Answered Questions VII - Goodbye, Tintin

When will Tintin disappear? Well, one could say that he perished when Hergé, his author, passed away as the franchise's character ended with this event and our young/old reporter will star no more adventures. Now the question is whether his memory will also disappear, and when. Could it be soon?
  

The reason for this question comes in the wake of the claim being made by various groups to withdraw from the shelves of bookstores and libraries all the volumes of Tintin. This claim is especially targeted to the adventure of Tintin in the Congo, because of its out of date, misleading and inaccurate portrait of that country, made through the prism of the colonial era, which becomes more obvious in light of the new century. I do not know how the issue will end, but as always, I can think of at least two points of view.

The first is that it would be a great shame that that happened. Tintin seems to me a delicious read, and I would not like to deprive other people to enjoy it. Furthermore, by creating such a precedent, we can be sure that when China is a bit more open and western comics enter the country, so will Tintin and the Blue Lotus, my favorite. If I think a little on the subject, this reminds me about the heretical books of the Middle Ages or the burning of Hebrew books during the Nazi era. Why do I feel so anxious when I hear of these censorship projects? Well, that's a deep subject, that of censorship, I mean, and I think that is part of another series of different questions.

Let's see. It is clear that Tintin is the result of his time, as was the Captain Thunderbolt, who was killing Muslims here and there, or the witch of Hansel and Gretel who had the children locked in her home to do weird things with them, ugs! It is also clear that they are all, to one degree or another, politically incorrect, and some of the values that can be distilled are out of sync with the sensibilities of our time, but are we still pretending to rewrite history? Should we remove from our shelves the novels of Jules Verne for not conforming to scientific progress? Do we burn the undemocratic books of Plato? “But the case is different”, some might say, because Tintin is aimed at children. There I do see prejudices of our time, to believe that a comic, as such, is aimed at children. But let us concede that this is the case. Can we fix it by putting on the cover "For Mature Readers"? Funny.

The second point of view is a reflection arisen from the same news that is disturbing, and is the initiatory role of stories told to children.

The stories often had an important bringing up role, showing children a series of values, archetypes and ideas that should teach them some things in their society. Under that approach, yes we should avoid frivolously showing them aspects that do not match reality. But by the same rule, should we eliminate sexism in the stories? Or eternally happy endings? Or the irrational fantasies? No doubt here a great debate could start, but it is not worth it. After all, those times when children are formed through the stories they were told are totally left behind. Now the stories do not come from the mouths of parents and grandparents but from television, comics, video games, Internet, mobile content, in spite of any parental controls. It is as inevitable as the Chinese end up hearing about what happens in "Tintin and the Blue Lotus."

Transmeme XVIII

Jogging in the night, along the river side and potatoes crops, pass by the cementery and the mirror-eyed cats...

Answered Questions VI - Attention! Customer service in action!

It could be a joke, but it is not, especially when most customer care call numbers are not for free (at least in Spain). My point is, why in customer service departments so little attention is paid to the customer? That is what it seems, given the difficulty to communicate, to be understood, and to get a solution to a problem. The systems that I have known up to now are of two types: the bad, and the worst.

When I have to talk to a service provider I anticipate the pain, aye, aye. If by email, I feel somewhat more comfortable, but I have to work to make sentences terse, clear and concise. Mostly because I fear that if my request is poorly understood, I can spend weeks trying to clarify. That is considering that I receive an email in return, which seldom happens. By the way, it is nice to receive personal responses, but in those cases in which my name is misspelled or my gender changed, they lose a bit of charm, right?

Image: Daniel St.Pierre / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

But all that is nonsense. The serious game starts with phone calls. I would not want this to seem one of those humorous monologues of comedians, but some situations are so pathetic sometimes that I could cry and laugh at them. The first goal is to reach a human being, sometimes difficult, because I first face machines (Interactive-Voice-Response systems), which at best are guided by keypad, but the more daring, the worst, ask me... to talk to them! And then I begin to look like the fool, and back at school vocalizing "I-want-to-talk-to-someone" so that the gear will say "Repeat your question." I know that voice recognition technology and grammar is complex, so do me a favor: stick it into a drawer until within forty years!

Those which are less sophisticated, and have a booth in a distant country of the same native language and lower labor costs, often have another problem. "All our advisers are busy, please wait a few seconds" and then I waste a lot of minutes waiting. Some play meanwhile an unbearable loud music. The worst, the worst take the opportunity to communicate new services and products. On top of having to wait, I'm paying for swallowing their advertisement!

Transmeme XVII

Take some perspective: a bit of bone, a bit of flesh and a bit of noise.

The World Theater V - The Voyeur of Taste

It sounds a little perverted, I know. I do not know to what extent it will. The truth is that I discovered over time, I enjoyed watching others enjoy. And do not think of the carnal pleasures, I do not talk about sex, as understood in the classic voyeurism. If you like, you can jump now to another page or another subject.

You see, I've never been a person of great passions or hobbies. I enjoy things in moderation, and although I like most things, I can not say that I go crazy for any food, drink, entertainment, theme, activity, color, or day of the year. I guess that is neither good nor bad, but sometimes I would like to find a hobby or sport that concentrated all my effort and enthusiasm. Like those compulsive collectors, film buffs, marathon runners or football fans that can make their passion almost a reason for living. Well, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but you understand me, isn’t it?

The point is that perhaps this absence in the extreme pleasures, has led me to notice the pleasure that others find in these things. So, when a fellow is enjoying a good Scotch, or sucking a cigar with pleasure, or eating with great relish a good ham sandwich, when a friend is pleased to wear those elegant clothes that make her happy, when some parents drool with the trifles of their baby, when I accompany a friend on his favorite sport or hobby, I watch and enjoy.

Image: Mantas Ruzveltas / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do not ask me why, I do not want psychoanalysis. And after all, this is better than those who feel good upsetting everyone around them. Call it empathy, I do not know, but the more you enjoy, the more I do.

Transmeme XVI

We are all born to be perfect. We end up being lead, copper, tin, according to the harshness of the air.

Odious comparisons VII - The Bank of all

This is how some financial institutions like to call themselves in their advertising. In order to reach more audiences, you know.

However, after the events of recent years, it seems that we should make it effective. Make them become the Bank of all indeed. Yeah, yeah, although it seems that I'm cursing, I'm talking about making public entities out of banks.

Let me give my reasons. It is proven that financial provide a basic service, a public service, because we all need it. The offer of this service may not be somewhat discretionary, it must be guaranteed. What is the advantage of a competitive free market when we can not afford that natural selection puts aside the worst players in the sector (i.e. government aid has to be given to banks, so they do not burst)? What efficiencies does it provide when the only possible outcome is generating profits or generating even greater profits?

If the most notorious results of this private sector are achievements such as: new product R&D (subprime mortgages, ninja, etc. valued at notional risk), cost efficiencies (stratospheric bonus for managers, shielded salaries with outrageous premiums) and contribution to society (when companies need credit at most, they refuse to give it), where's the advantage?

Oh, right, if you intervene and nationalize banks, all capital would flee the country, so soon. I was not bearing in mind that government administration inefficiencies are more scary than the irresponsibility of some private companies. I think the one and only paradigm shift we will see, when most transactions are online, is the creation of the Google Bank and Currency.

Transmeme XV

To the non-believers: the first act of faith is thinking you'll still be existing in 10 seconds.