Babalu's fifth anniversary deserved no better of its Founding Editor than a post with the single word: "Wow." Can there be a clearer definition of "I don't give a damn?"
Before Val became the Val that we all know today, with his pressure cooker and his rivers of blood, his suppression of dissent and of dissenters, his pomposity and self-absorption, there was another Val, a humble guy who set for himself a big mission, to "create an island on the net without a bearded dictator," dedicated to exposing Castro's misdeeds and defending his victims. He was not the first Cuban-American blogger. But his blog was the first serious and successful attempt to challenge the monopoly which leftists held over the Cuban debate on the blogosphere. Nor can it be denied that Babalú was a wellspring for other Cuban blogs, and Val himself, if we believe their testimonials, the inspiration for a spate of likeminded anti-Castro bloggers.
Somewhere along the road, however, the humble guy started using the word "humble" with much less sincerity. Whereas in the beginning he would debate any Castroite crackpot who wandered into his domain, he later became very picky about who commented on his threads and what was said there. He came to regard it as a personal affront if his commenters did not second his every opinion. Then he started to delete comments that did not and ban commenters who would not pay due obeisance to his monomania. To all his other laurels, Val added that of introducing the echo chamber to the Cuban-American blogosphere. There are those who consider Henry to be Val's Richelieu and blame his influence for all that went wrong at Babalú. I give Val more credit than that.
In any case, congratulations to Babalú, and, in particular, to its Founding Editor. I have spent a year trying to make you return to your better angels. What success I have had, if any, I will let others decide. It is an encouraging development that lately some modicum of free expression has returned to Babalú, though it is still likely to be met with the same abuse. The reason is that suppression of all dissent had turned Babalú into a ghost town, with miles of posts with nary a comment hitched to them.
Perhaps they have started to realize that diversity of opinion benefits both countries and blogs.
Let us at least hope so.
POSTSCRIPT:
Shocking. Of 16 commenters congratulating Val on Babalú's 5th Anniversary, only 8 are members of his "magnificent cadre of writers." The other 8 must have overlooked his "Wow" post. Time to thin the ranks?
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19 comments:
You are sounding more than Obama than MAT
Mat is this post your Olive branch?
Remember you can't meet without pre conditions
Be careful
anonymous:
This is the position that I have always maintained towards Babalú.
It is impossible to change people's characters; it is only possible to change their conduct.
One does not accomplish this, however, by affirming them in their misconduct, much less rewarding them for it.
I know you are giving Val the cake but never the candle
Cinco en Penultimos
Joder, Satanas los cria y ellos se juntan.
Babalu representa lo peor de la ultraderecha fanatica, rabiosa, extremista y baja (muy baja). Dicen ellos que el maton Rolando Masferrer era todo un caballero…pero Obama es el Candidato Manchuriano y Delahunt es un “freakin’ bastard”.
Y toavia le vas a celebrar el cumpleanos?
Te sugiero les lleves un cake hecho a base de Rat-B-Gone y cubierto con un alegremente coloreado merenguito de Warfarina.
2 Helios // Jun 28, 2008 at 12:54 am
No dire: “espero que los ‘expertos’ con quienes vas a consultar la vacuna cubana no sean los mismos trasnochados que ya opinaron anteriormente sobre el tema”.
Vaya, que seria muy tonto de mi parte suponer que milagros ocurren en este sitio web…
3 Felix Monrabal // Jun 28, 2008 at 1:41 am
Felicidades para Val,Gorge, y tantos otros que continuan con la verdad y la realidad de nuestra tierra,a Val un saludo caluroso desde New Orleans ,por su contribicion de los ojos de babalu,que me envio’ a Michigan cuando estavamos en el piso con la catastrofe de Katrina,tendre la oportunidad de conocerlo en el 2009 pues quiero ir a Miami a ver familiares y a Cuba Nostalgia,espero su casa quede como su vision y que la disfrute ,no hay nada mas bello que la oportunidas y los recurzos para hacer tu casa como la quieres y te mereces.Saludos a todos de otro cubano en el pais que me ha dado las oportunidades que el despota me robo’.
4 Max de Rob // Jun 28, 2008 at 1:42 am
Esposa de Pérez Roque e hija de Jaime Crombet.
Saludos
5 Part Time // Jun 28, 2008 at 2:46 am
“El asunto merita un post”, no, amigo. Debe decirse:
– el asunto merece un post
o
–el asunto amerita un post
Meritar es hacer méritos; ameritar, merecer. Cariños de,
Precisa Mente
6 Jon // Jun 28, 2008 at 10:34 am
Recientemente, la actitud de los lectores de Babalú respecto al tema gay en Cuba ha sido vergonzosa. En general, ese blog transpira una homofobia asqueante. Me da pena que sea esa la ventana del blogueo anticastrista para tantas personas.
7 sergio // Jun 28, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Babalú es un foro cubano reaccionario, producto de la contamianación de algunos cubiches con las más retrógradas corrientes del pensamiento político anglo. Algo que poco tiene que ver con los cubanos, tanto los de la era pre-castrista, como los de ahora. Estos 50 años de desastre y contínua dictadura en Cuba han representado una gran pérdida para la identidad y manera de ser del cubano, tanto en Cuba como en el exilio. Babalú Blog es sólo un ejemplo de esta aberración. Pero, bueno, tienen derecho a sus opiniones y los he visto peores y más fanáticos aún. Lo único bueno que tienen es que, dentro de su aberrante filosofía, de vez en cuando muestran genuina preocupación por lo que pasa en Cuba.
Babalu representa todo lo que se debe evitar en una nueva Cuba libre. Pensamiento retrogrado, intolerancia, censura, odio a los cubanos mas humildes de la isla, desprecio por los cubanos que tuvieron la desgracia de nacer bajo el comunismo, y sobre todo, guataqueria sin limites hacia ciertos politicos. Es muy comodo comer pan con lechon en el exilio y exigir sacrificios de los que estan en Cuba. No hay nada que celebrar de ese blog.
pastelitos lo que pasa es que esta gente como nunca vivio en cuba lo unico que pueden hacer es remontarse a sus experiencias que les fue contada a ellos por sus padres. Es decir estan totalmente alejados de la realidad cubana actual , no caminan , no piensan ,no hablan comos los cubanos que estan dentro de Cuba, y lo bueno de esto es que si se atreven a ir a Cuba no duraran ni un solo dia porque aparte de que seran vistos como enemigos no tendran la capacidad para lidiar con la idiosincracia de sus hermanos ya sea en la habana o en bayamo
MaT,
I agree with you. The problem with Babalu is not that it was always bad but that it became corrupted by its own success.
It's now a blog about Val and what Val and his yes-men think about Cuba. Babalu also went from being an anti-Castro blog to being an anti-Cuban blog, blaming the Cuban people for Castro and turning them into his enablers instead of his victims.
You more than anybody else have documented the decline and fall of Babalu.
If it ever gets back on its feet the credit for showing it how will belong to you.
So Babalu reached it's fifth year, it has not been a great 5th, at the rate they are going they will have no commenters on the 6th, well unless you count the fine cadre of writers, there is nothing humble about Val or his dying blog.
Interesting. The Anonimi are debating which of them is the biggest loser.
Just to catch you up, Mike, remember North Korea? The "axis of evil" North Korea? The one that some folks wanted to bomb a year or so ago? Yeah, that one. Well, they're now our friends. I guess you could say they're no longer against us, they're with us. No, really, I kid you not. That's funny, I know, but the funniest thing is that no one on the right wants to talk about it.
No idea why.
BTW, it's "vain."
Posted by Rick at June 29, 2008 11:32 AM
and the poodle Moneo responds
Hey Rick, fuck you asshole. Try to delete that one.
Posted by George L. Moneo at June 29, 2008 12:48 PM
Manny los babalulosers are visiting you in droves today
the can run but they can't hide
sufre agripino
George is upset at Rick because Rick deletes his comments. Isn't that precious? Two peas in a pot.
Would Rick have preferred that Bush invade North Korea? Doesn't Bush at least get brownie points for weaseling out?
Cualquier niño de cinco años en Cuba es mas inteligente que esos tarugos de Babalu, que son todos falsos cubanos.
fantomas que le hicistes a la chivatona alexa de ny ?
This blog sucks. Not even the flies are here. I'm going back Babalu where they treat me better
lol
Para que lo sepas tú
te informo que Tellechea
cuando entra en Babalú
sale siempre con diarrea
Me da lástima Manolo
nunca llegará a la Habana
y aqui se ha quedado solo
on Calabaza y con Vana
No quiere que nadie suba
porque el tan solo baja,
y en vez de hablar sobre Cuba
todo lo que dice es paja
Se nombró "revisador"
de los blogueros cubanos
porque se creia mejor
que el resto de sus hermanos
Pero para que usted vea
que tal ha sido el rechazo
resulta que Tellechea
terminó siendo un payaso
Excellent poem
Manuel te sonaron duro
Pastelitos...exactamente. La gente de Babalu nada mas que hace comer de lo que pica el pollo.
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