Maybe now we will get some relief from the endless stories about every move Elain made, every breath he took and every word he spoke.
Oh, the horror of CNN and Fox not having an endless story to fill their already pathetic airtime.
I don’t understand why the father being a free man didn’t take this opportunity to begin a new life. Hopefully this is the last any of them will be seen thou.
lindsay
Uh, maybe because he is trying to be a responsible, loving father that enjoys the company of his son?
It’s a wild guess :rolleyes:
Patrick Ashley
“For those who believe, no evidence is necessary; for those who don’t believe, no evidence is enough.” -Unknown
And maybe we’ll stop getting new threads about him started here. Nah, that’s just wishful thinking.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” - Adam Smith
It might have something to do with his parents being in “protective custody” pending his return to Cuba. That is if I understood your statement to be along the lines of why he is not seeking residency in the U.S. as long as he’s here.
That poor little kid. He sure became a political lightning rod. IMO, the political issues were real, but it was just so damned sad and sick that the whole thing had to happen in the first place.
BTW, I define “first place”, in this instance, as the continuing fact that some people are still forced into taking to sea in barely more than rafts and risking death at all.
The only saving grace in the whole nauseating media circus was Connie Chung’s absence. Her particular style of ego-stamped limo journalism always set my teeth on edge.
Veb
>> I don’t understand why the father being a free man didn’t take this opportunity to begin a new life.
Contrary to what many Americans think, most people in other countries are not desperate to come to the USA and most, in fact, have a rather low opinion of many aspects of American culture (in many cases exagerated).
Even if they could make more money in the US, most people would rather remain in the country and culture where they grew up. Only those who are truly desperate would leave everything to try to find a new, better life in a richer country which need not necessarily be the US.
While the situation for the general population in Cuba is quite bad and many people would risk their lives to get out, there are also many who would prefer to stay. Leaving aside the upper communists, there are also many people at the lower level who are also true believers. If, like is the case of Elian’s father, they have a reasonably good job, I can understand they would prefer to stay.
(As an aside, I will say I am also amazed how they can believe in communism in spite of all the evidence but humans are pretty irrational in general and will believe in whatever they want to believe, witness all world religions and other fanaticisms…)
Anyway, Elian’s father was offered a couple million US$ plus a bunch of other stuff if he stayed here and he rejected it. I respect him for that. For saying “I will not be used as propaganda in spite that it costs me to give all this up”.
But getting back to the issue: Most Mexicans, Chinese, etc would not want to move anywhere even if given an easy chance. It is just that even if it is a small percentage of them that do want to move, their numbers are so huge that they seem overwhelming.
I can understand perfectly why Elian’s father (does the man have a name other than “Elian’s father”?) wants to return to Cuba.
At the same time I will tell you a friend of mine from Cuba just managed to escape safely and I am very happy for him…
That kid is going to need major psychiatrist work later.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez
Elian Gonzalez: A Perfect Solution
Written by Chad BloodSky Schneider
As witness to the potentially catastrophic and ridiculous treatment of the young boy from Cuba, Elian Gonzalez, I have decided to put forth my own solution to the problem. Like every child of the decade of 1980, I have seen marriages sour, and I have recognized the importance of letting things go. The messy break-up between the United States and Cuba in the 1950’s left our nation confused and hurt. It also left a lot of well-to-do Cubans dead or running for their lives. Fidel Castro, like a disrespectful, middle-aged, middle-class man who leaves his wife and children to fend for themselves, took over the country and basked in the debauchery to come. The United States, abandoned and frustrated, decided to look after the kids and run an honest, albeit dysfunctional household in the rest of Latin America (‘Nicaragua, don’t fight with your brothers!’ or 'Columbia, your eyes are bloodshot! What did I tell you about doing drugs?).
Now we enter the new millenium. Psychotherapy is in. Metaphysical soul-searching is in. Happy feelings and good sense are in. We need to resolve this conflict which has been brewing in the collective psyche of the country and Cuban Americans for far too long. We need to learn to share. In every happy divorce, the two combatants become negotiators. What the heck am I saying? Well, it is simple. Uncle Sam gets to keep the ranch and SUV. Fidel Castro gets to keep the dry cleaning business, so long as he pays his alimony and child support. We need to share and share alike.
Ah, but this is not so simple. We are dealing with a boy here. We see a boy with a potential future to live in the great nation of the United States, away from the evil Castro and his warped communism, away from the brain-washed mind of his father. We cannot send him back to the soiled streets of Havana. He has an opportunity to live on the soiled streets of Miami.
So, what do we do? We need to share. I propose that the boy is divided up evenly (or as equivocally as possible). The United States should keep his head here. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, after all. Elian has been indoctrinated by his relatives in Miami, anyway. They have made a grand beginning by coaching him to shake his finger at his daddy and denounce his father’s need to be a daddy. We can foster his intellect and teach him to say more good things about the United States. His head can become a talking symbol of freedom and the spirit of individuality.
Castro and the communists will receive his arms and hands. They can use his upper extremities to grasp the hammer and sickle, a veritable representation of the working proletariat class. Castro can hold his (or his own) arms up in triumph, and he can mock the videotape by wagging Elian’s fingers back at the Cuban relatives in Miami and the United States.
The feet will be auctioned to the highest bidder (probably Nike) for advertisements to sell shoes. I am confident that corporate America will foot (no pun intended) the bill to keep his feet within the boundaries our country. What can Castro say? Capitalism awards those with the freedom to buy and sell. It is not like Cuba doesn’t recognize the U.S. dollar. Ask any tourist who has been there. I know that the athletic shoe magnate that wins his feet will provide the utmost in modern technology to make an awesome image of Elian claiming victory over Cuba. I can see him now, soaring to the basket. With a cool Havana breeze blowing, Elian leaps over the island of hated Cuba to slam dunk a basketball (or maybe Castro’s head shaped like a basketball, you know, to drive home the point that we own Elian’s head) into a basket, brandishing a backboard of stars and stripes. The backboard explodes into a million red, white and blue stars, raining down over the television screen to ultimately spell the words of another catchy slogan.
The rest of his body and viscera will be kept in a chamber next to Walt Disney. Just imagine all of the money that will be spent on genetic research, medicine and science to become the first person to put poor Elian back together again. If Nike has the rights to his feet, they can probably swing a deal with the relatives to have a swoosh icon tattooed on his body. Elian and his relatives will be very rich and affluent people. It will be similar to the race to the moon with Russia when JFK was president. The United States and Cuba will both be racing to build a better Elian.
As we can see, the solution I have proposed is perfect. The bickering stops. The media finds another ludicrous topic to run into the ground, and I don’t have to hear another word about Elian Gonzalez. Cuba and the United States will set an example for the rest of the world and share what they both want; what they both need. Not only will we set a wonderful example for the world, but we will also set the future of genetics and human medicine into optimal acceleration. Most important of all, however, is that Nike will have another awesome commercial to entertain us as the spectators we’ve become, move us as patriots we hope we are, and subdue us as the idiots we tend to be.
See ChadBloodSky at copilotjones.tripod.com or
E Mail him at chadbloodsky@hotmail.com
Chad! Priceless! ROFLMAOSTC, That’s gotta be the best suggestion yet!
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Relax, I’m not as Dave as I look!- A Wallified sig!
Continuing with the topic that most people in general and Mr Gonzalez in particular would not want to live in the USA I found some news estimating a very small fraction of Cubans would actually want to move here. If that is true in Cuba where people are starving, I imagine in other countries it would be even less.
In any case, Mr Gonzalez has it made whether he stays or whether he returns. In Cuba he’ll be a national hero.
here are the links:
A privileged life for Juan Miguel http://www.msnbc.com/news/393933.asp
CIA: Most Cubans loyal to homeland http://www.msnbc.com/news/393933.asp