Global Know-Now <<<<<<>>>>>> [The Cuba Edition] 06/2006-8/2006

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Theatre...

The uproarious reaction to The Da Vinci Code can be summed up in one word, cultish. As one who felt the need to follow the cultural transgression, I actively took part in the “Da Vinci Movement,” specifically by taking the Spanish version of the book I bought my mother for her enjoyment before she actually had a chance to. I admit it. I was enraptured by the page-turner. However, in retrospect, I can see that the story, although fascinating, had nothing to do with my wanting to read it. The reality was (is) that I (we) don’t want to feel excluded in society and so it is why we mimic: a part of socialization. Having said that and accepting my socialized reality, the next step was to watch the film. It’s only natural, right?

While doing the "grad. student thing:” sipping chais and lattes while studying and checking out the gorgeous females at Think Café by NYU, my peers and I decided to give the movie a shot. This being a funny situation since one of us, whom I’ll call CY, had just bought the book the previous night and stayed up in the hopes of finishing it in time for the premiere.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the theatre…

There was a 10:00pm slot with available tickets, but I suddenly noticed apprehension when I suggested the location. So… with my trusty MAC on hand, I was adamantly searching the web for something more “suitable” that would allow us to indulge in this American obsession of watching movies adapted from novels on opening night (thank you corporate America). But I digress.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the theatre…

With Da Vinci fever palpable on our brows, we were all in the heights of hysteria when I stated, “every ticket on the Island of Manhattan is sold-out except for Harlem’s Magic Johnson Theatre,” at which point I was told to “keep searching.” Assuming that they wanted a theatre closer to the Downtown/Village area, I proceeded to scavenge in a desert, despite being aware of the oasis-Harlem.

It was then when I realized that the “apprehension,” was nothing more and nothing less than us, brown people’s expression of the ultimate evil, a form of brown on brown crime: self discrimination. For this was a racial “apprehension,” and dare I say--part of a colonized mentality.

It is not rare to find this sort of sentiment. However, for obvious reasons (education) I did not expect this in this circle, especially after having a conversation on the black plight in America and speaking of the micro/macro ways of “uplifting the race.” But I should have known better since this disease does not discriminate. I mean, we are all culpable of this phenomenon, seeing that we are part of this society and as such we cannot evade the structural conforms of oppression. But this time, a disturbing reality was starring me in the face, one which I proceeded to address in awe.

How many of us do this?

This is a deeply imbedded self-hate promulgated by ancestral ills, which seem incapable of disappearing.

Colonized mentality:

I automatically linked the situation with a concept that has been increasingly present in my day to day (one which has allowed me to see the bigger picture of this oppressive society), the Panopticon. This paradigm, by Jeremy Bentham, posits that [the Panopticon] was designed for an observer to observe the masses in a prison without the prisoners knowing whether they were being observed or not, as a result creating a feeling of an invisible omniscience. Consequently inducing a psychological schism on the observed. For the observed also became the observer, thus inducing a systematically imposed "self-control," ergo developing pathology. Like the aforementioned theory, colonization has trained us to be our own "observers". And intrinsically we have become our own worst enemy, as we fear each other and follow stereotypes by perpetuating them onto ourselves.

It is imperative to know that although we attribute high value to our lives, as we rightfully should, a large part of what we hold to be true is purely and simply--unadulterated constructs which became imbedded and as a result are personified by us. By this I mean that colonization and its ramifications have proved to be the most successful system to date, for it has not just laid down the frameworks from which we “function,” but it has also and in respect to the issue at hand, created a self vigilant reality for us (brown folks).

I leave you to ponder the most important question of our time: How do/can we DECOLONIZE ourselves?

Start your own process by rejecting the "norm" and accepting the fact that you are a product of this construct, one that we can collectively de-construct. That is when change begins.

Oh, and by the way, the book was better than the movie, as it is often the case any time our imagination is summoned.

posted by Henry A. Obispo @ 7:30 PM