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Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yogizuna who wrote (4600)	5/9/2000 8:34:00 PM
From: The Barracuda™	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9127

Eli n Will Pay the Price for Reno's Evasion by Gonzalo E. Mon Objectivism holds that the essence of evil, the one sin that makes all other forms of moral corruption possible, is evasion. Ayn Rand defined the term as "the act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the refusal to think - not blindness, but the refusal to see; not ignorance, but the refusal to know." To understand the disastrous effects of this practice, one needs only to consider this country's response to the Eli n Gonzalez tragedy. When Fidel Castro first called for Eli n's return late last year, evaders in this country immediately and uncritically rose to support the dictator's wishes. If nothing were known about what life is like in Cuba, a rational person would have at least taken some steps to inform himself of the situation. He might have asked, for instance: "what would lead a family to attempt to sail for ninety miles on a raft through shark-infested waters?" The question itself - and it can hardly be framed in softer terms- suggests that the answer will not be a pleasant one. As it stands, though, what goes on in Cuba is no secret. We know for a fact that the Cuban people live in a state of constant misery and fear. We know that Cubans cannot simply walk into a store and purchase the goods they want - they need to get government permission in order to do that (assuming, of course, that the goods are available). We know that Cubans are not free to leave the country and seek out a better life elsewhere - the more desperate ones resort to escaping on rafts. And we know that Cubans are not free to read what they want or to speak their minds- all forms of expression are strictly controlled by the state. What would happen if a Cuban citizen were to engage in unauthorized expression? The Cuban Criminal Code has a law against "dangerousness," el estado peligroso, which entails "conduct that is observed to be in manifest contradiction with the norms of socialist morality." In order to be guilty of dangerousness, one need only harbor some secret thought that socialism is perhaps not working as well as Castro says it is. In Cuba, then, thinking can be a crime. People who question socialism may be detained in psychiatric hospitals, and subjected to "therapeutic measures . . . until the dangerousness disappears from the subject." In other words, these people may be tortured. Given the situation that awaits Eli n in Cuba, how can people like Janet Reno and her henchmen reach the conclusion that sending Eli n back is "the right thing to do?" This conclusion can only be arrived at through a systematic process of evasion. As Ayn Rand wrote, such irrational conclusions are formed "by unfocusing [the] mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of judgment - on the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only [one refuses] to identify it . . . ." Consider two examples of how this works. Earlier this week, Castro's own daughter, Alina Fernandez (who escaped from Cuba herself), spoke about the horrors of life in Cuba on Larry King Live. Among other things, she pointed out that once children reach the age of eleven, they are taken away from their parents and forced to work in labor camps. One of the guests suggested that the situation wasn't so bad because the children could receive visits from their parents every weekend, whereas when Ms. Fernandez lived there, the children could not. What about the fact that Cuban children are treated as slaves? Blank out. What about the fact that parents have no choice as to whether their children should go to these camps? Blank out. The guest evaded considering these important issues. Recently, MSNBC ran an article critical of Eli n's Miami relatives for painting a negative picture of life in Cuba. The article stated that "the economic situation is not nearly as bleak as Castro's opponents have claimed. For instance, children up to age 7 are entitled to special subsidized foods like a liter of milk a day, extra beef and chicken, and even a yearly birthday cake - hard to find for Cuban pesos." What about the fact that people in the United States are free to purchase these foods whenever the want, even if they are older than seven? Blank out. What about the fact that food does not have to be rationed in America? Blank out. The author evaded considering these important issues. Only through evasion can slavery be excused because it comes with visitation rights. And only through evasion can starvation be tolerated because a child will be given seven birthday cakes throughout the course of his life. A person may attempt to evade facts, but he cannot evade the moral responsibility for his actions. Reality will continue to exist whether one chooses to acknowledge it or not, and evasion always comes with a price. Unfortunately, this time an innocent six-year-old will be asked to foot the bill.