Is There Anything At All in Henry's Mind On Any Day?

So who is dumber? I honestly believe that Henry is, because Val at least knows the lacuna in his knowledge and avoids whenever possible questions that might betray it. When Val dips in unfamiliar waters he is usually the worse for it, as in his recent assertion that Spaniards "forced religion" on his siboney ancestors, which leads naturally to the question (at least in well-ordered minds) of whether religion is a good thing or not. Most historians agree that at least in the colonization of America, it was. In fact, religion curbed and helped eliminate the abuse of the indigenous population by boldly declaring that the natives were human beings no different from the colonists in the dignity of their persons. That was the subject of a papal bull of 1537. The descendents of the English didn't get around to acknowledging that until 1965, when the Civil Rights Bill was signed.

To be fair to Val, I am sure that he had no idea whatever that he was propagating the Black Legend, which claims that Spaniards are more fanatical, intolerant, bloodthirsty and greedy than any other European people. This myth, of course, was invented by the English, whose ideas of racial superiority prevented them from ever mixing with the natives, and, on the rare occasions when they did, led them to disinherit and even enslave their progeny.

Val, however, stumbled on a fact which Henry was quick to discern and exploit — if you resurrect the Black Legend, Spaniards will listen. In his latest post on Babalú, Henry Gómez exploits the Black Myth for all it's worth as no has since 1898.

Henry accuses Spaniards of "plundering the new world of all its gold and silver" (there's as much of that stuff there now as there was then) and being "frozen in a psychological state of colonial masters." Why? Because the Spanish government has asserted a claim to the historical reliques on a sunken Spanish galleon which the descendents of Englishmen (of all people!) want to, shall we say, plunder, as their pirate ancestors did 500 years ago. Are the English, then, still "frozen in a psychological state of colonial pirates?" Is the Jolly Roger still synonymous with the Union Jack?

Of course, Henry is not making "war" on the English. These are the people that nurture his American uber Cuban soul.

And this ignoramus and self-described "American-Cuban" named Henry has the temerity to accuse our friend Charlie Bravo of Killcastro blog, who first brought this story to light, of being some kind of poseur because he calls himself "Charlie" instead of "Carlos?"

OK, Henry, here's another lesson in history for you: there really was a historical figure name "Charlie Bravo." His real name was Colonel Charles (not Carlos) Hernández, but he was known by everybody in his day as "Charlie Bravo." (bravo means brave and daring in Spanish). Who was he? The most successful gunrunner in history. For years he almost singlehandedly kept the Cuban rebels supplied with arms in violation of the so-called U.S. Neutrality Act (which allowed U.S. arms merchants to sell to Spain but not to the rebels). Charlie Bravo was indicted dozens of times for violating the U.S. Neutrality Act but always acquitted because of the legal genius of Horatio Rubens, a young Jewish lawyer chosen by Martí to be the legal counsellor of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, and because the American people then actually sympathized with the Cuban rebels (even though their government didn't) and no jury ever found them guilty.

"Charlie Bravo" is actually a symbol of resistance to both Spanish power in Cuba and the U.S. government's attempts to thwart Cuban independence as it waited for the "ripe apple" to fall into its lap.

Of course, Henry would have wanted Charles Hernández (aka Charlie Bravo) to be put in jail because he flaunted U.S. laws, and if Henry had been on one of those juries he surely would have voted to convict him. Such a good American, Henry is.

http://www.babalublog.com/archives/005290.html


UPDATE:

In the "Comments Section," Henry's support for burning the Cuban flag.