country and another is to ignore the truth blinded by your patriotism. The first step we need to take to make PR better is accepting the reality that is in front of us, that we see every day. Our island is in a crisis. Because of our political situation we don’t have a real identity, it’s some kind of limbo. Crime rates are too high because of the drug trade. Comparing us to Mexico or Colombia is kind of stupid, saying that they are worse than us. Is that comforting? No. You have to be objective you don’t have to agree with the way she said it but you have to admit it was the truth.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      That’s one thing, but how about calling most of the Puerto Ricans you know ignorant or having a very limited intelligence? I don’t ascribe to that. She may have mentioned some of the obvious problems with my island but this is not news. Everyone knows what the problems are and everyone knows how to solve it. This is why this part of her opinion is irrelevant. The imporant part is the one I just mentioned and it is precisely the way she said it that should insult any one of my compatriots.

    • abrelosojos

      it’s not the truth. tapar la realidad de que podríamos estar peor diciendo que estamos en la prángana no nos hace ninguna justicia a solucionar nuestros problemas. tomando acción, si. dejarse latigar por un visitante, no.

    • melendez

      Everything she said is true? No niego que parte de la informacion fue correcta pero la mezclo con informacion falsa y exagerada. Nosotros obviamente con tan pobre autoestima pensamos que una pendanga que viene de afuera y no nos conoce bien esta correcta pero, solo basta ir a vivir a otro lugar para darte cuenta que nuestros problemas no son unico y exclusivos de PR.  La mayoria de las personas que conozco en Puerto Rico son altamente educadas y conocen bien su cultura. Si la Sra Gutierres en tu caso te describio siento pena por ti!

      Yo vivo en el mismo estado que la sra Gutierrez vive,  estube casi toda mi vida en Puero Rico y lo frecuento. Creeme lo de ella fue un insulto!

      • Edwin Rivera

        Look, first of all, monica is not an alien to the idiosyncrasies of PR, in fact se graduo de comunicaciones en la UPR: http://www.80grados.net/author/monica-gutierrez/
        Dado el hecho que yo no tapo el cielo con la mano  puedo, si puesto en otro contexto, aceptar todo lo que son hechos reales en cuanto a lo que ella expone sea como critica o como reportaje investigativo (con bases, claro). 
        Ahora bien, ese no es el caso en el escrito de Monica, probablemente sea ella la esta tripeando con algo  que esten cortando con anestesia para caballos y pretende utilizar “el Realismo Magico” de su gran maestro a su manera. 
        Yo puedo hablar de la comunidad cubana en Miami y no referirme a ellos como gusanos, puedo hablar de la situacion Colombia y no decir que todos los colombianos son narcotraficantes, eso es lo que tiene de malo el escrito de Monica, no lo que dice sobre lo que pasa en PR y que nosotros todos sabemos.
        Independientemente de cual sean las preferencias politicas de cada cual…  Coño, despierta boricua, esta mujer lo unico que hizo fue insultarnos.  Yo no hablo de mi “orgullo nacional”, a mi me falto el respeto en lo personal.  Si alguien se encuetra en alguna de las categorias que ella menciona, lastima por usted, pero yo no tengo que aceptar que nadie me insulte.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507954300 Alberto Perez

    Yo muy bien entendí que lo que ella trato de presentar en el articulo es que una gran mayoría de los profesionales que tienen grados en bachillerato y aveces en maestría carecen del conocimiento básico de quienes somos y hacia donde vamos. Trabajo con profesionales que son excelente en sus respectivos trabajos pero saben muy poco de sus historia como puertorriqueño y de la lo mismo o no le interesa hacerlo, pero si te pueden hablar de la historia deportiva de varios deportes populares. También hay un tipo de profesional en que como mencione son excelentes en su profesión pero fuera de ella no se comportan con educación, no respetan las leyes y tratan de ir por encima de las mismas, conocen muy poco de otros temas generales el punto es que muy pocos leen o se educan fuera de lo que hacen porque no hay sed de ser mejor o de aportar a mi país. Se vive en un “Insularismo” en donde en su mayoría domina el “Faranduleo” o “Soy lo que compro o poseo aunque no pueda pagarlo” solo importa lo que pasa en la isla como si no ocurriera nada fuera de la isla.

  • Anmatos1

    Gracias por la critica literaria.  Esta Colombiana parece que esta projectando lo que jode en el pais de Ella.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Gracias por aportar.

  • midium101

    Excelente respuesta y analisis. Aquel ensayo me dejo en un terrible estado catatonico y siento que acabo de despertar. Gracias!!

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Gracias por tu apreciación. Me alegra saber que tuve ese efecto.

  • Jan Blackburn

    I agree with you that she has no solutions. I also think we ARE indeed stuck in a rut, and comparing apples and oranges is not ideal…but what CAN we do?! More and more of us educated young people are leaving the island, scared, look up a recent article: “The Exiles of Puerto Rico” in Forbes. Y si ella, ni tu, ni yo sabemos como resolver la violencia (su mayor critica – olvidate del mantengo, de la ignorancia, etc) pues se lo dejamos a la legislatura y la policía….hmm….dos cuerpos gubernamentales con un récord extenso de defraudarnos!

    Dont get me wrong…como dice Pablo, somos muchos los que a diario trabajamos por la isla, pero somos muchos los que a diario….no

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      And that is the scary part.

  • Joroba

    “Nowadays we may have high unemployment rates but at least we don’t have the “jornalero” system anymore where sugar cane labourers became practical slaves of the industry.”
    Brilliant argument that offers great consolation.*Sarcasm intended*

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      If that doesn’t console you, it is because your value system is different than mine. This is the basis of having a difference of opinion. The important thing is not to be consoled or not but to have incentives present in our minds that will help us grow and progress. What happened 100 years ago may seem irrelevant but moving in such time from a quasi-slavery system to a modern employment system with a set of rights is a feat and that is what I inteded to celebrate. The important thing is to recognise that we can get out of this mess as we have in the past gotten out of other messes.

  • Hxcsurfer22

    Please, you can’t single out a few wealthy people that are producing artesenal coffee and claim that this is agriculture. Take a look at a bag of fruit on any street corner and you will see that it comes from the Dominican Republic. The original article was spot on.
    I understand you being proud but for god sakes stop blindly following and start recognizing that this place could be so much more.

    • abrelosojos

      I am so tired of people saying that the trite article by ms. gutierrez was spot on, dando en el clavo. that just is more pessimistic discourse that has been handed down by the media and government to continue making us as a people give up completely y dejarles el canto para que sigan dividiendose a mi isla. vete a la plaza del mercado, al mercado organico, y deja de comprar en costco y sams, para que veas que la agricultura esta muy presente en puerto rico, a pesar de los intentos del mismo gobierno de eliminarlo completamente para que seamos dependientes de todo en la importacion.

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      My point was a bit more nuanced than that. By bringing agriculture up I
      wasn’t trying to say that artisanal coffee production is representative
      of a robust industry. What I was saying is that Ms Gutierrez is wrong to
      assume that we, as Puerto Ricans, see agriculture as a degrading
      venture.

  • L F

    Gracias Miuler, Ms. Gutierrez es otra visitante que se cree residente. “Nice” que vengas de visita mijita, pero la realidad de todo sitio, es que la condicion humana es una de ‘jalar para nuestro lao’.

    La parte mas importante de la ‘condicion’ boricua, es que por primera ves en mucho tiempo, la gente se esta dando cuenta de que la solucion solo va a ser real cuando ‘salga’ de los boricuas. Mas nadie, va a arreglar tus problemas, “why would they?”

    Ms. G, al igual que el Hon. (P)utierres (D-IL), es otro miembro de la “intelligentsia” que insiste en saber todas las soluciones para todo el mundo. “No shit Shirlock!”, si la gente puediera hacer lo que dices (tanto en PR, como en EEUU, como en Europa), “there would be no problems”.

    “Good to see the Acera publish again, that Xmas Hiatus was a bit long…”

    Buho

  • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

    My point was a bit more nuanced than that. By bringing agriculture up I wasn’t trying to say that artisanal coffee production is representative of a robust industry. What I was saying is that Ms Gutierrez is wrong to assume that we, as Puerto Ricans, see agriculture as a degrading venture.

  • PaolaCardona03

    Excellent post. I agree with you and also believe that she was too quick to classify the vast majority of Puerto Ricans as unemployed, uneducated drug addicts. Before anybody jumps on me, yes, I KNOW WHAT SHE SAYS IS HAPPENING AND I KNOW THAT THEY ARE PROBLEMS WE MUST ALL WORK TO SOLVE. My issue comes with the use of the absolute. All those problems exist, but to point them out so vividly using such generalizing terms is an exaggeration. As a Puerto Rican that lives in the island, I know that this is not a representation of the majority, but what about people that do not live in Puerto Rico? Editorials like Ms. Gutierrez’s come out all the time in local newspapers but there’s no uproars because the people that read them live here and know that there’s more to the picture. Somebody that does NOT live in Puerto Rico, though, would read this and think that we are ALL hopeless drug addicts with no future in sight. Puerto Ricans have a bad enough reputation as it is, and this piece just re-enforced all the negative stereotypes WITHOUT offering the complete picture. There are more professionals in Puerto Rico than in the vast majority (if not all) of the other Caribbean islands and we are still more developed than both them and other Latin American countries. Has she ever visited parts outside of the metropolitan area? The towns in the interior of Puerto Rico are populated by some of the most humble and peaceful people you will ever meet. It’s not just the upper classes or the country folk that work hard; there are Puerto Ricans of all social classes and backgrounds that push themselves to obtain an education and get a good job. The problems she describes in her article can be applied to MANY major metropolitan areas, and she makes it seem like Puerto Rico is an isolated case that operates on a whole other level.

         I recently met a man whose niece had graduated from a public school and gone to Oxford University in England. This, of course, is a very rare case, but I feel like these are the things we should be paying attention to ALONG WITH the negative aspects of our society. How are we supposed to achieve progress if we resign ourselves to thinking that the majority of our population is doomed to be jobless drug addicts?

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Precisely.

  • melendez

    Mi gente es Colombia no “Columbia” Si en algo se le puede dar credito a ella es que al menos escogio una carrera porque en su pais la mayoria de las mujeres son prostitutas! Me explico las mujeres en Colombia tienen por costumbre aspirar a cazar un bobo con “plata” (chavos) y usar hasta el ultimo centavo que puedan conseguir en cirugias. En su pais aunque el espanol de ellos es bien delicado y bonito las mujeres tienden a la prostitucion mas que a educarse. Al parecer a la sra. Guitierrez al ser una pequena diferencia en su pais e irse a estudiar ya se le subieron los humos a la cabeza. Me pregunto ¿porque no hace ella una visita a Colombia y publica como es su gente? Hablando de gente sin cultura aunque ellos presumen de mucha cultura andan imitando a los caribenos y usando nuestros ritmos y nuestra cultura como parte de la cultura de ellos. La envidia es admiracion con rabia!

    • http://twitter.com/MrMullers gabriel mlr cls

      Melendez, ¿cual es tu fuente?

  • melendez

    Para colmo quien le abrio las puertas para educarse fue Puerto Rico. (Universidad de Puerto Rico) Cuando llego aqui es cuando penso en educacion. Obviamente somos personas que tenemos por cultura educarnos.

  • Edwin Rivera

    Watch Out! Que viene el cuco… and being the educated Ignorant that we are we haven’t seen it coming and don’t even think about it being that we are zombies due to the over-inhalation of horse anesthetics.  Monica stated:
    “Its society is consumerist to nauseating levels, however it doesn’t even produce its own basic foods. Most people there think agriculture is something denigrating, as if a food’s more natural environment was a can. The situation is so fragile, that if external supply would cease, the alimentary crisis would be devastating in a matter of weeks.”Well, while it is easier to see the bad and obvious, some can’t see the good others are working hard to accomplish.  I’m not even going to comment on the agricultural issue I’ll just give you some links.  You can decide to accept Monica’s statements as factual and sit and wait for oblivion or decide to join those who are doing something about it.
    Fact is we are not unaware of a possible ”crisis alimentaria”:
    http://agrotemasonline.blogspot.com/search/label/Crisis%20Alimentaria

    Here are a few other links to what others are doing in a large and a smaller scale, even in your own back yard.

    http://karma-free-cooking.com/2009/05/07/siembra-tres-vidas-%e2%80%93-puerto-rico%e2%80%99s-first-csa-farm/

    http://www.agrochic.com/

    http://www.industriapequenosrumiantes.com/quienes_somos.htm

    http://www.puertoricocoffeeshop.us/

    http://oroverdepr.blogspot.com/

    http://www.miprv.com/

    http://agrotemasonline.blogspot.com/2009_02_08_archive.html

    http://bibliotecavirtualpr.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/taller-de-siembra-de-farinaceos-y-platanos-en-el-huerto-casero/

    http://elplatanero-siembra.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=1

    Y por el estilo, habemos muchos Educados Ignorantes y simples insulares que tratamos de hacer algo por enfrentar las distintas situaciones que apunta Monica.   Que no somos noticia, claro que no, que hay que hacer las cosas en mayor escala, claro que si.  Ofrece soluciones Monica, no.  Que vas a hacer tu?  Autocriticarte tambien y aceptar que somos una mierda….alla el que eso sea lo quiera creer, pero no hagan generalizaciones.  

    Yo, pues aqui disfrutandome un buen cafe de la montana.  Buen dia a todos and bon appetite.