Local News Story
It was a normal night: My roommate, Senora, and I were eating cena and watching the television. The news came on and was talking about some corrupt politicians in the Catalan government. As someone who is from Chicago (named “The Windy City” for it’s “windy” politicians), this did not phase me at all. But Senora was freaking out. It turns out that she grew up with the politician that was currently being investigated. She couldn’t believe that the “nice guy” from all her classes was now in jail. She said that she purchased the book he wrote last year and was waiting to get together with him to sign it. Now, she didn’t want anybody to know she was associated with him. Macia Alavedra has been, since 1989, minister of Economy of the Generalitat de Catalunya, president of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca (Catalan Research Foundation) and president of CESCA from its foundation until July 1997. However, he is now known for his shady political deals when holding a position in the Catalan Governement.
This is one of the things I have learned in my experiences abroad: people are not all that different. Although the United States and Spain are completely different countries with very different governments, they are both equally corrupt. Some American students in my program have made ignorant comments about all the corruption on the news here in Spain, saying that Spain itself is just a really crooked country. I can’t believe this! The governmental officials are just as corrupt (or probably even more) in the States. However, it is just not on the news as much. Just because it’s not on the news every day like it is in Spain, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. It is pathetically comforting for me to know that all countries are shady in their own way. I realize that Spanish culture and values couldn’t be any different than American, but we all do have things in common: everybody has a price.
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