Dear Joe,
I stumbled upon your essays the day before yesterday and I haven't been able to stop reading since. Thank you for providing me with evidence that not all Americans are oblivious to what's going on in their country. I live in Europe, and I hope to direct as many of my friends as I can to your stuff. The fact that someone has translated it into French makes me realize I'm not the first one to feel this way. Perhaps I can do something similar. I'm fluent in Spanish, and I think people in Latin America should defifnitely read what you're going on about. I also speak German, and could probably get something started in that direction. Right now I'm writing a dissertation (actually, I'm procrastinating by writing to you instead), but when I'm done (couple of weeks), perhaps I can take a closer look at this possiblility.
I'm trying to figure out a way to be concise so as not to bore you to death. First of all, how do you pronounce "Bageant". Is the first "a" long or short, and does the second syllable rhyme with "bunt"?
I feel that "nationality" is an increasingly obsolete concept, and that there probably won't be peace until people learn to accept this. My family left the States when I was three and I returned when I was 19 in order to go to university. I too, like some of the characters you describe in your essays, bought into the distorted portrayals of American society, hook, line and sinker. After 13 years I couldn't bear it anymore and I left for Europe. I've been living there and in England, intermittently, for about 10 years now.
Before I continue let me tell you that this email constitutes an open invitation to come over to Europe and to use my apartment as a headquarters for whatever travelling you may want to do. I'm living in the middle of western Europe, so it's very practical for that purpose. I read your answer to one letter where you say that you damn well want to visit Europe before you die (sigh). I think you're being hard on yourself. I saw a picture of you somewhere and you don't look like you're about to keel over.
Someone wrote you asking why you became socially involved in Belize instead of trying to do something in say, New Orleans. Your answer made me think that perhaps you view the present situation in the US as being hopeless. Is that how you feel?
The "obedience" of the American public to "lie there and take it" is something I don't really understand, but I do realize that it is probably due to a number of factors, none of which is easy to tackle. A part of it must be that someone, I don't know who or when, sold Americans into believing that the so-called "free market" is a panacea for all that might ail mankind, because competition will make sure only the best services survive. I guess that means that when your health insurance refuses to pay for your treatment or medication, and you die as a consequence, that you'll go to the competition when you reincarnate. That'll show 'em.
By contrast, some months ago the French took to the streets to protest (really protest) a proposed law that would allow employers to fire anyone under the age of 26 without justification (the details are fuzzy, but it was along those lines). Some columnist in Time magazine ridiculed the French for being against something that would promote business. He provided evidence of the woeful state to which such an attitude had driven the French economy by saying that in the past five years or so, no French companies had made it into the Fortune 500 (or something like that, you get my drift). I thought that that might actually be a good development, as it indicates that wealth is not concentrating as much. But more importantly, in this essay I found a good example of the way in which American myths are perpetuated in the minds of the population: the basic notion is that the American way of doing things is the right way, should be the standard, and that anyone not immediately accepting th is notion must be off their rocker. After all, look! They're not becoming obscenely rich, as they should be! (was it Georgie who said "the French don't have a word for entrepreneur"?)
Am I being naive when I allow for the possibility of such articles not being engineered propaganda but rather merely a writer making a fast buck churning prose which sells, since it flatters the average American reader? Could this apply to other forms of entertainment? If so, it is an interesting form of propaganda, because it is not imposed from the top but rather promoted from within, propelled by its own target audience buying more of it to feed a collective ego which, as you say, cannot get over itself. What would you be inclined to think about a person who found it downright offensive if you were not prepared to accept, without question, the notion that they are the smartest, prettiest, wisest you'll ever meet?
You might find it interesting to see, now that you are outside, the forms which American influence takes in your neck of the woods (and to be fair, along with the bad, there are also a lot of good things, people and ideas exported from the US). Check out neighboring countries. I suggest you have a look at Costa Rica (which a Peruvian English student of mine described as an "American satellite"). And when you get a chance, do the same thing in Europe. It seems to me the trick is to adopt the good, and reject the bad, the challenge being to know which is which.
You might be surprised to find that, for all their cozying up to American policies, the Brits have maintained (in spite of Thatcher) a pretty healthy social apparatus going. They are proud of their nationalized health care, and even speeding fines allow you to pay in installments "if it would otherwise represent too much of a financial burden". By contrast, the Germans are going out of their way to dismantle theirs. Health insurance companies get away with a lot of shit and it dismays me to see how they are starting to make access to higher education be tied to wealth. It's paradoxical: They'll protest the transportation of atomic waste in a militant fashion, but they're pretty obedient and tame when it comes to social progarms. I hope they wake up before the shit hits the fan.
I'll close (finally) with the topic of the November election. The Democratic party was trying to get all the absentee votes it could for the last presidential election, and they expedited the whole voting from abroad thing upon my registering as a Democrat. All Democrats registered from abroad received an email from Jimmy Carter a few weeks ago. Regardless of what you may think of Jimmy Carter, I think you'd find the content interesting. He describes the way in which the American reputation abroad, where he does a lot of development aid work, has been shot to hell, basically, going from warm feelings of sympathy to (I quote) "outright hatred". Furthermore, he underscores the importance of our vote because of our perspective from outside, saying that the average American is likely to get only skewed information from the likes of (and he names it) the Fox network, and other right-wing media. I am old enough to remember how, in the times of the good ol' Iron Curtain, I used to hear the same thing about the Soviet population: "They don't know better, they've been brainwashed by the propaganda apparatus." Perhaps it's not a surprise, but I find it pretty amazing nonetheless.
What is the official name of the American socialist party, and who are the candidates this fall? Please help clear up my ignorance in this respect. OK, I'll get back to work now. I wish you the best, and keep writing!
Cheers,
Xavier
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Dear Xavier,
Such a wonderfully insightful letter! Gosh, where do I start.
Well, my name if pronounced Bay-Jent. A hillbilly mispronunciation of a French Huguenot name.
Of course I'd be thrilled to see things I write translated. A really great fellow in Paris took it on to translate my work into French, at the site, Orbite. I'd don't read French but people who do say he does a marvelous job, and adds insightful and funny sidenotes that enhance the reading experience greatly.
Like you, I have decided that nationality is not only growing obsolete, but is also contributes to much of the international danger on the planet.
As to visiting Europe again, I had great plans to visit there, even move there a couple of years ago. But life got more pressured here, more complicated and with increasing obligations, then the dollar went into the toilet. Meanwhile, I made the decision to live on less than $5,000 a year, starting about July of '07 (that date for tax reasons for my wife), in the name of global responsibility, and as an act of solidarity with poorer people of the world. Also because of my guilt as an over-consuming, earth destroying American. That allows me to consider doing something good for third world people with the remainder of my income. Hence the Belize venture in Hopkins Village and future venues.
However, if things go right, I will be in Spain with my wife over the Christmas holiday, thanks to a time share her mother owns near Malaga. I owe her at least that for all the shit she puts up with me. And I am particularly excited to go up to Granada, home of Garcia Lorca, and play music at the gypsy cave at Sacramonte. But we shall see. My health is truly crappy, and slowly headed downhill. Time will tell.
As to American information and media, I believe it is full scale consciously manipulated state propaganda now. The reasons are too complex to go into at point, but I see it as a naturally arising and wholly organic product of last-stage capitalism. I think people are looking at old and outdated models when they try to assess it -- which is partly why they cannot see it. The other part is that they are brainwashed. Behaviorally modified.
Yes, I do think the present situation is hopeless. But I have not given up on life and humanity (not that it is mine to give up upon.) In looking at the emerging Third World and Europe, I saw that there is hope. And that America endangers hope in so may ways. But like you say, there is also much good here, though not enough to redeem it in the overview.
By the way, I LOVE Jimmy Carter, warts and all. I voted for him and would again.
There are a couple of Socialist parties in the US. Neither of them are worth a fart, but the Socialist Party USA seems to be getting much better. They are essentially a club of sorts, like a bunch of fractious kids afraid to play rough, play outside the system. But god help 'em, I love 'em and maybe some day their testicles will descend (I couldn't come up with a female simile, so I guess I will be dragged behind savage Harleys by violent feminists -- hooboy!) and they will strike a real blow. Yet, like I said, they are starting to make some real inroads into real working people's lives, mainly because they are finally exposing themselves to life instead of theorizing about i t.
Your brother,
Joe
