Este mensaje es en respuesta a una amiguita que una vez conocí en el CRRE, chaosandmadness que me preguntó cual yo creo que es uno de los grandes problemas que enfrenta mi hermosa cultura. Ella sabe cual es, yo sé cual es, y cualquier persona que me conozca sabe cual es, pero prefiero no mencionarla en público. Como el título de este mensaje tan bien indica, yo creo que es la temible indefensión aprendida, o en buen castellano, “Learned Helplessness”.

Para los que no son estudiosos en psicología, indefensión aprendida es un estado mental en el que alguien aprende a creer que está indefenso, que no tiene ningún control sobre la situación en la que se encuentra y que cualquier cosa que haga es inútil. En otras palabras, es lo que nuestro pueblo ha aprendido: si los que están en poder son los únicos que pueden hacer algo para cambiar las cosas, pero si todos los que están en poder no sirven, ¿qué hacemos?

Nuestra cultura, nuestra nación, nuestro mundo está sumido en esta indefensión aprendida. Cada vez que en una celebración de año cobra una vida por la anormalidad de disparar al aire, ¿quién tiene suficiente valentía para decir quien fue? Cuando estamos arrastrados por una tiranía, ¿quién tiene el valor de derrocarla? Nos hemos acostumbrado demasiado a este estado menos que ideal, derrotándonos a nosotros mismos antes de siquiera tratar.

Nuestro pueblo clama a grito cambio, un fin a esta corrupción que nos goberna. ¿Pero qué hace? Nada. Hace peor que nada, denigra a cualquiera que trata. Esta infectando con esta indefensión a todo aquel que lucha por la esperanza, a los estudiantes, a los rebeldes, a cualquiera inconforme. “Las cosas son como son, no van a cambiar.” ¡Claro que no van a cambiar, con esas actitudes! ¡Mi gente, acaben y muévanse! ¿Y que si las cosas no podemos cambiarlas? Uno no sabe hasta que se digna a intentar. ¡Hagan un grupo, júntense! Díganle adiós a esa letanía y apatia, a la inacción, cambien las reglas y ayuden a que futuras generaciones no aprendan esta indefensión.

I’m sorry, my dear anonymous, I am not in too deep in neither politics nor in the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual groups to know that was what you meant. My mind went more towards the more simple things in life. What you say, however, reminds me of how ignorant, selfish and downright stupid mankind can be.

I have no idea what the issue has been with making sure all sex was for reproductive purposes and that nothing beyond that mattered. Marriage since the Middle Ages has been for nothing more than reproductive reasons. Screw love, having a family, commitment, whatever; it was all about surviving the economy. Why the Church, and the government that was supposedly separated from it, made it law is beyond me.

First off, I want to say I believe everyone should have the right to marry someone they love. Your same gender, different gender, your same age, or twenty years of difference, it shouldn’t matter as long as both agree and have the maturity to make the decision. Because marriage should be a lifetime commitment to spend the rest of your lives together, or at least a decent part of it, and it has too many implications for me to mention here without going completely off topic. This commitment, whose definition and bounds are still being defined, is probably the bigger picture regarding that don’t ask, don’t tell act.

You see, people don’t like change. Since the Church, morality, whatever, says its “bad” for homosexual people to marry, or even have said feelings, people have wrongly labeled them as lewd, indecent, and down right perverted for their divergent sexual preference. And who would want to be with someone painted to be like that?

MANKIND is like that. You put a bunch of men together for too long, like you do in prisons, or as my brothers joke around in navy submarines that stay months on end down there, and sexual partners will develop, whether forced or consensual. You add just a few women to the mix, things get even more dangerous. My dad was a military police, and he told me of an incident of rape so violent that not only was the poor woman penetrated by about a dozen penises, but also by twigs and leaves and whatnot. The military men were just in a bit too much stress, right? And that woman, their military companion, was definitely asking for it, right? Because being part of the military, being a woman, automatically means you want some, right?

The media wants to paint homosexuals as bad people, they want to dehumanize the homosexuals, to feel less bad about all the terrible things society does to them. The rate of suicides between homosexuals, specially in their teens, is absurdly high. They are not the terrible people the media paint. Chances are, they are scared, vulnerable and self-loathing human beings who wish they could just fit into society and go against their own nature, just to feel better about themselves. Many of them do just that! But they are one of the most abused subculture of the Occidental world.

Why not have them in the military? So they don’t try raping someone? With their self-esteem, chances are they’re the ones who will end up ridiculed and raped. Why not let them share the benefits from that job, that might be harder for them than for many? Because “the marriage itself is evil”. Stop the ignorance, stop the bloody fear people! They are HUMAN! No different than you and me, no matter how different some might want to paint them. It was about time you let them have some of the rights they so rightly deserve!

Again, sorry, anonymous, for not posting what you wanted at first. I hope this post makes up for it a bit. Hopefully, during these first few days of the year, I’ll be able to post both answers in Spanish. Happy New Years, everyone!

The Science of Lies is a complex little matter. Yes, keeping information from someone is lying. What matters most is the intention with which you lie. If you make a mistake, you don’t keep out the information from others for their sake, no matter how much you tell yourself that: you do it to save your own sorry ego. Out of sight, out of mind, seems to be the philosophy for most people. However, although it might work for some in the short run, it can be a lot worse on the long run.

From what I’ve learned in Psychology, doing an action and not receiving the bad consequences will only lead us to repeat it. We are encouraged, if only subconsciously, to repeat said act. You call that negative reinforcement: taking something you don’t like away to encourage a behavior. If what you never said was that your friend looked like Malibu Barbie (not a good thing) or that his attitude was a bit too egocentrical, you might not be encouraging behavior on your part, but you might be encouraging this behavior you dislike. If you don’t speak up politely when you have the chance, it could end up in a serious discussion. However, if its a matter of a mistake you did, that you say you regret but rationalize you will only be hurting the other by speaking, you’ll only be encouraging your own behavior. For not wanting to say something small, things might begin escalating on your part for not nipping the problem in the bud.

Yes, saying the truth is hard. But if its with someone you value, you shouldn’t hold back. Little details can strain relationships. If the truth comes out, it might even break them. Keeping information away from someone works on the short run. It all depends if the long run with that person matters to you or not.

Perdonen la tardanza en la traducción, me cogió una monga bien buena (o sea, lo que en inglés llaman “the flu”). Espero, también, que Rubén Blades me perdone que le robe el título de su canción, que tan bien cae aquí.

Este escrito es en respuesta a un mensaje de mi querida Charlotte: Taking out a student loan to pay for a liposculpture? I don’t think so! Esto en con amor a tí, cherie, y a todos aquellos que se han sentido atropellados por los conceptos de belleza de nuestra sociedad.

Estamos en la era de las apariencias, con fotos y videos por doquier. Vivimos cegados por las luces de Hollywood, con un sueño eterno de obtener un Oscar o un Emmy, y atenuados física y emocionalmente por todo el bótox al que nos exponemos. Hoy eres un don nadie si no eres modelo, si no te comes a todo que se te mete por el frente, o si paras de vestir la última moda de Gucci o Prada. Buena suerte intentando de encontrar un trabajo sin una cara bonita y un buen par de tetas. ¡Hasta una sonrisa parece mucho pedir! Vivimos en un mundo de plástico, pero yo no soy Barbie para aceptarlo.

Vivimos en la era de apariencias, donde importa más tu cara que tu portafolio. Yo digo que tenemos que cambiar ya. No podemos perder de vista la pantalla grande que es el mundo por la pequeña de la sala de cine, del televisor, del computador. Olvídate de seguir las exigencias de los demás, si te conviertes en alguien que cumple con todos menos con ti mismo. No intentes de caber en un tamaño petite si por naturaleza eres grande. ¡Deja de planchar esos rizos! Para de intentar ser algo que no eres por complacer a cualquiera, que tu salud física y mental es más importante. Deja que tu propia opinión importe más que la de cualquiera!

Este mundo de plástico no va a cambiar mientras no digamos nada para contradecirlo. ¡Levántate y cambia tú! No juzgues a alguien por no tener los mahones más a la moda, o porque su cintura no es de 24 pulgadas, o porque no tiene una piel o sonrisa encantadora; conócelo. El plástico, aunque dura, se sea y se parte con el tiempo. Con el pasar del tiempo, siempre encontrarás arrugas no importa el botox, y ser demasiado delgada puede tener los mismos riesgos a la salud que demasiado obesa. Todos envejecemos, y las modas nunca paran de cambiar. Lo que no cambia es lo que se esconde detrás de esa máscara plástica que nos cubre. Si eres de plástico y nada más, terminarás rompiendo. Sin embargo, ya que estás leyendo este mensajito, yo creo que tienes mucho más que aportar que esa máscara que te cubre.

Yo soy pequeña, delgada y tetona, con mil manchas en la cara, mi melena un desastre y mi ropa masculina. ¿Te atreves a averiguar que se esconde detrás de esa máscara?

Awwww

Muchas gracias por tu support! You have just made my day!

About how I look at life, I’m not sure how that is. I guess I try to capture the world as it is through my looking glass. That may not be the same for everyone, así que intento de darle un poco de perspectiva al mundo! Best of luck in your efforts to a healthier lifestyle!

Excuse me, my dear Kamelot, for borrowing the title of one of your songs for my post. You know I love you!

Ahem, anyway, this post is a response to my dear Charlotte’s post, Taking out a student loan to pay for a liposculpture? I don’t think so! I love you honey! And this post is for you, and everyone who has ever felt screwed over by the society’s concept of beauty.

We are living in the era of photographs and videos, of Hollywood and Oscars and botox everywhere. Today if you’re not skinny, busty, bitchy and dressed in the best of brands, try getting a job. Forget jobs, try getting a smile from people! This world, as the Red Hot Chili Peppers so eloquently put it, is going through a Californication!

We live in an era that people seem to care more how you look like than who you are, and I believe that this has to change. We cannot lose ourselves in this Gala of the Glamorous, run in accord to their wishes and demands just to fit in, not if the price is our individuality. Forget striving to be a size zero if you’re 5 foot 10! Forget having the straightest hair if its naturally waves! Forget being anything you are not for anything but your own health.

The World is feasting, enjoying how vain it has gotten. Its up to us to rise against it! Stop caring if someone’s not wearing the latest jeans, doesn’t have a 24 inch waist or doesn’t have the prettiest smile or skin: talk to them and see how they truly are. This feast, this Gala of the plastic, will eventually break under its weight. Botox can only hold wrinkles back for so long, and loosing too much weight will get you unhealthy! Fashions change in the blink of an eye, and everyone gets old. However, what cannot change no matter the mask or the plastic covering is who you are. If all you are is plastic, plastic will eventually crack and break. But I believe, if you’re taking the time to read this you’ve got more to give to the world than your looks.

I am a petite, skinny busty girl with frizzy hair and irregular skin pigmentation, usually dressed in quite the tomboyish clothes. Can you dare look behind that and see who I truly am?

¡Felices pascuas a todos! Espero que no les moleste, pero este no es un mensaje de crítica social ni al comercialismo que se ha reducido esta época navideña, eso lo dejaré para San Valentín. ¡Esta es una época de felicidad y celebración! ¡Y mi regalito de navidad fueron ustedes! ¡Quiero darle gracias a todos mis seguidores, nuevos y viejos (de como una semana pero pues)!

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Happy Yule Tides, happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or anything you might be celebrating in this merry season! I hope you’ll forgive me for not writing to criticizing society or its reduction of such a merry season to commercial gain, I’ll leave that for St. Valentine’s day. This is a time for celebration, and here I will celebrate you, my followers! This post is just saying Thanks to all of you!

Followers/Seguidores
1. mycollectionofskins (especially you, honey!)
2. worldofbri
3. bunnnyyy
4. jumboloving
5. sandytoes3
6. 23candles
7. cajundre
8. letssailawayyy
9.slacknomore
10. jaynie9
11. motozine
12.silentwritter
13. cariedoeslife
14.meltsyourfaceoff
15. chaosandmadness
16. katiapr
17. stephslosingit
18. cable-name
19. admemoriam

Por todo el planeta, los estudiantes están protestando en huelgas: en Inglaterra, Irlanda, Grecia, Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. No les sabría decir mucho de las protestas en la mayoría de estos lugares, aunque les deseo éxito y los admiro por su valentía en estas luchas. Sé que en Puerto Rico luchan por mantener la educación pública para el pueblo, no sólo para los ricos. Luchan para derrogar una cuota especial con la que intentan disimular un aumento de matrícula. Luchan para derrogar esa mala administración, que no solo causó el problema fiscal, sino buscan vender los diferentes recintos universitarios a empresas privadas, y mienten sobre todo el lavado de dinero que producen. Más que todo, mis queridos estudiantes Puertorriqueños luchan por el derecho a que sus voces sean escuchadas y sus proyectos tomados en consideración.

En estos momentos, Puerto Rico vive una dictadura, no importa si el gobernador Flojuño fue electo democráticamente. Los que en estos momentos administran la Universidad del Pueblo también están asociados con él. ¡Y eso que se supone una separación de la Universidad y el estado! Estos dizque líderes se han atrevido a llamar a nuestros estudiantes locos, anárcalocos, salvajes, y todo un mejunje de insultos, intentando que nuestro pueblo no apoye a los estudiantes y crean que ellos, llenos de avaricia y narcisismo, son los buenos de la película. ¡Por supuesto que son los buenos de la película, ellos que se rehusan a escuchar a sus enemigos y los enfrentan con ansias de guerra! ¡Claro que son los justos, enviando matones, fuerza de choque y quieren enviar hasta la guardia nacional, a luchar en contra de estudiantes desarmados! ¡Definitivamente merecen un premio, por tumbarle los servicios de agua y luz a los estudiantes que se quedaban en la universidad en protesta para que los escucharan! Lo siento, pero para mi son unos tiranos.

Todos aquellos que subestimen o desvaloren los actos de mis estudiantes, que intentan solamente de que escuchen sus propuestas y mantener la educación del pueblo, me perdonarán, pero considero que son ignorantes. Nuestros estudiantes son tratados como enemigo en una guerra: son abusados física y psicológicamente, demandados, acusados y marginados, y aún así se mantienen en su lucha. Ellos luchan por algo más alla que ellos: por mantener la educación del pueblo, por que no sólo los ricos tengan acceso a ella. Quieren un pueblo informado, sabio para poder tomar mejores decisiones, y con acceso a trabajos que disfruten y produzcan. El gobierno, por el contrario, prefiere todo lo contrario.

La educación es para los ricos, y no es solo por los recursos necesarios para obtenerla. La educación es capaz de proveer empleos con más pagos, pero esa tampoco es la razón que el dinero se mantiene con los ricos. La razón principal para mantener la educación para los ricos es para que éstos puedan mantener el poder. Si el pueblo está mejor informado, si sabe que hay mejores formas de gobernar, y está más dispuesto a luchar por ello.

El conocimiento es poder, mi gente. Por eso, démosle una mano a todos aquellos que luchan para que todos tengamos acceso a ese poder.

All over the world, students are going on strike! I’ve seen news about protests in England, Ireland, Greece, and Puerto Rico. I’m not as well-informed in the cases of the London and Dublin strikes, much less those in Greece and wherever else they may be happening, but I truly admire those that are fighting for their education and truly believe what they are fighting for. In Puerto Rico, students are fighting to be heard, and to keep education for the masses, not just for the rich. Students are fighting over raised tuitions, denied economic assistantship, terrible monetary management by those who direct the university, and i even about not selling the many campus it features around the island. Most of all, students are just fighting for their proposals to be taken into consideration.

Right now, the government is Puerto Rico is a dictatorship, no matter if the idiot in charge was elected democratically. Those that lead the University are in cohorts with this dictator, no matter if, in principle, our leadership should not be decided by politics. They try to call themselves democratic, to call the students insane and wild and even dare call them stupid, but beneath all these words is greed and spite. They’re the ones who refuse to negotiate, who refuse to listen to the alternatives the students propose, who refuse to even meet. They’re the ones who hire thugs, untrained in mob control and uninformed about their purpose, to serve as crowd ontrol in student strikes. They are the ones that cut off water and light to the university, while the students there were fighting to be heard.

Those who dare call students stupid for fighting to be heard, even though they’ve been abused, hurt physically and psychologically, and treated like like enemies in war, are the truly ignorant ones. They are trying to promote a university for the country, where everyone is free to learn despite their financial background. They want for this country to be better informed, better educated, and for everyone to have better opportunities to work at something that they will both enjoy and produce in. Unfortunately, the government, and the companies that financially support it, don’t find this at all convenient.

Education is for the rich, not just because education gives you better paying jobs. In fact, many great ideas came into being not because of an university but because of creativity and willingness to follow it. The main reason they prefer to keep society ignorant is because of power. They want to keep their power, and if those around them know more of economy, know more of politics, know more about the world around them in general, they are more than likely to rebel against abuse.

Knowledge is power, people! So let’s hear it for all those who dare fight so we can afford to have it!