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This gentleman's argument might have some face validity but I think a lot of it is ridiculous and a lot of his points cannot be tied together and compared 1:1. 30 years ago, Americans (PRicans included!) could go to Europe at a value price and their dollars went a long way. In 2011 the euro is kicking the dollar's ass. My friends who did a month in Europe via University of Louisiana dropped $10K per person when it was all over. Who has the money for that? Especially with today's economy in the US and particularly PR. That's half a year's average salary in Puerto Rico. And a lot of university students in PR still go to Europe....here on the west coast Inter-Americana and UPR-Mayaguez have popular exchange programs with unis in Spain. Many, many Puerto Ricans have traveled extensively in Latin countries...and not just weekend trips to the Dominican Republic. One of my friends has never been to Europe but has vacationed to Venezuela, DF Mexico and Panama. You don't have to cross the Atlantic to be cultured and experience new things.
Disney is wildly popular with Puerto Ricans, yes. It is what it is. I know many college students here would could not find real work on the island and did a semester/year working for Disney... they came back with new experiences, they spoke a "foreign" language for months, and they provided their family with extra money. I think those are all good things. They are also going there more because of the connection that now exists between Central Florida and the island. My neighbor told me 20 years ago when she lived in Orlando she went in a supermarket and couldn't even find canned Goya habichuelas, or another Spanish speaker. She went back last year and every single person in that supermarket was from either Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic or South America. The link is deep now...some people get tired of seeing Old San Juan 20 times, they want to visit something familiar but different. $10K for Europe or $500 for Orlando? Do the math.
Not to mention many of these young people he speaks of are in a different position than the college students of 30 years ago. 30 years ago these kids would've been working in factories and not going to college like their parents and grandparents had to do, but thanks to Pell Grants and a higher emphasis on education they are enrolled and making history as the first generation to get a higher education in their families. Comparing bourgeoisie Ricans to descendants of jibaros= not fair. So maybe they cant afford to go to Europe or even somewhere else in Latin America. At least going to Florida shows them that a different world exists outside of a 110X35 mile island....and I don't want to get off the topic but insular attitudes are a serious, serious problem here.
As for his connections of the "decline" to American entertainment shows, I agree that the tilt of the modern media is repulsive...but it is one's individual choice to reject these things. I watch news, weather, sports and documentaries...nada mas. But this isn't a uniquely American problem. Telenovelas, for example, clearly have had a devastating effect on the youth of Latin America, between teen plastic surgery and "monkey see monkey do" relationships between girls and boys. But it is what it is. And talk to any old person here, the ultimate media poison dart is Puerto Rican born and bred...reggaeton.
I don't know what kind of political argument he's trying to make, so whatever. I won't start on that one. Any older person can rant about how awful the young people are and tie it into the media and politics. Happens over and over and over again. My grandparents thought the world was going to end in 1968, it didn't. We're still here.
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