「スペイン人として、スペイン社会でうんざりすること、我慢できないことは何ですか？」
に対する、あるスペイン人のお返事。
いつも思うんだけれど、こういうのってある程度外国生活を経験していないと、実は big picture が見えないよね。
比較の対象がゼロだとああだのどうだの言えない。この方にしても、普通のスペイン人はこのレベルの英語は書けないと思うし。
個人的にはすごく妥当な意見だと思った。「アグリーです」(笑)
あ、1.については、スペイン人は自責的というより他責的だと私は思う。政治が悪い、社会が悪い、移民のせいだ、オーバーツーリズムのせいだ・・・的な。や、わからないではないけど。政治家の横領とか汚職とか、日本とは桁が違うし。でもそれが事実であっても、この方が言う通り文句を言うだけでなにかやった気になっているひとも多い。まあ、デモとかに参加するひとも日本よりはずっと多いとは思うけれど。
私は自分の国と国民を愛していますが、時々自分自身を理解できないことがあります。
私と国との関係は、両親との関係に似ている： 両親を愛しているし、両親の姓を名乗っていることを誇りに思っている。私はいつも家に帰りたいのだが、すぐに両親と口論になってしまう。
私たちの社会で気に入らないことがいくつかある：
1.私たちは常に不平不満を口にし、何でも自分のせいにしている→何もかもが間違っている、何もかもが自分のせいだ、物事はそういうものだと思い込んで、何も変えようとも改善しようともしない......私たちは不平を言うのが好きだ！文句を言う理由がないときは、文句を言う理由を見つけるまで掘り返すだけだ。そしてもちろん、問題が何であれ、それはいつも私たちのせいなのだ。しかし、解決するために問題を掘り起こすとは思わないでほしい。とんでもない！文句を言うために掘り起こすのであって、その話題に飽きたらまた埋め、文句を言う新しい理由を探し始めるのだ。
2.私たちは情熱的である。情熱的であること自体は悪いことではない。問題は、私たちが個人レベルだけでなく、社会としてもそうであるということだ。人口の半分が自分が正しいと思っているのに、もう半分も自分が正しいと思っている！私たちは、1対1の人間関係や小グループで行動するときには、とても敬意を払っていると思うからだ。相手がこうであろうと、ああであろうと気にしない。しかし、社会としては、この頑固さを管理することができず、他の人たちが何を言おうとも、自分たちが正しいと思い込んでしまう。
3.私たちは非常にのんびりしている→前のケースに関しては、のんびりしていること自体は悪いことではない。実際、大変なことに対処しなければならないときには、とても役に立つと思う。それは、私たちが、そのようなことを気にかけないからではない。問題に対して関心がないのではなく、解決策を見つけるまで時間の問題だと思い込んでいるだけなのだ！
4.「ピカレスク」の問題。注．悪党小説とかのピカレスクですよね。
スペイン語の "picaresca"→"ピカレスク"とは、基本的に型にはまった方法ではない、あるいは裏技的な方法で解決策を見出すことである。（注．脱税とかね）しかし、旅をすればするほど、外国人と仕事をすればするほど、これは本当に状況次第だと思うようになった......実際、ほとんどの場合、このピカレスカは私たちを沈没から救ってくれると思う......（ドイツの文化とかとは違い）では、ここスペインでは、"適切な"あるいは期待される手段で解決策を見つけることができない場合、たとえその代替案が必ずしも最も合法的／倫理的／慣習的なものでないとしても、問題を解決するための "代替案"を模索する。ここでは、物事は常に白か黒かではなく、私たちは世界をさまざまな色で見ている。問題は、私たちのピカレスクが時として他の人々に悪影響を及ぼし、それが問題になるということだ（繰り返すが、誰かを殺すという話ではない）。
As a Spanish, what disgusts you about the Spanish society?
I love my country and my people, but sometimes I just don’t understand ourselves… And I don’t understand ourselves because most of the times we just don’t make sense.
My relationship with my country is like the one I have with my parents: I love them and I am so proud of bearing their surnames, but I frequently need some time and space from them. I always love to be back at home, but I know that I am going to end up arguing with them for virtually anything in no time at all.
Some things that I don’t like about our society are:
- We are constantly complaining and blaming ourselves for everything → Everything is wrong, everything is our fault and we just assume things are like that and do nothing to change or improve… We like to complain, it’s just like that! When there’s no reason to complain, we just dig until we find a reason to complain. And, of course, whatever the issue is, it’s always our fault. But do not think we unearth the problem so that we can solve it, no way! we just do it so that we can complain about it, but once we are tired of the topic, we bury it again and we start looking for a new reason to complain. However, this is something only allowed to us. We are the only ones who can unearth our sh*t and complain about it. If you are not from Spain (or if you do not live here) and you decide to dig on “Spanish grounds” and start criticizing, we will just use the same shovel we use to dig, to hit you on the face… I can mess with my family, but you do not dare to mess with them, because then you will have real problems…
- We are extremely passionate → I mean, being passionate is not wrong per se, it also has a positive impact. However, it also make us a little stubborn… The problem is that we are not just like that on an individual level, but also as a society. When one half of the population thinks they are right, but the other half also thinks they are right, then we have a problem, because, oh, surprise, we all stick to our guns and there’s no way we find a common solution! It is kind of weird, because I think we really are quite respectful when it comes to one-to-one relationships or when we are on small groups. We just don’t care whether the other person is this or that thing. But then, as a society, we are not able to manage this stubbornness and we think we are right no matter what the rest of the world says… I have seen people from very different backgrounds, ideas and opinions getting perfectly along, but then they seem to hate each other when they support those very same ideas on a big scale or on a social level… Socially, we are divided on a “them” and “us” groups, then, individually, we don’t usually give a sh*t on the other person’s beliefs, likes or opinions… Why are we able to ignore our differences on this individual level and not as a society is something beyond my comprehension .
- We are extremely laid-back → As for the previous case, being laid back is not bad per se. I actually think is very helpful when you have to deal with hard stuff. It is not that we don’t care about the problem, it is more that we just assume it is just a matter of time until we find the solution, so we are worried, but not excessively worried… The problem with this is that, sometimes (many times) we just delay, and delay, and delay… procrastination at its finest! As before, on an individual level, this is helpful because makes you stay focused but not obsessed with the problem, but when it comes to general problems, as a society, we cannot always have this approach towards absolutely everything. A very telling example of this issue is our bureaucracy… By the moment you have the solution, it is either late or the problem already disappeared. But it applies to virtually any problematic… and when the outcome burst, then we raise our hands to our head and claim: “how this was possible?” Well, it was possible because we let that happen… simply that… (and then we go back to point 1 and start complaining over and over again).
- The Spanish “picaresca” → The “picaresca” is basically to find a solution by non conventional methods or towards subterfuge … I must admit that I have mixed feelings about this one. At first I thought this was always wrong, however, the more I travel and the more I work with foreigners, the more I think it really depends on the situation… Actually, I do think most of the times this picaresca save us from sinking… I mean, in some cultures (ahem!, germanic cultures!), if you see a problem and the solution is not that obvious or cannot be achieved by those means specially designed for that, then, you have to rebuild the whole plan you elaborated and go back to step 1 until the solution you find does not contravene any rule… However, here in Spain, if you cannot find the solution by the “proper” or expected means, we just explore some “alternative” ways to solve the problem, even if those alternatives are not always the most legal/ethical/conventional (I am not talking about killing anybody , for sure). Here things are not always black or white, we see the world in many different colors… Sometimes is quite useful to just think out of the box. The problem is that our picaresca sometimes negatively affect other people, and then, this becomes a problem (again, we are not talking about killing anybody). Also, maybe your new approach solved the problem, but quite often it generates a new one (but I must admit I am one of those who thinks: one step at a time… if a new problem arises, we will come to that in due time, now we need to solve the current problem).
As you can see, we, Spaniards, are people full of contradictions. We are open-minded and helpful, also with foreigners. We don’t care how do you look or think, and if you ask us for help, we will usually respond immediately and try to give you a hand. But then we are stubborn and quite combative when we need to defend our ideas, and sometimes too much laid-back and picaroon when we have to solve our problems… It is like we have different personalities, and for some reason we do not apply to our society what we practice as individuals… At first I was shocked when some foreigners told me that we are complicated people, but, to be honest, now I think they might be somehow right, cause sometimes I think we are not even able to understand ourselves. The beauty of Spain is also our pain. I even think most of the times the things that we love the most about ourselves, are also those things we hate the most about ourselves… We love to live with our contradictions!
What I don’t like about the Spanish society, in short, is that we don’t know how to put those values we do have and we do practice as individuals, on a bigger scale, as a society. We master (in general) interpersonal and individual relationships, but we definitely don’t know how to live as a cohesive society. As individuals, we live under the “live and let live” premise, but as a society, we frequently apply the “every man for himself” premise.