Well, I asked for it. Chileno recently reviewed my blog and damn if he didn’t let me have it. For those of you who don’t know who Chileno is, I’ve been reading his blog a bit so I’ll explain. Basically he’s a pessimistic, acerbic, and seemingly witty American ex-pat living in Santiago and complaining for a living (if you feel there is a better description, please post it below). I really don’t know what he does, but his blog is entertaining and a good way to get informed about the issues going on in Chile and a good forum of debate (if you think you are well informed). Be careful about posting on his blog though because he doesn’t hesitate to attack, and if you contest him, make sure you cite your sources.
12 comments:
How was the show last nite?
Thanks for the counter-attack, er, "review", but honestly you really shouldn't be afraid to comment on my blog, if you are not a fascist or intellectually dishonest. Citation always helps, but it's no cure for unapologetic defense of Pinochet's economic policies. Like Joel, who "backed up his argument" by showing that he'd read three pages of pro-Pinochet historical revisionism, overall his logic fails him and I'm still waiting for him to explain how, in a scenario HE constructed, he wouldn't logically be obliged to defend Hitler's economic policies.
For the most part Chileno's elite core gets off easy because they're cool, and if they contest me they do so nicely and are responded to in kind. It's the negative stuff which grabs the headlines and I ain'it complaining about that, just sayin', don't be afraid to join the discussion, you can fight or not fight, it's up to you :-)
*Sigh*
Am I going to have to follow you all over the internets to defend myself against your slanderous comments now?
I have replied, Don Sherman, and you may respond at your leisure should you feel the inclination.
It's Don Wheel. And calling it like I see it isn't slander. Watch your words, read my response on you blog.
"Slander is an untruthful oral (spoken) statement about a person that harms the person's reputation or standing in the community."
Your statement that my logic fails me is untruthful and harms my reputation in the community.
Watch my words? Do you want to take this outside?
First of all, I don't mouth out words while type like you apparently do, so "slander" would be the wrong word. What you're trying to falsely accuse me of is "libel". I find it amusing that at the same time you reach for a highly legalistic vocab word, you also suggest a threat of assault. Like I said, "watch your words" buddy.
>>>Your statement that my logic fails me is untruthful and harms my reputation in the community.
Heh, if you wanna sue me for libel then I think a quick analysis by a trained lawyer (they get trained in logic) would clear me immediately. I've shown that your logic fails you and so it's not untruthful. Even if it were untruthful then all you gotta do is prove it, logically. So it'd be totally frivolous, stands as much chance as the History of Chile suing you for the untruthful things you've said about it ;-)
Apart from this tough love tone I'm using with you Joel, I'm happy with your latest comment on your blog, and really appreciate your willingness to learn more about the history of Chile, the economy. Watch those Batalla de Chile movie, and read Marc Cooper's book Pinochet and Me - A Chilean Anti-Memoir it's a fascinating read you can finish it in a couple hours probably.
Actually, you can also support Chileno while you're at it - go right to my homepage, scroll down, click the amazon link and buy it, apparently they've only got three copies left so HURRY.
Sorry for the spam AJ :P ...but it's a great book and I'm the hardest working English language blogger in Chile :-)
boys, boys, boys...
I've been following this whole argument, and I've decided to not get involved... for those of you not aware of the debate, you can see how touchy the subject of Pinochet is. While visiting Chile, I don't recommend bringing it up in company that may have mixed opinions.
Good advice AJ.
Like a bad cold, C.hileno just keeps coming back.
"What you're trying to falsely accuse me of is "libel"."
No, actually I meant slander. But I'm just kidding man. Calm down.
And about the book, I'll go buy all three copies right now! Thanks!
>>>While visiting Chile, I don't recommend bringing it up in company that may have mixed opinions.
Dude, don't be such a woosy.
Talking about the dictatorship is one of the most important things you can do and you never know what someone thinks until you ask them.
Fuck self-censorship this ain't the '70's, '80's, ask people and as long as they're not neo-nazis you're not gonna get hurt. I've had numerous extremely civil in-person conversations with Pinochetistas and I usually just listen to their perspective and insert questions now and then. It's extremely valuable to "know the enemy" - not even that: know that many Pinochetistas are normal people with human emotions and understandable perspectives based on the propaganda fed them, you see they're just frightfully confused or uninformed, like Joel.
I haven't given up on Joel. Ha-choo!
-Chileno
Okay, here's another Ha-choo, at you:
AJ I've been thinking. Perhaps you're not fundamentally a woosy but I suspect you're trying to make your blog really apolitical and tourist friendly well I'll tell you what:
Human Rights tourism is a part of the scene in Chile - could be a LOT bigger, and I'm not going to make value judgments but all I'm going to say is that at the end of the day a human rights tour does serve a function of getting people out to torture centers like Villa Grimaldi, educating them, and supporting the local economy. There's also lotsa potential for hypocrisy, etc.
My only point is that if you really aren't a woosy but you think for some reason that walking on eggshells is good for your tourism numbers then I'd just encourage you to think again.
- Chileno
All I'm saying is that I have friends who are kids of Pinochistas here, and although I, nor any person properly educated on the subject, don't agree with them at all on the subject, I don't want to see my own friendships ruined because of political disagreements. Yeah man, Pinochet was a horrible dictator and murderer, but does that mean I'm going to stop being friends with someone who's parents supported him? I'm studying in La Universidad de Chile and there are a handful of Pinochet supporters in the student body. I've talked about the issue with supporters and opponents of Pinochet, and it disgusts me that some people still have this unconditional love for him. But hey, Chileans our age (I'm 21) of mixed political backgrounds are friends today. You're right, it is a good subject to talk about and to be informed about, but Chile is a very politicized nation. Parties get ruined by arguing about this subject, and I was only trying to point out how controversial it is. You proved your point. Coincidently I just put Villa Grimaldi in my new article 30 Things To Do When Visiting Santiago because I do think it's a really important part of the history of this nation.
It's not coincidental that you included Villa Grimaldi you slipped it in there at the last minute. Who in the world would make a list of "30" things to do. "29" is much catchier, as you well know. But Salsa Dancing would not get the boot apparently.
-Chileno
I just found all of your blogs. This fight was almost as good as your causes. Keep it up, blogs and all.
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