Chavez On Popular Culture

Much has been said about Hugo Chavez, the elected President of Venezuela, calling George W. Bush, the unelected President of the United States, the devil - "el diablo," if you will. Many Americans object to Chavez calling Bush evil while in New York. So what's the big deal? Lots of foreign-born Spanish-speaking people who live in New York say even worse about Bush! And that's nothing compared to what New York's blacks say about Bush!

Not too many people picked up, though, on Chavez's endorsement of utlraleftist Noam Chomsky's theories on American imperialism and his insistence that Americans should pay more attention to what their capitalist system is doing to the rest of the world instead of watching escapist movies like "Superman Returns." And isn't he right? Don't we Americans spend more time on stupid, trivial nonsense than look at how our own leaders screw us and everyone else?

Of course, as far as Chavez's comments go, we actually had the last laugh. "Superman Returns" wasn't a big box office hit. Now, if he had referred a Hollywood hit, his words on our popular culture would have packed more of a punch!