thefutureisred

What Is the Significance of Dia de la Memoria?

Today is a day off for us here in Argentina. It is Dia de la Memoria.

Last year, my friend Horacio visited with us on this day. He told us the history, explained what it was like living in Buenos Aires as a teenager during a military occupation. I posted what he told us. Here is his follow up comment.

Hi everybody!.

I'm really glad to know that my chat with the kind Leigh has generated at least the space to discuss this topic. Actually was she who encouraged me to write and say what I think.

As it happens all over the world is much easier to keep people worried about things that have nothing to do with solving the several problems we have in our economy, public services and whatever you like to mention.

But that doesn't allow us to forget the terrible and cruel things we suffered some three decades ago. We had 30.000 people dissapeared by that nasty dictatorship as an organized response to the supposed generalized terrorist attacks. Nobody can denied that there were some forces which tried to impose the fear attacking military chiefs or military relatives.

In my opinion that was produced by some of the ones who belonged to the left side of the socialists parties. And once again, in my opinion, it was due because they were losing their political importance. Little by little they were dissapearing of the political map, because they tried to become the strongest part of the "peronismo", the main political force at that moment. The one ruled by Juan Domingo Perón.

This leader expulsed this "left wing" of his political party after using them to win elections (in 1973) and to be the hardest part of his forces. It was like saying, you're not useful any more for me, go away.

This go away meant a declaration of war inside the peronismo. The "leftsiders" reacted as bad as they could, putting bombs, organizing attacks inside the party and against the military forces. And this was exactly what this leftsiders wanted to do, make sistematic attacks to them.

The reaction of the dictatorship was even worst, terrible. They took control of the government and imposed all over the population the fear of being suspected to be a terrorist.

There was a common phrase on those years "algo habrá hecho" (translation could be: for sure something dirty he has done), this statement was said by the common people to justify the kidpnaps made by the military government. And as a second thought "mejor no te metas" (something like you'd better don't ask what's happening).

As a result of all of this, we got a selfish, ignorant and really feared society of what happened.

That's why I say, let's remember what really happened, do not make the same mistakes. Let's learn to deffend our human rights. Let's be involved in what happens to our neighbor, to our friends, to our countrymates. In order to avoid this nasty inheritance that our sons received. Specially when still now there are people who say "during the dictatorship we were better than now", wishing they to come back, forgetting all the unhuman facts they did like babies kidnapping...

There are many other things to say and discuss, like who supported the military forces inside and outside the country, what was the economical reazon for supporting that dictatorship, etc.

Thanks for "listening" me and for forgiving my language mistakes.

Horacio

Thank you, Horacio for your insights. It's one thing to read about history and another to hear it in the words of someone who experienced it. While Lila may not understand now, the stories you shared with us made the history real.

And the only way to change our actions in the future is to learn from mistakes of the past.

Photo by Jonathan Hamner

 

No More Gawkers: When Will We Forget About Japan?

I'm sitting here in Argentina, landlocked, about as far away from the seismically active Ring of Fire as a person can get. I am not directly affected by the destruction on the other side of the world, so I watch the news.

And I can't help but wonder when we'll stop talking about Japan.

Every media outlet is reporting every new shake of the ground, showing photos of bodies being pulled from the rubble and posting videos of enormous waves engulfing the coast of Sendai.

But when will we forget?

When is the last time Haiti made the front page? Have the effects of last year's quake been mitigated? Is Chile fine? Indonesia? Peru? What about New Zealand? The earthquake in Christchurch happened less than a month ago and are we still talking about it?

Yes, some people still are. In fact, my list of to-do for this week includes preparing two blog posts for Matador Life about Christchurch for Blog4NZ, a grassroots blogger effort to bring support to the area. Pisco Sin Fronteras, a Peruvian volunteer force set up through Burners Without Borders, continues to work to fix the damage from the 2007 earthquake that destroyed 80% of the area.

But you don't see it in the news.

What do we see in the news?

Last night, one of the Matador team e-mailed around a video of a woman, supposedly from some religous group, thanking God for the earthquake. Apparently, they prayed for a sign from God to teach the athiests of the world a lesson.Personally, I think this video is a hoax. That doesn't make it any less disgusting.

And I am proud to say that Matador, without hesitation decided not to post the video even though it was on the cusp of going viral. Even though publicizing it could have brought in huge hits and publicity for Matador. We would have been the first to post it but said no. 

Since last night, Gawker published it as have other media outlets. I'm proud to say that I'm part of a media organization with integrity.

What does Gawker hope to gain by posting this video? Is it helpful? Does it bring attention to a story that people need to hear? Is there any reason the people of the United States need to watch a video in which a young woman goes on and on about how happy she is for the destruction we're seeing all over the news?

It reminds me of how after September 11, as two massive plumes of smoke poured upward from the once World Trade Center, we heard reports of people all over the Middle East dancing and celebrating. The news reports, too, remind me of that time. It brings back painful memories.

It makes me sad and anxious. It pisses me off badly. 

Yesterday, my friend Mike Lynch, who lives in Okinawa, posted wildlife photos he's taken in Japan. He posts them because he cannot look anymore and urges that we all wait patiently as rescue efforts continue and Japan takes stock of the damage done.

What Japan doesn't need, I can tell you.  They don't need Uncle Bill cleaning out his yard sale collection to send over as a charitable donation.  They don't need some major pharmaceutical company to write off a big donation of drugs with an expiration date of next month.  And they don't need anymore news reporters, cameramen, travel writers or anybody else going after the big story.

No more gawkers.

I think that says it all. Mike goes on to say:

We need to let those on the scene do their work without clogging up their transportation and logistical systems.  They will ask for help where and when it is needed.

It is human nature to show sympathy and want to help those in distress, I know.  I want to help, too.  We just have to be patient if we really want to help.  Wait.

I only hope by that time, the rest of the world hasn't moved onto something else.

Photo by jchong

Why I Hate the iPad!

I don't doubt this is a revolutionary device. I like using it for many things, but when I watch Lila play games -- I shake my head and hate it!

There's just something about playing a game on this crazy thing that makes my normally pleasant child aggressive. Lila doesn't listen when she's playing. She ignores, probably doesn't even hear, what we say to her. If you try to take it from her, she becomes petulant and angry.

I've seen it happen to Noah, too, especially when he and Lila play Plants vs Zombies together. Lila grabs his hand in this pincer like grasp she has. It's not particularly painful, but she is surprisingly strong and quick. It's definitely aggravating. So Noah is aggravated. Then Lila gets upset. Then there might even be some grabbing and pushing. 

Or they both poke at the screen trying to play together and end up poking each other. Worse, they block each other and miss a point or a sun or whatever it is. Then they both get frustrated. Then I get frustrated.

Is it really so wrong for me to take it away from them? Tell them that if they can't play nicely with the iPad, they're going to lose it until tomorrow?

But I don't blame them.

I've felt the same intensity with Angry Birds. When someone distracts me, and I accidentally set off a bird before I'm ready. Then it flies off in some random direction, and I don't crush a single pig. I get mad. It makes me want to pincer grip people and maybe even push them away.

Clearly I'm not the first to see this. A recent article on NPR calls angry birds addictive. So I researched it and found this study that suggests certain tones raise our serotonin levels. Could the bips and beeps and squawks from iPad games invoke that little rush of pleasure in addition to the reward of seeing the pigs' clever and maze-like defenses dropped?

When we're then removed from our tonal reward, do we then become aggressive?

What I do know is that anyone in our house -- metaphorically speaking, since we don't actually have a house -- must stop playing when they become rude during a game. If you don't stop on your own, it will be taken from you.

Yes, I mean it. Please don't test me.

What else I don't like?

It's all been said before, so I'll keep it short. The keyboard. I find it cumbersome to use. So I don't. Ever. At all. I figure, though, this is simply a technology limit that will change soon enough. It's annoying, also, that iPad doesn't support Flash.

What I do like?

I use it primarily for reading. Suddenly I can read magazines and books. That's a lovely new thing in the five years since we left NY. The games themselves force you to think logically and spatially. Apps tend to be either free or you can buy them for less than $2 each. We've recently started using one to help Lila keep track of her chores.

I'm a huge fan of Flipboard. During my recent visit to NY, I chatted with Benjamin Wagner, old friend and SVP of MTVi, who loves the interactivity of Flipboard. Where else can you so seamlessly integrate social media platforms, Google Reader and RSS feeds while also staying in touch with what your friends are reading and doing?

Just In Time for iPad 2

I've managed to squeak my little review in just before the iPad 2 comes out March 11, 2011. The new one has a camera and video camera. Lighter. Thinner. Has a cover attached magnetically to protect the display so you don't need a separate case. The screen, apparently is sensitive to strength of touch.

All sounds great, although I probably won't see it myself for quite a while, because we just got the old version. Add that to my list of Dislikes, by the way. Such is the nature of owning an Apple product. 

But the addictive anger, aggression-pincer-thing makes me want to fling the damn thing out the window. I doubt even the newer, snazzier model will change that.

Photo by hj_west.