MÀRIUS CAROL15/11/2019 23:56
Image: Mané Espinosa
Fernando Aramburu, the author of Patria, writes: “Why shut up what I feel if even if I shut up I will not feel differently.” The phrase has come to my mind after reading the latest CEO survey, where Catalans have been asked if they are free to hold talks on political matters. 47.3% say yes but only with certain people, which is an elegant way of saying no. We Catalans are so extremely educated that we have made the periphrasis a way of life, and of silence, the soundtrack of our existence. Another question from the survey carried out by the Generalitat allows us to deduce that almost nobody talks about politics despite the mess of the last two years: 38% of those who study or work almost never talk about politics with their colleagues, 27% do so only a few times and 32% only occasionally. From this answer I could deduce that politics has disappeared from everyday life, since only 17% speak often. Aramburu also wrote in his book on Euskadi: “That should not make us bad people.” In the case of Catalans, we could ask ourselves that all this should not make us impostors, because it is surprising that we cannot say in public what we comment in private. Or put another way, we must not consent to our way of thinking changing because of the fear of being outside the comfort zone.
That most Catalans do not feel free to talk about politics should worry our authorities, because it amounts to saying that society fears the consequences of expressing their opinions. The feeling is that we have a problem, which contrasts with the will to accept it. Many hope that fear will dissolve alone, as if politics were like the weather. And it is not like that. It is a delight to watch on TV3 (Catalan TV) how a driver stuck for hours in a CDR traffic jam understands perfectly the reasons of the barbarians and that being late to the house seems to be his contribution to so much injustice. You start by not saying what you think and you end up giving up what you think. A healthy society is the one that is willing to defend what it thinks and in no case support the abuses of those who think differently. It is not the case of Catalan society, as confused as faint-hearted.
https://www.lavanguardia.com/opinion/20191115/471633316234/de-confusos-y-timoratos.html
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