By José Gandue @Gandour
I have always been disgusted by the intolerance of extremists committed to any religion. From a young age, I rejected their profound ignorance and their affiliation with hatred towards "those who are different.". They have consistently defended the concept of "family" in a way that I do not share, a concept in which everything is limited to dad, mom, and children, all extremely heterosexual and without any kind of "oddities" that might taint their blood or their thoughts.. Many of them muddy their words by talking about democracy, freedom, and respect, but only in relation to what they believe. Everything else must be eliminated by divine intervention, by the grace of God. And if that doesn't happen, they hire the usual hitmen and the same old stoners.
A few days ago, with a Bogota councilman leading his horde, Marco Fidel Ramírez, A group of radicals has found the perfect excuse to try to censor the performance of a Swedish black metal band called Marduk. To be honest, if you ask me what I think of the European grouping, I will tell you that it is very far removed from my personal tastes and I clearly do not share any of its philosophical or aesthetic expressions. But, if there had been no controversy about it, I would hardly have even known about the event (and that would have happened with 99.991% of the Colombian population).
Throughout this process, with exaggerated displays of ridiculousness and high doses of political opportunism, They have already sealed two venues to prevent the concert and are on the lookout for other places that, under any pretext, could be closed in the coming days. The guardianship of what these types of characters consider "good customs" by "respectable people" borders on medieval habits and the tyrannical practices of dictatorships, and that cannot be accepted in any way.
Someone will naively ask if I think it's okay for Marduk to flirt with certain Nazi principles, as some of his detractors claim. Honestly, no. I despise them for it. But I don't believe that Councilor Ramírez or any of his followers have the right to come and tell the people of Bogotá what they can and cannot listen to. Furthermore, it's curious: Ramírez and his followers are horrified by the idiotic fantasies of sodomizing Jesus proposed by the metal quartet., But they have never been seen raising their voices or expressing outrage over the thousands of political assassinations that have occurred in Colombia., Real people fall every day, and these so-called Christians who fight for the well-being of society don't even raise an eyebrow to protest.
Let's not be stubborn: We can expect any kind of aversion from this type of extremist (that is, the parishioners of this councilman). What is really upsetting is that the Bogota municipal authorities have gone along with it and adopted the prohibitionist cause as their own. It's not unreasonable to suspect that the current mayor's Secretary of Government, who is rumored to be a candidate in the upcoming mayoral elections, saw these events as an opportunity to present himself as the ideal candidate for those who believe that such acts threaten "the family." The speculation is valid. This presents the perfect opportunity to sway voters among the most fanatical churches by resorting to censorship and absurd scandal., betraying the growing spirit of tolerance that has been established in the Colombian capital in recent years.
Therefore, I believe that members of the Bogota cultural scene and the rest of the inhabitants of this city should oppose this type of proscription. We need to express our disagreement about this., Because if these intransigent demonstrations are accepted without question, it empowers fanatics who today begin by opposing a small metal concert, tomorrow will try to convince us that all rock music is satanic, and next week will try to throw us in jail for not knowing how to recite the Lord's Prayer correctly. Does this sound excessive? Remember: This has been seen repeatedly throughout history. The desires of these haters know no bounds., And some upstarts see in these perverse appetites an opportunity to climb the ladder and screw over society as a whole.