Louis Napoleon of Arms Fr.
The three sociological constructs of this title have become clichés and the spearhead of the world‘s right-wing ideologies in order to subjugate large sectors of the population. In this opinion column I will try to look inside the content of these three ideological categories. I’ll start with the last one, the family. There is no doubt that the family is the nucleus of society, of a people or nation and as such it should enjoy the best health. However, in postmodernism, more is placed on the individual despite the fact that the part is less than the whole, a very ancient axiom.
The sense of collectivity is being lost, a short time ago, every year end they presented the largest companies in the world, by range of activities, but recently what is highlighted is the richest men, the individual, no matter what he does , above family and society; Today, the individual is the backbone of neoliberalism. For these sectors, apparently Aristotelian, the family is untouchable, as they would say in the old Latin, “noli me tangere”, don’t touch me. Every time someone proposes new forms of behavior in public activity, no matter how good they may be, they immediately go to the “family” hideout, a social mockery, carrying swordsmen to defend it, a new version of Zorro, masked in silver.
But which family are they talking about? At the very least, the Colombian family is disintegrating; According to DANE, in 2021, 43.1% of our homes were run by female heads of household; According to the 2018 census, this percentage was 42%, which implies a regression. Family stability in Colombia is quite fragile; between 2012 and 2021, one in three marriages divorced; According to the same sources, the average duration of a marriage here is 1.5 years. By department, Antioquia leads this phenomenon with Bogotá and Valle. In Antioquia, where there are churches on every corner, in towns and cities, religiosity has not been a bond to sustain couples. There falls one of the myths, the family. What is happening with the families of deep Colombia? The family is an ideological cliché.
The second cliché is the concept “homeland” which by definition is a territory that houses a nation with a legal life that could have given it to one or several people, fathers of the country; country comes from father. This term hides false nationalisms and patriotic chauvinisms as is styled in far-right regimes such as Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, in general, in the Austro-Hungarian empires. To speak of Homeland is to think of barracks and war movements and is invoked to incite combat, for example, “the homeland above the parties” or the leftist sentence, “homeland or death.” Homeland is a war cliché.
The third construct is God, it is the oldest cliché, they sold us the idea that power comes from him, that is why the existence of monarchies and the vaunted “legitimacy”, but pronouncing it is a mechanical act for many: “if God wants ”, “in the name of God”, “thank God”, “God can do everything”, are fillers. It arose when humanity could not explain certain natural phenomena and has been maintained by faith, an irrational feeling. Most of the world‘s wars have been fought in the name of God. Hitler was not very close to God, but on one occasion he said: “…Therefore I believe that today I am acting in accordance with the will of God the creator,” (Mein Kampf). Videla, Argentine dictator, also invoked God while his children were removed from childbirth mothers who were opponents of his government so that sterile women of the regime could adopt them. While Álvaro Uribe took communion imploring God, thousands of mothers lost their children in false positives. God is not respected, he is used as an ideological distractor, it is a cliché. We must move from magical-religious thinking to philosophical thinking, the basis of critical thinking to prevent these three mantras from continuing to govern Colombians. For those pious, oh my God!