Dear Editor,
Not long ago (10/28/2012)
a story appeared in the "Travel" section of "The Washington Post"
ludicrously named "The ghost towns of northern Chile", which gives half
truth accounts of a couple of villages abandoned in the North of that country. This chronicle is neither complete nor
accurate, lacks seriousness, respect, and is littered with futile and
contemptible cultural misinformation.
Parts of this bulletin borders in the insolence due to a
firm embedded possession of a negligible idiosyncratic obscurantism of and intellect
frankly distressing. Perhaps this banner
is appropriate for those of lightweight discernment and a tremendous lack of
distinctive culture erudition, because for the better informed, it is not.
For the record; among the indigenous voices of the Chilean toponymy
is the word Pisagua, the same place named in the pamphlet. The great legacy of names assigned to places,
deeds, entities, things, objects, customs and history that our ancestors left
us, are based on ancient non-phonetic alphabet patois, which some date back
more than 10,000 years. These old
dialects which not only engulf the Chilean territory, but also the majority of
the rich and extensive South American language toponymy; as rudimentary as
these tongue-dialects may have been.
In many cases there are words and phrases of dialectical
composition and integrated morphology such as the word "Pisiyaku". This mythical Andean word of the region of the
Qollasuyu, which is the region of the Aymará States located in the South of Perú,
Bolivia, Chile and Argentina; combines two words: "pisi" from the Quechua meaning "little"; and the
word "yaku", also from
Quechua which means "water".
Later, this word became Pisagua. The
perpetrators of the assassinations of these words were the majority of the
Spanish colonists and conquistadors who were pushed by the poor and backward
intellect of the era, and dragged by the urgent lack of civility of their acts.
They spearheaded the conscious and
systematic destruction of identity, scientific insight, traditions, worldview, local
customs, history, organizational readiness, economic models, and rites of the
Andean religions; and as a result it of this, the voice "Pisagua", which actually means
"little water", was aborticide. "Pisagua"
is also an archaic but accredited language of Perú, also known as
"Pisabo" or "Pisahua".
Within a grandeur of ignorance and cultural insensitivity, your
writer tries to explain a term of perhaps several thousand of years older than
English and Castellano, a word from languages of exercise and culture
cultivated for millennia, with a neotongue which is a subgroup of West Germanic
dialects which include German, Yiddish, low German, Dutch, the Afrikáansy and
the Frisian; early proponents of the protoenglish, a language of phonetic alphabet
of approximately a mere 1,500 years old.
Furthermore, with subjective, amateurish,
and haphazard in quality and coverage, this light stringer
"translates" the word Pisagua as "piss", a fouled word from
English, and "agua", Castellano for water. Moreover, Castellano is a language that she lightly
and boorishly calls "Spanish".
To set the record straight, the so called "Spanish" language doesn't
exist. The name of the tongue is CASTELLANO. As such, we do not
speak "American", the name of our language is ENGLISH. On
October 12, 1492, Don Cristóbal Colom, and not Colón, who was Mallorquín and
not Italian or Genovese as the unacquainted still believe; arrived in the
Americas, and upon arrival he placed the onerous Flag and the Coat of Arms of
Castilla (Castile) in the ground of the newly discovered lands to claim
possession for the Crowns, simply because Spain did not exist yet at that
time. The "Spanish" did not come to the new continent, the
Castilians (Castellanos) and the people of Aragón did; from the Kingdoms of the
Queen Isabel of Castilla, Queen of Castile and León; and Ferdinand the
Catholic, King of Aragón, Sicily, Naples and Valencia.
Moreover,
when the Englishman arrived to North America circa 1607 in what it is now The
United States, there was a linguistic stock of approximately 1.500 native
vernacular languages; some still in use
today, and nearly everyone of them, older than English and Castellano.
There is a discipline called "Science of Humanity"
which has its origins in the very humanity of man, in natural sciences and in social
sciences. The essence of this science
has been since its birth and tradition, a cross-cultural comparison which its educational
relativism has become the canon of research. The name of this science is Social
Anthropology; which encloses subjects such as Cultural Anthropology, Physical Anthropology,
Archaeological Anthropology, and last but not least; Linguistic Anthropology. Being at least slightly informed of this
before contaminating clean paper with nonsense ink it is a basic element to
qualify as Homo Sapiens, and allows us to leave behind the struggle of walking
erect .
Worst of all my dear Editor; and I write this stern letter
to you because I love The Washington Post, and I would like for it to keep its well
regarded and rightfully earned reputation, but with journalism of such
temperament it seems to me that almost anyone would qualify to make a
publication without a minimum, at least lightweight examination of cultural safeguards,
or with the slightest intention to exercise some civilized restrain. This is one of the first mistakes some
newspapers make to initiate their way into mediocrity and, ultimately end up
being a mephitic vassal of the toilet.
With this, let me assure you Mr. Editor that The Washington
Post is by no means, or in any way in this path by a long shot, and that I
would like for it to be kept that way.
Your prestigious newspaper doesn't need garbage like this. I apologize for the ruggedness of my language
and for the frankness of my attitude. The
only excuse I can offer is that English is not my first language -phonetic one
that is- and also; because I am a simple and unfussy citizen with some global
cultural awareness, discretion, and respect.
I took some time to write this letter to you because I was cooling
off...
Thank you,
Rodrigo A. Guajardo
Washington Post reader.