THE DARK AGES: AWAITING ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE U.S.A.
I spent the Christmas holidays in my hometown of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is always interesting to return to the U.S. and to get back in touch with a bit of the reality there.
One evening I was attending an open house party when I saw a former public high-school principal that I have known for a long time. I don’t remember if he greeted me, or simply began to speak about Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez. The remark was something like this: “That crazy Chávez thinks the U.S. is sending spy planes over Venezuelan territory. What do we need spy planes for when we have satellites providing all the information we need?”
I told him that I thought Chávez might not be insane and that I had personally seen such airplanes in the Curacao airport, just a few miles off the Venezuelan coast. Whatever else I might have said didn’t seem to make much of an impact on him as he gazed into the distance and changed the topic.
His son had given him an article to read about Argentina. He found it very interesting and said he didn’t realize that there were so many European-born people living in Sao Paulo. I wanted to tell him that Sao Paulo was in Brazil and not in Argentina. I didn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the person he was sitting next to; I just didn’t think it would add anything to the quality of the conversation.
A few days later, as I passed through the living room of our family home, I noticed a question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It asked in which country was there a coup in 2009 to overthrow President Zelaya. The possible answers were Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. The woman contestant would gain a few thousand dollars more if she answered correctly.
Since she didn’t know the answer she decided to call a very smart friend. His suggestion? El Salvador. Was he sure? 50-50. Next choice? Guatemala.
Fortunately the woman decided to walk away with the money she already had instead of risking it by following his suggestions or simply trying to guess the answer. In spite of being a contestant on one of the most important game shows in the U.S., she and her very smart friend simply had no idea about an important event in Honduras that has occupied the television screens in Latin America for months.
I got thinking afterwards, what if she had called Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for help. I wonder if she would have been able to give the correct answer.
Then a friend sent me an editorial from the Wall Street Journal, entitled, “The Tehran-Caracas Nuclear Axis.” It was written by Bret Stephens. In it he said that an “Iranian dairy products plant…also set up shop hard on the Colombian border, in territory controlled by Colombia’s terrorist FARC.” I was surprised to learn that the FARC controlled a part of Venezuela. I am sure that the FARC would also be surprised to learn of that.
Nevertheless this now Wall Street Journal editor in New York, for some reason, has the right to tell millions of Americas something that simply is not true.
On the return flight to Caracas, it seemed that I had just been back in the dark ages: a lot of ignorance, wars going on in all parts of the world, apathy, lies. But then I thought back to Cheyenne: the beautiful Christmas lights that I have loved since my childhood; the bright, white snow that I had seen falling gently to the ground.
I popped the iPod earpods into the sides of my iHead ears and fell asleep listening to Perry Como sing, “Oh! There’s no place like home for the holidays.” With joy and sadness I thought to myself, he was right.
-30-
These comments were originally prepared for Narco News .
One evening I was attending an open house party when I saw a former public high-school principal that I have known for a long time. I don’t remember if he greeted me, or simply began to speak about Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez. The remark was something like this: “That crazy Chávez thinks the U.S. is sending spy planes over Venezuelan territory. What do we need spy planes for when we have satellites providing all the information we need?”
I told him that I thought Chávez might not be insane and that I had personally seen such airplanes in the Curacao airport, just a few miles off the Venezuelan coast. Whatever else I might have said didn’t seem to make much of an impact on him as he gazed into the distance and changed the topic.
His son had given him an article to read about Argentina. He found it very interesting and said he didn’t realize that there were so many European-born people living in Sao Paulo. I wanted to tell him that Sao Paulo was in Brazil and not in Argentina. I didn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the person he was sitting next to; I just didn’t think it would add anything to the quality of the conversation.
A few days later, as I passed through the living room of our family home, I noticed a question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It asked in which country was there a coup in 2009 to overthrow President Zelaya. The possible answers were Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. The woman contestant would gain a few thousand dollars more if she answered correctly.
Since she didn’t know the answer she decided to call a very smart friend. His suggestion? El Salvador. Was he sure? 50-50. Next choice? Guatemala.
Fortunately the woman decided to walk away with the money she already had instead of risking it by following his suggestions or simply trying to guess the answer. In spite of being a contestant on one of the most important game shows in the U.S., she and her very smart friend simply had no idea about an important event in Honduras that has occupied the television screens in Latin America for months.
I got thinking afterwards, what if she had called Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for help. I wonder if she would have been able to give the correct answer.
Then a friend sent me an editorial from the Wall Street Journal, entitled, “The Tehran-Caracas Nuclear Axis.” It was written by Bret Stephens. In it he said that an “Iranian dairy products plant…also set up shop hard on the Colombian border, in territory controlled by Colombia’s terrorist FARC.” I was surprised to learn that the FARC controlled a part of Venezuela. I am sure that the FARC would also be surprised to learn of that.
Nevertheless this now Wall Street Journal editor in New York, for some reason, has the right to tell millions of Americas something that simply is not true.
On the return flight to Caracas, it seemed that I had just been back in the dark ages: a lot of ignorance, wars going on in all parts of the world, apathy, lies. But then I thought back to Cheyenne: the beautiful Christmas lights that I have loved since my childhood; the bright, white snow that I had seen falling gently to the ground.
I popped the iPod earpods into the sides of my iHead ears and fell asleep listening to Perry Como sing, “Oh! There’s no place like home for the holidays.” With joy and sadness I thought to myself, he was right.
-30-
These comments were originally prepared for Narco News .
