Yes, as deranged as it may seem, Halloween was created as an Imperialist Yankee Plot against him personally.
This guy is 2 crackers short of a full plate o gumbo, if you know what I mean. :smack:
Maybe he has read too many Spiderman comics. Green Goblin, pumpkin bombs and all that.
He’s always been a few fries short of a Happy Meal, if you ask me.
He doesn’t seem to think it’s directed at him personally – he’s objecting to the importation of an American holiday to South America. I think he’s trying to establish an independent cultural identity for his country, and is afraid of Cultural Imperialism causing U.S. culture and traditions to overwhelm home-grown ones. I suspect he’s thinking along the lines of Gandhi rejecting British imported cloth in favor of homespun.
As Cal says, the story seems clear enough that he’s concerned about the US holiday pushing out traditional local ones. The pumpkins and skeletons were certainly directed at him, with the messages they carried, but not the whole holiday.
Chavez thinks he’s the next Bolivar, out to create "Gran Colombia"and unite South America (apart from Brazil, 'cause, they’re, like, mixed race and speak Portugese). Unfortunately, he’s not fit to carry Bolivar’s jockstrap, although he’d probably like that. He’s not considered a good leader by a lot of people and I personally know more than a few people who’ve moved from Vene to get away.
And he doesn’t like Halloween, people! There’s lots of kids trick or treating right here in downtown Lima and they’re still doing better economically than a lot of places, like, say Iran. Chavez needs to simmer down.
Well, what does he want the US to do about it? The United States is pushing Halloween on other nations about as much as Mexico is pushing drunken Cindo de Mayo festivities on unsuspecting Americans. If someone wants to celebrate Halloween, it’s their choice.
After reading Dale McFeatters’ ‘It’s Crass, It’s Commercial, It’s Ours’ piece today, one has to assume Presidente Chavez has simply borrowed a page from the Anti-American, pro-Socialist, Euro-weenie playbook.
Where did you get the idea that he wanted the US to do anything about it? The article doesn’t say that he wants the US to do anything, or even that he blames the US for exporting the holiday. As Cal says, he thinks that that it should be celebrated in his country and is encouraging his people to ignore it.
I agree that it’s pretty silly of Chavez to go on an anti-Holloween kick (after all, Im sure most of Venezualin culture is imported from one country or another), but it’s not like he’s passing laws against it. And at least from what I can see in the article, he’s not “blaming” the US for Holloween or asking that it do something about it, as you suggest.
Ahem, that should be “he thinks that it shouldn’t be celebrated…”
Sorry.