Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Machines of illusion

Ana UrkizaDani Blanco
That was the last question: “Are you happy?” It was Sunday afternoon, after lunch, nap time. But he caught us doing crafts. A young survey author told us that they were hitting the household tirrina and conducting a survey on the quality of life in the Basque Country. Let's see if we could answer a five-minute questionnaire. He was very young. He had written on his face that he hadn’t been able to complete ten surveys all day. And on Monday, the boss would ask him for results. I mean, he was in a hurry.

We went into the room and started answering questions. He asked us about everything: work, holidays, family, politics, culture... and finally, the puzzle: “Are you happy?” To put a note from 0 to 10. And I, roundly, gave him a nine.

When we said goodbye to the boy, my husband said that I missed him: “A nine? It depends on what you put in the cocktail!” he concluded after a while.
And no, I don't agree with the final touchdown. Or, yes, it is. The authorities are not looking for our sadness. The authorities, both before and now, try to offer us a circus so that we do not think too much or at least complain too much... There's nothing but watching TV. Or to listen to their expressions, to do the greatest barbarism, and even on the day they say, trying to persuade, instead of selling the optimistic side of everything... Another thing is victimhood. With Christianity as our foundation, the essence of today’s art is not only sadness, but also suffering. And I'll take the cinema as an example. Most stories, even the most crude ones, are, of course, based on suffering in order to arrive at a happy destination. The path may be the hardest, but in the end, we achieve happiness... And I say that because we also live with the protagonists, a world as unreal as happy as anyone’s. And when we get angry with our partner, we go to bed with the protagonist of the movie, and that’s it! Problem in the middle.

No, I don’t even agree with the comment that we have more and more busy weekends.Yes, because we let it be. And because we devour superficial lives. As short and shallow as one-hour movies. The problem is, what was told to the colleague on Monday. Who doesn’t travel every weekend, every weekend from dinner to lunch and from lunch to dinner, or who doesn’t stretch their muscles in the sports center of this or another club? But these bon vivants are afraid of the magic question: “Are you happy?” “What’s

it like to be happy?” one of them threw us forward into the café. “I do what I want; I no longer have the age for nonsense, but from there to being happy... happiness does not exist! There’s always someone on the side who’s going to

fuck you!” No one else said anything. Since happiness is not enough to live from the outside, he implied that the lack of happiness also comes from the outside. And it sounds like something to think about: “That our happiness depends on others?” No, happiness is the gaze, the gaze of the individual, one’s own and untransferable, attached to every moment in which we live. Everything else, as in literature, is but a cheap stool to dream of inventing everything that is not in our power. Of course, it’s a huge illusion machine to deceive simple consumers.

Newest
“Neutrotzat aurkezten dena, egiaz, ideologia nagusiaren konplizea da”

Gozamen aparta bezain deskribatzeko zaila dakar, norbaiten hitzak irakurri edo entzun ostean, zera pentsatzeak: “Horixe zen neu aurreko hartan azaltzen saiatu nintzena!”. Idazlea eta itzultzailea da María Reimóndez, eta galegoz aritzen da, hizkuntza... [+]


Unibertsitate pribatuak sortzeko baldintzak gogortu nahi ditu Espainiako Gobernuak

Ugaritu diren “txiringito pribatuei” muga jartzeko asmoz, unibertsitate berriak sortzeko baldintzak gogortu nahi ditu Espainiako Gobernuak. Euskal Herrian polemika artean jaio zen azken unibertsitate pribatuak adibidez, Gasteizko Euneizek, gaur gaurkoz ez ditu... [+]


"Children are not welcome at the Deba Municipal Library"
Children up to 2 years old are prevented from being in the children's library of Deba, and those 2-6 years old can only be between 16:30-17:30. When a group of mothers came together to demand an end to the visible discrimination that has worked in this way for twenty years, the... [+]

2025-04-02
‘I’ve called you a conflictive neighborhood’

In the middle of Franco’s regime, eleven neighborhoods were built or remodeled in the Basque Country to provide housing for workers from abroad. As now, the main support of the precarious who came before was the neighbor. The neighborhood was often built almost from scratch... [+]


2025-04-02 | June Fernández
Meloi saltzailea
Zedarriak

Bizitza erdigunean jartzeko abagunea ikusi genuen feministok zein ekologistok Covid-19 pandemia garaian. Ez ginen inozoak, bagenekien boteretsuak eta herritar asko gustura itzuliko zirela betiko normaltasunera. Bereziki, konfinamendu samurra pasa zutenak haien txaletetan edo... [+]


Teknologia
Burokraziaz

Wikipedian bilatu dut hitza, eta honela ulertu dut irakurritakoa: errealitatea arrazionalizatzeko metodologia da burokrazia, errealitatea ulergarriago egingo duten kontzeptuetara murrizteko bidean. Errealitatea bera ulertzeko eta kontrolatzeko helburua du, beraz.

Munduko... [+]


2025-04-02 | Ula Iruretagoiena
Territory and architecture
Military urbanism

Egypt ' s urban planning plan for the Gaza Strip has recently been expanded. A drawing shows the streets, buildings and imagery of the future on a reality that still smells of shrapnel and explosives. The urban planning proposal, used as another bomb shot. Individual house... [+]


Segurtasuna, etorkinak eta beldurra

Segurtasun falta dagoen irudipena handitu dela azaldu du Eustaten azken txostenak. Gurean, Trapagaranen, Segurtasuna orain, delinkuenteen aurka manifestaziora deitu dute herritar batzuek.

Bi izan dira sentsazio hori zabaltzeko arrazoiak. Batetik, udalak Udaltzaingoaren... [+]


Haurtzaroaren denbora

Haurtzaroaren amaiera eleberri distopikoa idatzi zuen Arthur Clarkek, 1953. urtean: jolasteari utzi dion gizarte baten deskribapena. Eta ez al da bereziki haurtzaroa jolasteko garaia? Jolasteko, harritzeko, ikusmiratzeko eta galdera biziak egiteko unea. Ulertzeko tartea zabalik... [+]


2025-04-02 | Cira Crespo
Flag of Spain

The writer Juan Bautista Bilbao Batxi worked in a boat and sent the chronicles of his travels to the newspaper Euzkadi. Thanks to this, we have interesting chronicles in Basque from around the world from the beginning of the 20th century. In June 1915, he made his stop in... [+]


2025-04-02 | Ximun Fuchs
Nora (and how)

The lights of the theater are on. Discreetly, I’m walking on the steps: the school performance is about to begin. The young men run to their seats, full of life and joy. The retreat has the taste of liberation, but this feeling of freedom speaks Spanish or French. This... [+]


2025-04-02 | Nicolas Goñi
The drought in Angola threatens 2.3 million people, but who cares?
The most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world is the one that has persisted in southwestern Angola since 2019. As a result of a prolonged drought fuelled by climate change, millions of people live in poor or inadequate food and are forced to make great efforts to find... [+]

Eguneraketa berriak daude