The title comes from a comment in the preceding post and had anonymous been less anonymous he would not have to share credit with the more prolific author of all times.
So yes, Chavez came out: he not only will keep inflicting us a pain in the ass but his own came back. Does this change the intent of my previous post? Not at all. Here is why.
In a normal country the health of the head of state, or government as the case maybe, is an affair of the state. People have the right to know how long will the representative of the people be in diminished conditions and who is taking the decisions in between. In normal countries sometimes it is the usage to hide the diseases, and it is hidden well. France is a specialist at that: Pompidou's death was a surprise for many. Mitterrand went on reelection knowing well that he might not make it through his seven years term because of his prostate cancer. But this was made possible because all knew that the president was not the only one with the power, that there was a prime minister and a cabinet of real politicians, real professionals in charge. That is why the press was an accomplice to many of France's presidential secrets.
Other countries have different ways to deal with it. In the US besides the stroke of Wilson managed by his wife who was president for all purposes for quite a while, no president has had a debilitating disease while in office the way Chavez has now. And as in France, secretaries and congress have enough power and attributions on their own that diseases lasting a few weeks could perfectly be tolerated by the country.
That is not the case of totalitarian countries. We experienced the case of Cuba when Fidel went ill and was forced to create the first monarchy of the continent (Brazil and Haiti were Empires, you know). But Chavez has no family heir ready to take over, and all power resides in his hands. All.
Since his disease cannot be hidden as other diseases were hidden for other afflicted presidents, it creates for his regime unique problems, the more so that this is a country of gossipers. The only way is to fight fire with fire, create gossips and when possible counter them, or, surprise, validate them. Whatever the strategy one thing is certain, gossiping distracts the populace form the real issues.
We should not pay attention because this is not a normal regime and there is no good way for Chavez to part temporarily with power in a satisfactory way for the opposition. It does not matter how right a given professional gossiper is, it does not change anything to our reality. What I mean is "who cares who is the vice president when Chavez is on medical leave? All will be the same, directed by a tiny group tightly controlled by Cuban interests." The paradox is that Chavez has all the power but he gave it away to people we do not know, in all truth.
Our references here are Tito and Franco, not even Fidel. They shared zilch until they croaked. But people were busy preparing the transition anyway, just waiting for the date to get started.
Tomorrow punditry will be askance as to what Chavez will do and Chavez will be delighted to be in all front pages again, with even an occasional show of support. That he lied to his followers telling them repeatedly he was cured was irresponsible, but it will not affect him anyway. Did Pudreval affect him? Did the corruption affect him? Did the crime wave affect him?
What we should do is remind constantly to the people those issues and point over and over that he is treated in Cuba at tax payer expenses where he receives a health care no one can afford here, in full security, with his relatives and friends travelling to visit him at tax payer expenses, as often as they wish. And unfollow @Boccaranda, no matter how well informed he is. He will drive you sick.
There.....
Don't agree but then that's what makes a democracy.
ReplyDeleteYou are just a capoldista.... :)
DeleteProbably :-)
DeleteActually I like to think of myself as majunche! :-)
I have to laugh at the naysayers who advise people to ignore rumours, when those very naysayers are the ones chronicling or commenting about the state of Chávez health.
ReplyDeleteVery amusing ...
And P.S. if people want to read Bocaranda, as I'm sure you have, Daniel, so what? Who are you to tell others not to???
I am not sure as to whether I should take offense at your comment.
DeleteJust in case.
This blog has commented as little as possible about Chavez disease, treatments, and frequent trips to Cuba. And when comments were made they were always regarding the possible impact on the election: will he run? will they put someone else? is that why they advanced the election? In other words, discussing the fact was that Chavez was sick but not what particular diseases or diverse speculations on what stage, treatment and whatever.
I have nothing against Boccaranda. He is informed (usually, he has made his fair share of mistakes). I even tend to buy El Universal on Tuesdays and Thursdays when his column appears (I like occasional gossip, I just do not obsess about it). If there is one reason for me not to follow him on tweeter is that the guy is a twitting machine and his flood distracts me from other tweets that are more informative or interesting to me (NYT, BBC, candidates, etc ...). In other words, he tweets for his adoring fan base of which I am not and for me that makes at least 80% of his tweets of no interest whatsoever. Which are the same reasons by the way why I stopped following other noted gossipers such as La Bicha which amuses me more than Boccaranda.
I hope this will clarify the intention of my post: Chavez and his Cubans use skillfully his diseases to manipulate opinion and we keep falling for it over and over. The only people that benefit from it are professional gossipers, not me, not you, not Capriles. You can read them at leisure, just do not forget that there things way more important. It is a chavista problem, not an opposition one and that one must work at explaining its proposals, no matter if Chavez or X is the PSUV candidate.
This being said I am under no delusion that my two posts on this subject will have any impact: Boccaranda has 2000 times more followers than I do :)
Commenting on what we know to be established fact ( like the fact that Chavez suffers from Bi- Polar disease) is one thing.Second guessing what is going on with his health at any given moment is another, when nobody knows for sure, or if they do, we cannot discern it at this point.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with following Boccaranda, is that half- truths are mixed with untruths ; it's all a Hodge -podge really.He is often alarmist, spouting out little thoughts and "facts", often without context....one could get quite embroiled in thinking some things that just simply never reveal themselves to be true.
Perhaps for those who do not demand a more serious analysis, he serves as a catharsis, as it is well documented that rumoring provides this for us : relief from stress. Yet I wonder couldn't we find relief in ways that don't distract us from the things we do know to be true?
too bad I had not read your comment before I replied to Syd.
Delete:)
Daniel, unlike what you and a singular number of others, Bocaranda does not go on about how trivial, boring, distracting, or what have you, when he reports on facts or fallacies. If you were true to your thoughts, you would not have posted anything at all on the subject of Chavez' health. Period. But you "succumbed" for the appeal of eyeballs.
ReplyDeleteIf Boca's comments serve as catharsis (and he is not always wrong), then so be it. We live in a democracy, and people have the right to choose what they want to read. As much as you hve the right to choose what you want to write. Just don't lecture readers on what they shouldn't read, when you are not lecturing yourself on what to write.
And don't go all sensitive just because someone dares to comment about certain variances -- we'll leave it at that.
No, we do not leave it at that. I could not not have written on Chavez disease. But I rarely put it in the title and I never made it a label tag. So if my intent was to promote my blog I certainly was at the very least very clumsy around it.
DeleteI resent your implications.
Firepigette: Anyone who discounts rumours of Chávez's physical maladies has no right to state as *established fact* that he has "Bi-Polar disease".
ReplyDeleteAllow me to clarify. Bipolar disorder (not 'disease', FP) is a broad umbrella, yet only a part of general mood disorders. It is an even smaller part of a much wider variety of mental disorders within the latest DSM, now in flux.
Diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues are complex procedures, best left to those who have solid credentials and ample experience. Within this realm, conclusions reached are confidential.
Anyone else who does not know the case fully and chooses to state an "established fact", which is far from a fact or established, is, well, shall I go there?
Syd,
ReplyDeleteIf you cannot see the difference in speculating on a daily basis upon rumors of Chavez's health,( at a time when the opposition is moving forward into greater successes, and when obviously the Chavez machine will be wanting to distract from these said successes), and the health problems that he has had that have been discussed for many years now and they are not distracting news at this point..... then so be it.Nobody can take way your rights to do so, just as others have the right to opine.Conclusions reached on his mental health have not been kept confidential and I am sure you can find the links.
From your fury over this I tend to doubt your sincerity when you say :
"you have the right to choose what you want to write. "
Sure you could not not have writen about Chavez's latest disease news, Daniel. If you truly believed that it was not worth spending time on, you should have followed your own principle and passed on writing about it.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I think is at the root of the problem, Daniel: the show, not tell adage. You are probably aware of this cardinal rule in writing. Let me make an analogy to make it easier to understand.
You're telling me not to believe in Santa Claus. And I resent that because I want to know everything there is to know about Santa Claus. And I think I've got a few brain cells to be able to reach my own conclusions, in due course.
The medical field is family business. So even though I did not go that distance, I'm always very interested in medically related issues, no matter to whom they pertain. The last thing I want to read is someone telling me that I shouldn't be paying any attention to detail that I find fascinating. I'm not an obsessive soul. But for a little window of time, I would like to consider medical issues regarding Chavez, without being told not to do so. That I find insulting.
Is that any clearer?
P.S. US presidents with diseases not disclosed to the public, until after they were ex-officio: Ronald Reagan.
No.
DeleteFP, once again I find you exaggerating. People are not speculating on a daily basis, dear. But periodically they fall prey to reports that may be true, may be partially true, and are always cathartic.
ReplyDeleteAs for your claim that "Conclusions reached on his mental health have not been kept confidential" ...
I read a few mentions of Chávez' mental health status in the opinion pages of El Universal, a good many years ago. If you consider that source as one of peer review credibility, then there's really nothing more we can possibly discuss.
I, for one, have never been convinced that these opinions have had much basis in truth. They may have come close to signalling that there was something askew in Ch. mental health profile. But that's about it. Details have been skimpy.
Now I could be wrong. And you may have had access to Ch's confidential psychiatric files. If so, would you kindly provide the associated treatment protocol, perhaps the drugs prescribed to him. For surely that information would have accompanied the conclusion over his "non-confidential" bipolar 'disease'!
Until you're able to provide fuller details on what does not exist in the general public realm, know this: any label of Ch's mental health has also been a speculative road. But that road is one that you have truly enjoyed taking, while attempting to block the enjoyment of others, travelling a similar path, all because you find their journey, in your words, boring.
Syd,
ReplyDeleteYour statement:
"while attempting to block the enjoyment of others"
Makes use of word I would not have used :"enjoyment", and holds the key to your problem in understanding my point.I never spoke of enjoyment.
Could Chavez see no other choice than to lie about this surgery to get sympathy from his followers. It has been all about Capriles since the primaries....he needs to be the center of attention and nothing else is working. Your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteBefore I touch upon your latest attempt to deflect the course of discussion, firepigette, I will conclude that it finally dawned on you that statements on Ch.'s psychological profile, which you have truly taken to heart, are no more worthy of credibility than the current public focus on his physical health.
ReplyDeleteAs such, is it not time for you to put away your finger-pointing, when others engage in normal discussions of rumours and possible half-truths?
It is not as though we engage in these speculations on a daily basis, in spite of your labeling. Nor have we engaged in this type of discussion for as long as you once translated most events into psychobabble, during a few years in which you took, in your words, as many psychology courses as you could.
That was gawd-awful, by the way, not just my opinion.
As for my choice of word "enjoyment", yes, firepigette, I use it realistically. But with your use of cherry picked fragments, I'm not sure what you are getting at. Nor do I understand your projections on my so-called 'fury' and 'sincerity'.
Perhaps it's the diabetes talking. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be getting your 8 hours of sleep?
It's obvious that you can't believe anything Thugo says. Who knows if he's using real health issues to promote his cause and get re-elected as a "martyr" of sorts. He's already talking about God and "la virgencita".
ReplyDeleteOr lying about the real severity of the illness, instead of admitting a plausible recurrence of a CANCER, or metastasis.
Or maybe both. That's how much he is addicted to power, and will do anything to stay in power.
So he mysteriously goes back again to Cuba to be treated? What's the deal with that? It's not Germany or the USA, or Switzeraland, or where ever you can get the best possible medical treatment. Or why not fly 10 top oncology doctors from many countries to Caracas just for him? Because he can't trust the pathetic conditions of Vzla's clinics?
It's just FISHY, as always, anyway you look at it. Twisted.False. Wicked.
I'll say what a lot of people do think and don't dare to spit out: I hope the guy cracks.
Hundreds of people die because of his regime every week. Millions have been suffering, and had to leave the country. Millions could be healthier and doing a lot better with Chavez GONE.
What I do believe is in a little thing called Karma.
Bocaranda, Bocaranda, we only hear about him. How about la Bicha for a change?
ReplyDeleteshe is funny, at least.
DeleteThat you used my comment as a headline is flattering, thank you. Instead of as "Anonymous," I'll ID myself henceforth as "WWOSW."
ReplyDeleteWWOSW
FDR was a very sick man with heart problems and cancer lesions which metastasized to Roosevelt's abdomen and his brain, causing a tumor that eventually killed him on April 12, 1945 , and yet he still did a great job
ReplyDelete