Roca Barea’s book Fracasología, a title that I’d translate as The Science of Being a Loser, talks about the tendency of Spanish intellectuals to see their own country as perennially defective, backwards, and third-rate.
The historian is right. It’s been like this in Spain for at least 300 years. What bothers me, though, is that her book is written from the same loserish perspective. She goes on and on about how France “ain’t all that” and how nobody in France sees the country’s gigantic mistakes as reasons to feel inferior. However, here are no intellectuals in France obsessed with proving that Spain also “ain’t all that.” Once you start obsessing over your competition with people who don’t notice your existence, you’ve already lost.
Another issue is that Spain’s sovereignty today is not under threat from France and Great Britain, Roca Barea’s biggest bugbears. Exactly zero of Spain’s many problems are caused by these countries. I fully support the goal of strengthening Spain’s (and everybody else’s nationalism). And I’m definitely in favor of rescuing history from raging liberalism. But the lure of defeatism and loserishness need to be avoided. Not only by Spaniards but by all of this. Let’s stop apologizing and start doing.
I’m boarding one of my many planes over the next two days, so I’ll continue after I land in North Carolina.
OK, it’s not that many. It’s only three planes total. But still.
Please, everybody, don’t disappear. People tend to disappear from the blog when I travel which leaves me lonely given that i don’t hang out with others when I travel.
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