Carnal Reason

I don’t remember how old I was, maybe ten, but I remember the first time my aunt bought groceries in the US. After years of trying, and great expense, my parents had managed to get my aunt, her husband, and their four children to Florida. My parents had gotten them a place to live, and it was time to go shopping. Nowhere special, just a chain supermarket.

On seeing the inside of the store, my aunt broke down. She started sobbing and could not stop. Her family, her friends, her neighbors were undergoing so much hardship and hunger that seeing the food we take for granted overcame her. At the time, her oldest son was on crutches, due largely to malnutrition. He got better.

I left Cuba when I was five years old. People sometimes ask me whether I have been back, I tell them no. Some, generally those who have been there, ask me why not. I tell them that I will not play the tourist in a concentration camp. That usually ends the discussion. I guess people go to Cuba for various reasons, but today I read of a really disgusting one. Here is an entry called Communist Chic, from Morgan Spurlock Watch.

Spurlock writes:

Right now, I’m planning a trip to Cuba. I want to experience the coutnry and its people before that Pandora’s box is opened there. Because you know after the day Fidel dies, the shipments of American consumer crap will come flooding in. (p. 65)

What an incredibly crass sentiment. Judging by their actions, I gather most Cubans are rather eager to be “flooded” by “American consumer crap.” Last I checked, there weren’t many Miamians risking their lives on ramshackle rafts to escape our “consumer crap” for Castro’s anti-capitalist paradise. Let’s hope Spurlock does a bit of research while he’s there. More than he did for his book. After he learns a bit about what really happens to the citizens of command-and-control regimes, perhaps he’ll have a change of heart about all that capitalism he’s forced to endure back home. If not, perhaps he’ll offer to switch places with an actual Cuban. I’ll bet there are at least 10 million willing take him up on it.

Yeah, that American consumer crap, like food. Mr. Spurlock has a thing about what other people eat. Before he did Supersize Me, he did another show, one called I Bet You Will. Do take the time to read about it; it will surprise you.

I thought my opinion of Mr. Spurlock could sink no lower, but I was wrong.

Posted on May 31st, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: culture