By Allan Wall
01/03/2016
The Guardianās Sophie Heawood, who hails from Yorkshire. has boasted that "A Yorkshire childhood trains you to be distinctly unimpressed by the rest of the world" but in a recent interview with Gael Garcia Bernal she seemed quite impressed by the arrogant Mexican movie star.
She gushed that "I could write myself straight into Pseuds Corner trying to do justice to the penetrating depth of his green eyes, so letās just say the man has presence ā¦ " and she called the actor "a freedom fighter".
She also refers to the actor as "Bernal", which indicates that she, along with many other well-paid journalists, does not know how Spanish surnames function. In Spanish-speaking countries people have two surnames, one from the father and the other from the mother. She ought to call the actor "Garcia", or "Garcia Bernal", but not "Bernal. (See my explanatory article Whatās In a (Sur)Name? Plenty, If You're Planning An Amnesty).
When the topic of the Donald Trump candidacy comes up, Garcia goes ballistic
āI mean, he called Mexicans rapists and drug dealers. How closed-minded and f ā king ignorant is that? At first, you donāt listen, but then it reaches a point where you go, OK, now heās created exactly what he maybe wanted to, which is that people are angry. Iām upset. Iām upset if I listen to anybody talk like that. We started to give Donald Trump so much space, and we started to validate his opinion, as if itās like, āYou know, itās a valid opinion.ā No, itās not valid. Itās hate discourse, and what follows next is genocide or civil war. I mean, thatās how it begins.ā
Gael GarcĆa Bernal: 'Donald Trump calls Mexicans rapists and drug dealers. Itās hate discourse'
Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, December 30, 2015
"Genocide or civil war"? I think Garcia has it backwards. Itās more likely that Trump would prevent genocide than cause it.
Then Garcia goes on to pontificate about Mexico.
āHave you been to Mexico?ā he asks me. āItās so much fun. So much fun. Yes, the politics is corrupt, and I used to think it was machiavellian too ā astute and with malice. No, itās actually just inept. Thereās no justice. But the government doesnāt represent Mexican society, which is very heterogeneous, and which is, right now, building up a strong critical mass. There is something very exciting happening. People feel very able to change things.ā
Hey, Mexico isnāt run by space aliens, itās run by Mexicans. So how do we know that some sort of "revolution" would produce a better government? It might be a worse government.
In the meantime, Americans can elect anybody they want, and they donāt need your approval.