I´m not a big fan of abortion. I tend to think that a foetus is a human life from the very moment it´s conceived. I´m conscious that it´s a remain of my education in a catholic school, but I don´t think (they taught me not to think) that abortion must be justified in case of, for example, an unwanted pregnancy that comes from teenage careless.
As a thinking adult though, I acknowledge, I have no idea when (which exact point of a pregnancy) a cell or a mass of cells becomes something that can be called "a person". This would take me to a reflection about the existence or non existence of such thing as "the human soul", but that´s not the point of this entry so I´m intentionally avoiding it.
But the truth is, I have this square thinking: a pregnancy that results from a deliberated imprudence does not give you the right to kill the future human being. Deal with the consequences of your acts... bitch! (jk).
Have the baby, then give it to adoption if you don´t want to be a mom.
Ok, this was just to say that I can´t justify "free abortion", even if it´s performed within the arbitrary limit of 12-14 weeks of pregnancy. That doesn´t mean that I want to force every 13 year old pregnant girl to deliver a baby, my ethics apply only to myself - I wouldn´t do it.
I also think that having an abortion because the foetus has, for example, Down´s, can in some cases be almost as immoral as an embryo selection to create a cute blond blue eyed baby. But again, that´s just something that I, personally, don´t think I could do.
About the new law on abortion, though...
I´m not a gynecologist, and none of my friends are. I have no economic interest in abortion practice. I will never be prosecuted for practising an illegal abortion. And I think this new law is absolutely wrong.
How can abortion be made illegal under the circumstance of "serious malformations"? I don´t know what I´d do if that was my case, but I can come up with a few "valid" reasons to abort:
- Why would parents want to bring a child to this world when he will be, without any doubts, doomed to a life (short life, in most cases) of physical suffering?
- Why would parents want to bring a child to this world when he will be doomed to a life of physical suffering... and they don´t have the economic resources to make his life a little less unbearable?
- Why would parents want to impose on their already born children the burden (and also the economic burden) of a seriously handicapped sibling?
- Is it fair that those healthy children grow up lacking their parents attention because they will in many cases need to devote all that attention to their "seriously malformed" child?
But, avoiding subjective ethical considerations..., did the government even think of the repercussions that this law will have on the already gasping national economy?
Does the government have the resources to finance this malformed children´s lives? The multiple surgeries, many of them only palliative, that they will need? The long lasting hospital admissions? It doesn´t.
Are Spanish cities well adapted for seriously malformed handicapped people? Nope.
Does the law protect the children´s interests by forcing them to live in helpless suffering? Doesn´t.
Does the government, then, under these considerations, have the authority to impose this law? Well, they did.
The way I see it, from the moment you get pregnant your body is not only yours to decide. But this is not only about women´s rights. This is not only about a bunch of crazy angry ladies showing their nude painted bodies in protest.
This is, or should be, about protecting women, families and children. And the way this law was conceived, the circumstances under which it´s going to be applied, it´s not going to serve this purpose: it can´t.
Makes a nice CV for Spain in the eyes of God though.
viernes, 27 de diciembre de 2013
domingo, 22 de diciembre de 2013
The "Tipical Spanish" strikes again for Christmas...
I´ve been told it´s not fair that I keep on posting in spanish... So, as I´m not sure I have any spanish readers anymore, I will go back to english for a while.
I´ve been wanting to write about a commercial that about 50% of my facebook friends have been posting on their sites lately. The commercial advertises lunchmeat from one of the most popular spanish brands. The whole idea of the ad is to seem cute, and touching, and even reassuring, and to claim for spanish identity as a country full of warm and affectionate people who keep fighting despite adversity. For this purpose it uses some of our old, sometimes long forgotten national glories (such as Chus Lampreave, Chiquito de la Calzada or Verónica Forqué, among others), playing roles which appear rather stupid.
This is the commercial:
As you can see, the commercial uses the current spanish crisis and the matter of increasing emigration as an excuse to promote some of our clichés in a supposedly tender way, and then somehow relate that to a lunchmeat brand.
First of all, the way it refers to emigration is, in my honest opinion, quite unfortunate and respectless. Like it was something that people choose in a random, irresponsible, spontaneous and capricious way, just because it´s trendy and cool. Throw a dart and find out your new citizenship.
Second, oh yes but then will we have to deal with all the consequences? Because you know, spanish people like listening to tipical spanish music, being noisy, showing affect by physical contact, meeting for improvised lunch, getting over adversity and partying till late. That´s just how we are. And like the woman says, "not everybody has that", so I guess we should feel lucky and be grateful to be spanish. Why on earth would we want to be somewhere else?
Pleeeease!! Haven´t we had enough of that shit? Do we really still think those are the qualities that best define us and distinguish us from the rest of the world? Then why did we make fun of poor Annie Bottle and her speech for the Olympics??? The message was exactly the same:
"Madrid is one of the most comfortable, charming and inviting cities in the world, just like all of Spain."
"And most importantly, Madrid is fun."
"And I assure you, no one celebrates life like Spanish people do."
Don´t we think we have better things to be proud of?
And finally, what is it that we end up doing? Nothing. As soon as we get kicked out of the bar, we remember how much we like partying so we move the party somewhere else, spanish style. That´s all we care about. Oh, and everyone bring your Campofrío lunchmeat cause there´s nothing more spanish than that and right now we need some sense of belonging!
And then, the slogan: One can leave, but not become. Which comes to mean something like: "no matter how hard you foolish try to disown your country, you can leave if you want to, but you will never get rid of the tipical spanish topics and you will always wish you could step back when it´s party time".
Funny thing though, the song playing while we party spanish style: american. Adapted, of course. Because we are spanish.
Too bad Pau Gasol let himself be fooled to show up in this commercial. One thing I realized about him: as he is a catalan international basketball player, he kind of feels the need to prove himself spanish (and not catalan) over and over.
But worst thing of all this: my friends are posting this commercial on facebook because it makes them feel proud of being spanish :(
"Yeah dude, we may leave, but never become!", such a deep thought, such a conclusive truth.
I´ve been wanting to write about a commercial that about 50% of my facebook friends have been posting on their sites lately. The commercial advertises lunchmeat from one of the most popular spanish brands. The whole idea of the ad is to seem cute, and touching, and even reassuring, and to claim for spanish identity as a country full of warm and affectionate people who keep fighting despite adversity. For this purpose it uses some of our old, sometimes long forgotten national glories (such as Chus Lampreave, Chiquito de la Calzada or Verónica Forqué, among others), playing roles which appear rather stupid.
This is the commercial:
As you can see, the commercial uses the current spanish crisis and the matter of increasing emigration as an excuse to promote some of our clichés in a supposedly tender way, and then somehow relate that to a lunchmeat brand.
First of all, the way it refers to emigration is, in my honest opinion, quite unfortunate and respectless. Like it was something that people choose in a random, irresponsible, spontaneous and capricious way, just because it´s trendy and cool. Throw a dart and find out your new citizenship.
Second, oh yes but then will we have to deal with all the consequences? Because you know, spanish people like listening to tipical spanish music, being noisy, showing affect by physical contact, meeting for improvised lunch, getting over adversity and partying till late. That´s just how we are. And like the woman says, "not everybody has that", so I guess we should feel lucky and be grateful to be spanish. Why on earth would we want to be somewhere else?
Pleeeease!! Haven´t we had enough of that shit? Do we really still think those are the qualities that best define us and distinguish us from the rest of the world? Then why did we make fun of poor Annie Bottle and her speech for the Olympics??? The message was exactly the same:
"Madrid is one of the most comfortable, charming and inviting cities in the world, just like all of Spain."
"And most importantly, Madrid is fun."
"And I assure you, no one celebrates life like Spanish people do."
Don´t we think we have better things to be proud of?
And finally, what is it that we end up doing? Nothing. As soon as we get kicked out of the bar, we remember how much we like partying so we move the party somewhere else, spanish style. That´s all we care about. Oh, and everyone bring your Campofrío lunchmeat cause there´s nothing more spanish than that and right now we need some sense of belonging!
And then, the slogan: One can leave, but not become. Which comes to mean something like: "no matter how hard you foolish try to disown your country, you can leave if you want to, but you will never get rid of the tipical spanish topics and you will always wish you could step back when it´s party time".
Funny thing though, the song playing while we party spanish style: american. Adapted, of course. Because we are spanish.
Too bad Pau Gasol let himself be fooled to show up in this commercial. One thing I realized about him: as he is a catalan international basketball player, he kind of feels the need to prove himself spanish (and not catalan) over and over.
But worst thing of all this: my friends are posting this commercial on facebook because it makes them feel proud of being spanish :(
"Yeah dude, we may leave, but never become!", such a deep thought, such a conclusive truth.
miércoles, 4 de diciembre de 2013
Mi experiencia en la sala de espera. .La valla de Melilla (cómo puede ser así?!?)
Ayer fui al médico de atención primaria.
No suelo estar a menudo al otro lado de la relación médico-paciente, así que quiero contaros mi experiencia en la sala de espera.
Cuando llegué, estaba abarrotada de gente. Había hasta ancianitos con muletas esperando de pie, porque no había asientos libres. Cada persona que llegaba hacía el mismo comentario: "Madre mía, con la de años que llevo viniendo aquí, y nunca ha estado esto tan lleno de gente!!".
Especial atención merecen dos conversaciones entre sendos matrimonios (que se desarrollaron, intencionadamente, a un volumen tal que toda la sala de espera podía oírlas).
Matrimonio 1: Compuesto por hombre muy gordo (muuuuy gordo, impresionantemente gordo) y mujer muy pija, ambos en torno a los 50 años. La mujer, por alguna razón, llevaba una maletita de tela de tapicería de sofá en plan equipaje de mano, y un bolso a juego.
Hombre (H): Pues yo tenía cita a las seis y diez, así que si no me han llamado a y media, me voy!
Mujer (M): Pues con tanta gente, no creo que te llamen.
H: Pues me voy.
M: Si no te han llamado, tendrás que esperar.
H: Tú vas a esperar?
M: Yo tengo cosas que hacer.
H: Pues si tú no esperas, yo tampoco.
M: Yo no espero porque el que tiene la cita y necesita que lo vea el médico, eres tú.
H: Que no, que yo no tengo por qué estar aquí esperando! Si me muero, me muero! Y ya está!
Y dicho esto, se levantó y se fue.
Matrimonio 2: Compuesto por hombre y mujer en torno a los 80 años, ambos con aspecto sanote.
Hombre (H): Hay que ver lo mal que está esto!
Mujer (M): Estará mejor cuando empiecen a llegar las generaciones más jóvenes. Sabes por qué? Porque habrá más mujeres.
H: Uy, más mujeres, dice ésta!
M: Pues sí, porque las mujeres tenemos mucho mejor el coco que los hombres.
H: Anda ya, qué sería de vosotras sin nosotros!
M: Pues estaríamos muy bien. Y si no, mira a mis amigas: todas viudas! Y tú eres el siguiente...
H: Pues ten cuidado no te vayas a morir tú antes!
La verdad es que la mayoría de la gente se lo tomaba con bastante paciencia, y estos dos viejitos estaban de broma. Pero al gordo gordísimo daban ganas de decirle: "Pues si se muere usted, el que sale perdiendo es usted, no el médico..."
Por otra parte, mañana seré yo la que le monte el numerito a la pobre enfermera que no tiene culpa de nada.
__________________________________________
En otro orden de cosas, hoy por alguna razón me desperté pensando en "la valla de Melilla" (sí, no sé, a veces me despierto con pensamientos extraños que no sé de dónde salen). Y cuando veo las imágenes y leo las noticias (parece que el gobierno finalmente no quitará las cuchillas, que "no son agresivas, sino disuasorias") sólo puedo pensar que el mundo está absolutamente equivocado.
Y aquí estoy yo, haciendo nada, y aquí seguiré probablemente, haciendo nada. Y quejándome de mi vida.
Y aquí estoy yo, haciendo nada, y aquí seguiré probablemente, haciendo nada. Y quejándome de mi vida.
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