Babalú's Deletes All Comments on "The New Cuban Flag"

Everything else can be fought except human nature; that is immutable. Therefore, it was not even in question whether Val would allow a free debate to proceed at Babalú concerning George Moneo's reproduction of Eduardo Sarmiento's offensive cacicature of the Cuban flag. Everybody who participated in that discussion knew that at some point it would be abruptly interrupted and censored. Well, it never was a free discussion to begin with, since only a fraction of the comments submitted were actually published; but skewered as it was in their favor, their vigilance could not be 24/7, so it was inevitable that a critical comment or two would penetrate their cordon sanitaire in the wee hours of the morning. It would have been too conspicuous to delete just those comments; they have done that, of course, in the past, with utter shamelessness, but the controversy regarding Babalú's desecration of the Cuban flag had shone the spotlight on it and made such selective censorship too risky a proposition. So Val decided, instead, to delete the entire thread and close discussion on "The New Cuban Flag," which, ironically, has been accorded more respect than the old at Babalú. The only thing that Val did not eliminate, however, was the Sarmiento's desecration of the Cuban flag.

Given Val's abundant love for his adopted country, which truly knows no bounds and encompasses even support for the "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy, it is inconceivable that he would treat the U.S. flag in the same manner that the Cuban flag has been treated at Babalú. This is part of the "American-Cuban" mentality that pervades Babalú and colors all its thinking on Cuba and especially its treatment of Cubans on the island and newcomers from Cuba, who, of late, have become both the enemy within and the enemy without rather than Castro and his henchmen. The only exception which Val makes is for individual political prisoners. The rest of the Cuban people he regards as collaborators of the regime who can only redeem themselves by shedding rivers of blood or by submitting to be rendered in a pressure cooker (Val's similes, not mine).

When so little concern is shown for Cubans as human beings should we expect Babalú to respect the symbols of the Cuban nation? Of course not. Its desecration of the Cuban flag is in keeping with its devaluing of all things Cuban, not least Cuban lives.

The RCAB, from its inception, has provided a refuge for both Babalú's deleted comments and its banned commenters. So here, for the record, incomplete and altered as it has been, is the deleted thread from Moneo's post "The New Cuban Flag:"


July 09, 2008
The new Cuban flag

(H/T Gabriel D.)
Posted by George Moneo at July 9, 2008 02:59 PM


Comments

Sad, but dead on!
Posted by: jluix at July 9, 2008 04:05 PM

Hay una polémica en el tapete: Resulta que en Babalú aparecía una imagen de la bandera cubana modificada en alusión al Exodo y "Review of Cuban Blogs" publica un post indignado.
Si bien es cierto que yo no utilisaría la bandera en esa forma para ilustrar ninguna idea por justa que fuera, creo que la intención de Moneo obviamente no fue ofender a la bandera ni a los cubanos. Para mi no pasa de ser irreverencia.

Tomado de "Blogs sobre Cuba": (http://blogssobrecuba.blogspot.com)
Posted by: Al Godar at July 9, 2008 09:57 PM

Al, I am leaving this comment solely as a clarification so that all the screeching voices can shut up: the image was given to me by a recent Cuban exile who thought it was the perfect metaphor for the situation in Cuba: 'even the star is taking to the sea to leave Cuba.'

An image that needs an explanation has not done its job. This one, however, should be self-explanatory. Maybe all of the "outrage" directed at this -- an image that captures the reality of Cuba today -- can be redirected to the Obama campaign lady who had che superimposed on the Cuban flag. The nattering negativists didn't raise one little objection to that. And to me, che's picture on the flag is a desecration. My two cents.
Posted by: George L. Moneo at July 9, 2008 10:33 PM

I think the design is inspired.
Posted by: Paco at July 9, 2008 10:44 PM

I laughed out loud. It's perfect.
Posted by: Zhangliqun at July 10, 2008 01:10 AM

George, perhaps you did not have any derogatory intention when you posted this desecration of my Cuba's National Flag. No one is perfect, all of us humans err at one time or another. I urge you to do the right thing, take the correct action(s) and prevent further potential damage to your reputation and that of Babalu Blog, I'd suggest that you take down the graphic, apologize with utmost sincerity and prepare yourself for what may come your way. I do not always agree with you, I detest your propensity to the profane, but you are an educated man with many principles with which I agree. I reiterate, I do not believe that you had any negative intentions in mind or heart, nevertheless, please take it down. Thanks.
Posted by: Angel Garzón at July 10, 2008 01:45 AM

My intent when I posted the image was -- and is -- as clear as gin: the image is a metaphor for the condition Cuba is in today. Period. This is nothing more than a cheap and manipulative attempt to drum up hysteria and controversy where none exists. If you or your friends are too obtuse to get the message, so be it. The image stays and my message now is the same as was when I posted it.

Angel, we live in America. I still have the right to post this, just as much as you have the right to disagree with me posting it. You have a lot of crust to think you can come here and tell me what to write or post, demanding an apology for some manufactured offense. Our blog has a variety of opinions, some more pointed than others, but we consistently, unambiguously and unashamedly disseminate a pro-America, anti-castro, anti-communist message here. If that message, or how we deliver it, bothers you that much, go elsewhere. I certainly won't shed any tears.
Posted by: George L. Moneo at July 10, 2008 07:15 AM

People actually complained about the flag... Dumb asses I tell ya, all of them... Where were these asses when the puta in Texas had Che on the Cuban flag?
Posted by: readytoshoot at July 10, 2008 08:54 AM

I immediately grasped the message of the flag and thought it was GREAT! But then again, I'm not one of those "ban the flag burners" kind of people I guess :)

Sorry Al, but you sound a little bit nuts to me. This can in no way be seen as desecration of the cuban flag. It SHOULD be the national flag of communist cuba though.
Posted by: Cangrejero de Caibarién at July 10, 2008 09:49 AM

MI BANDERA

Al volver de distante ribera,
con el alma enlutada, y sombria
afanoso busque mi bandera
Y otra he visto ademas de la mia!

Donde esta mi bandera cubana.
La bandera mas bella que existe?
Desde el buque la vi esta mañana,
y no he visto una cosa más triste!...

Con la fe de las almas austeras
hoy sostengo con honda energia
que no deben flotar dos banderas
donde basta con una: La mía!

En los campos que hoy son un osario
vio a los bravos batiéndose juntos,
y ella ha sido el honroso sudario
de los pobres guerreros difuntos.

Orgullosa lucio en la pelea,
sin pueril y romántico alarde:
Al cubano que en ella no crea
se le debe azotar por cobarde!

En el fondo de obscuras prisiones
no escucho ni la queja mas leve,
y sus huellas en otras regiones
son letreros de luz en la nieve...

No la veis? Mi bandera es aquella
que no ha sido jamás mercenaria,
y en la cual resplandece una estrella
con más luz, cuanto más solitaria.

Del destierro en el alma la traje
entre tantos recuerdos dispersos
y he sabido rendirle homenaje
al hacerla flotar en mis versos.

Aunque lánguida y triste tremola,
mi ambición es que el sol con su lumbre
la ilumine a ella sola - A ella sola! -
en el llano, en el mar y en la cumbre.

Si deshecha en menudos pedazos
llega a ser mi bandera algun día...
Nuestros muertos alzando los brazos
la sabran defender todaví­a...

Bonifacio Byrnes
Posted by: Vic at July 10, 2008 11:14 AM

Gracias, Vic. I hadnt read that in a long time.

I think it's important to note that no one is calling for a new cuban flag nor that tis be it. This is an artist's statement of what can only be called the reality of Cuba.
Posted by: Val Prieto at July 10, 2008 03:34 PM

An additional part of that reality is that if Cubans are stopped on the open seas, they get sent back to Cuba — thanks to wet-foot, dry-foot, America's contribution to the continuing torture of the Cuban people.

How American of us. Maybe we can add barbed wire to the Stars and Stripes to reflect that reality.
Posted by: Marc R. Masferrer at July 10, 2008 03:45 PM

My intent when I posted the image was -- and is -- as clear as gin: the image is a metaphor for the condition Cuba is in today. Period.

I was and I am very well aware of the metaphorical nature of the graphic and what it purportedly represents. You must be aware that there are many subjects, not the least of which is national pride and its representation by national symbols, that are considered "off limits" or beyond the realm of the common, certainly you are aware that even a small flag represents a nation and its people, you must know that any violation(s) or desecration(s) of such symbol(s) in any way, shape or form may and have caused nations to declare wars against one another, it is due to these reasons that national flags are only desecrated when provocation for war is the intention of the perpetrators, or when disdain and hatred of the nation and the people that a national flag represents is at the heart of the insulting violators. You get offended every time you see any representation of Che Guevara, yet the desecration of the national symbol of Cuba and its people does not seem to bother you in the least. Certainly there are many other alternatives that could have been employed to convey the message that you purport to have tried to convey It is common practice to place a disclaimer within any given presentation, whichever its nature, to clarify the intention(s) of the author(s) for anyone who may possibly take offense at whatever such presentation is intended to represent, but such escape clause is not customarily applied to national flags.

This is nothing more than a cheap and manipulative attempt to drum up hysteria and controversy where none exists. If you or your friends are too obtuse to get the message, so be it. The image stays and my message now is the same as was when I posted it.

There is no manipulation whatsoever at the heart of this issue, there is however, a serious affront to the national symbol of my native Cuba and to all Cubans, whether in Cuba, or anywhere else in the world. You seem to prefer to use contemptuous innuendo to attack me for having warned you as to the potentially negative consequences of your act of desecration, so be it, shoot the messenger and by all means, do not take the time to understand the message. Tthat appears to be more the norm than the exception with you. Your own words prove you guilty of your crime, you refuse to do what you should do for the good of the cause of democracy in Cuba, you choose to give the tyranny in power in Cuba another propaganda tool to use against all freedom loving Cubans and our friends and allies throughout the world, you choose to insult all Cubans whom you apparently believe are beneath you, especially our brothers and sisters within the island prison who suffer daily at the hands of the tyranny and most if not all of the recent arrivals, you coincidentally allege that it is one of those recently arrived Cubans who is the original author of the graphic, I doubt the veracity of such allegation, but there is a clear pattern of superiority complex to your statements, the members of the tyranny in Cuba suffer from the same affliction. You sir are an affront to Cuba and to all of us Cubans, you sir are a shameful example of what takes place when people allow bad influences from unpatriotic citizens of another nation to permeate their once proud national identity, you sir have been negatively influenced by those who posses no compunction whatsoever about using their own flag for underwear, placing a national symbol in the nether regions of their human anatomy. You sir, should immediately cease and desist from insulting the nation, the symbols, the nationals, the expatriates and anything and everything that represents our beloved Cuba.

Angel, we live in America. I still have the right to post this, just as much as you have the right to disagree with me posting it. You have a lot of crust to think you can come here and tell me what to write or post, demanding an apology for some manufactured offense. Our blog has a variety of opinions, some more pointed than others, but we consistently, unambiguously and unashamedly disseminate a pro-America, anti-castro, anti-communist message here. If that message, or how we deliver it, bothers you that much, go elsewhere. I certainly won't shed any tears.

No George, we live in the United States of America, from the furthest, northernmost reaches of Canada's territory to the furthermost reaches of Chile's and Argentina's territories and all other nations of America in between, we live in America, all of those nations citizens and residents live in America George, not the Illusion that you call America, another bad influence that you have assimilated from misinformed and misguided citizens of the U.S.A. You DO NOT have the right to desecrate the national symbol of Cuba and the Cubans it represents, living and dead. I did not tell you what you have the right to write or post, or what you do not have the right to write or post, I advised you as to the potentially damaging consequences of your act of desecration would be for your personal reputation, as well as, for the reputation of Babalu Blog, certainly you must be aware that there are consequences to our actions and words, freedom of speech allows any idiot to falsely yell "fire" at a theatre but with consequences for the perpetrator. You seem to lack or not want to avail yourself of logic, common sense and linear thought process. Your Blog (your own words, I was under the impression that it was Valentin Prieto's Blog) used to have a variety of opinions, mostly from commentators, most of whom have been banished and banned from commenting in the most outrageous displays of profanity laden derogatory disrespect and affront to all modicums of civility, so much for believing in the democratic and civil process. What you claim to be the core of the message that Babalu purports to disseminate, curiously does not indicate pro-Cuba and/or pro-Cuban, I guess all the claims to supporting and advocating for the cause of a free, democratic and civil Cuban republic, as well as, the claims of support for the Cuban people are not included, or perhaps your impression of what makes a true Cuban is nothing but a reflection of what you see every time you look in the mirror, if that is the case, I will unequivocally state that I want no part or parcel of that image that purportedly would represent what you apparently believe makes a real or ideal Cuban, I prefer to stay as I am, a true Cuban among the multitudes of Cubans, with all of our different characteristics that serve all of us so well to enrich our culture and civil pride. To finalize my statement, I would like to offer you this tip, when you offer others with whom you disagree to go elsewhere, you are too late already, the echo chamber that Babalu has become speaks for itself. Enough said.
Posted by: Angel Garzón at July 10, 2008 05:22 PM

***
When Val deleted this entire thread, he offered the following explanation, which, like all justifications of censorship, explains nothing but his own censorious mindset:

Update (Val): I have unpublished the comments related to this post. I simply will not allow such shallow, petty and disingenuously feigned insult bs commentary to go on here unchecked. The image above is an artist's statement on what he or she perceives to be the reality of today's Cuba and that's that. There is no desecration going on, no calls for a new Cuban flag, no intended or implied insult to the national symbol.

If you feel insulted by the image above, then you should, as it speaks volumes as to the truth about Cuba. Moreover, what should truly insult those of us that love Cuba and her symbolic flag is to see the likes of communists, socialists and fidelistas like the castros and their supporters waving her around for almost fifty years, shielding their idealistic ugliness behind her beauty.