Sin Embargo: Dario Ramírez*
Translated by Rebecca Nannery
“Philosophy begins with astonishment [MV Note: Greek: θαυμάσομαι, thaumazein, Spanish: asombro; in English both can be translated as wonder, astonishment, amazement, surprise].” So Aristotle says in the introduction to his book “Metaphysics.” [Book One, Section 982b] Without astonishment there is no possible answer to the phenomena that we have in front of us. These phenomena must have an explanation and answer to the countless questions that can swirl around in our minds in comparison to the ravages of reality.
We have lost the ability to be astonished and with it the possibility of understanding our environment and ourselves. The facts overwhelm us. They are continuous and relentless. The dialogue for understanding ourselves is truncated and the sense of astonishment petrified. So we are, a society without astonishment. Automatons of pain without consequences. Misgovernment of society polished and sustained by an ill-fated democracy that does not meet the minimum requirements to support the best system that we could have. Yet, nothing surprises us, because we understand little of what happens to us. The ‘damage count’ is more important than the explanation and the understanding of it. We are, therefore, condemned to repetition.
The President lied. He did not write a thesis. Purposefully, he plagiarised 29% of his thesis that he needed to write to earn his law degree. Caught in his false ethics, hiding behind his high walls and presidential guards, the President lives through days of silence and through a steady withdrawal from the society to which he owes something.
He is a President with neither astonishment nor mettle. He is a beholder of a reality which is torn apart before his eyes but that neither his body nor his mind react to. He is a President hidden behind his investiture who, instead of generating respect and admiration as a leader, generates pity and anger. He is a President who has the courage to bury his head in the sand and hide while he is accused of plagiarism, thinking that keeping silent until the storm passes will be enough. While many media outlets like the New York Times, The Guardian and the Washington Post report on the seriousness of the plagiarism, the President’s office opts to continue with the ostrich technique. This is the courage of our leader.
Perhaps the lack of astonishment at knowing our President plagiarised his thesis is due to his conduct as a public servant. Astonishment requires surprise and, what I mean by that, is that almost anything can be expected of him… Behold the lack of astonishment over what we’re hearing about him. Instead, in our culture of zero astonishment, it's worth more to catagorize Carmen Aristegui as a revengeful person than thanking her for warning us that we have a President whose moral, academic and ethical quality allowed him to unashamedly plagiarise his thesis. If Aristegui was full of herself when announcing her report (whose content has not yet been disproved), I don't think that deserves any more than a quick judgement of opinion. However, there are those who, with their ignorance and lack of astonishment, swallow the poison spouted by the Office of the President that states it was not plagiarism but merely ‘stylistic errors,’ and that Carmen Aristegui is a strident journalist because the President did not put quotation marks [around copied texts].
Astonishment is what sets something apart, initiates action and decides. Without astonishment we won’t get anywhere. Without it, we will be at the expense of what they tell us, perhaps through the astonishment of others, for example those outside Mexico, without building for ourselves our own reality. The normalization of scandals, their easy reading, and the lack of consequences over what, for a split second, seems to be an earthquake at the centre of our political system become mere summer breezes. Impunity is nestled in the national motto: "Here nothing happens". Spanish original
This is Part I of a two-part article.
See Part II
*Dario Ramírez was, until recently, the Mexico director of Article 19, an international organization which defends freedom of expression and information. He studied International Relations at the Iberoamericana University and has a Masters in International Law from the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of numerous articles on freedom of expression, access to information, media and human rights and he teaches journalism. He worked in the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations (UNHCR) in Latin America and Africa. @Dariormrs