The ‘seals’ (whomever the shoe fits)

The “seals” applaud mechanically. The “seals” don’t build a country or concretize collective dreams.; what they do is rest and climb structures or beg the powerful for caresses. You’ll find “seals” with all political labels, in any of the four corners of the world — Miami included, of course.

To be a “seal” is to renounce the exercise of criteria and the practice of criticism and genuine opinion, the opinions dictated to us by our reasoning and the most basic honesty.

But the “seals” do not reveal their true thoughts; at most, they open up a little, very little, in their little circles. Many of them practice double-talk, even triple-talk. They are addicted to what’s politically convenient for them. It’s just a matter of having a nose for “the fish.” Or for the person or persons eating it, and where.

The exercise of criticism does not imply the abandonment of revolutionary positions and the policy of actualization but the ratification of the values and ideals that one believes in, and the political options that one defends despite any flaws. Moreover, it carries with it a citizen’s obligation.

For citizens, especially for socialists, it is a traditional duty that derives from Marxism as a tool for analysis simultaneously intended to criticize a specific reality. Is it not true that the process of actualization initiated in Cuba responds to the exercise of both analysis and criticism/self-criticism?

But the “seals” opine and spread untruths about those persons and institutions that, in their mind, obstruct their path or expose their ineffectiveness. Or maybe induced by God knows who.

Apparently, the “seals” applaud without having muscles. They’re moved by their envy for others and are fascinated by the public stage. They would like to be seen as Rihanna, bathed in the public’s flattery, as happened recently in Havana, where she was given impressive media coverage. Or Lady Gaga, the back of whose dress insinuates the top of her bottom.

When “seals” communicate — usually to ingratiate themselves with someone — they mutilate aspects of reality to please their privileged targets, because they work hard to flatter ears, not to serve. They don’t have the courage to assume their lives serenely, just as they are, so they can improve themselves as persons.

Personal life is assumed in its integrated totality. That’s psychologically healthy and the way to strengthen our human dignity. It’s also the honest thing to do. To rectify, one doesn’t have to applaud and applaud, just be consistent without expecting absolutely anything in return. To be one person to oneself is enough — and it’s tough and risky in any country in our small world.

To congratulate when congratulations are in order, to disagree and criticize, well, likewise. And both reactions can coexist without contradiction in any form of communication.

But this serene equilibrium from positions honestly defined is foreign to the “seals.” Just look at the way they transit through life. They don’t even elicit the humor and attractive sympathy of the perambulatory Chaplin.

The issue of Cuba demands criticism and applause when reality calls for them. And our reality is so complex, and this moment in our lives is so decisive for our society, our country, our nation, our common project and each person, that the “seal” — given its characteristics — is noxious.

“Seals” act not like citizens but like pawns at the service of any political system and they’re useless in socialism, a model that needs urgent reinvention.

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