Tiago Mata

History of Social Science, Journalism and Opinion

Yes or no, neither

Posted by Tiago On August - 16 - 2009

What is left after satire corroded all possibilities? In the last few days I have become addicted to the song below. Its euphoric positiveness and the counterpoint of negativity. It parodies truthfully a certain way of being political and Portuguese.

Agora sim, damos a volta a isto!
Agora sim, há pernas para andar!
Agora sim, eu sinto o optimismo!
Vamos em frente, ninguém nos vai parar!
Yes, now, we will turn this around!
Yes, now, it has legs to walk!
Yes, now, I feel the optimism!
Ahead, nobody can stop us!
Agora não, que é hora do almoço…
Agora não, que é hora do jantar…
Agora não, que eu acho que não posso…
Amanhã vou trabalhar…
Not now, it’s lunch time…
Not now, it’s supper time.
Not now, I don’t think i can make it…
Tomorrow I have to go to work…

Once you place enthusiasm against its inverted self, does enthusiasm survive? One could say it’s simply dialectics, one ravages the other. But I don’t see the next step in the progression.

I see a hollow, dark place, of silence, neither positive, nor negative, instead indifferent and laughing and displaced. Maybe it is nothing to do with the song, and everything to do with where I listen to it. I am no longer there, where this satire happens with conviction and without self-perspective, so I cannot be in it, and resolve it.

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About Me

I am an historian of post World War II social science. My research looks at how democracies produce economic knowledge, notably how academics, the lay, and media professionals develop a discourse about economy. I am a very occasional blogger, an even more erratic twitterer. I am currently living in Cambridge, UK.

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