(17 votes, average: 3.88 out of 5)
Loading ...
Dear President Barack Obama,
I am writing to you on behalf of a friend of mine, Andrés, who works at the local grocery store and who helped get you elected by witnessing my absentee ballot when I voted for you. After the recent political scandal involving photos of President Zapatero’s daughters with you, he felt such shame and embarrassment that he asked me to write to you on behalf of himself and all Spaniards to apologize and to inform you that all Spaniards are not as rude and disrespectful as Zapatero’s daughters…well maybe all the teenagers.
While Spain enjoys a similar freedom of the press (I think you can still be fined for publishing material insulting the royal family) as the First Amendment grants Americans, Zapatero has specifically asked all media outlets to refrain from publishing any photographs of his daughters, who are currently 13 and 16. If you can believe it, without any official laws on the books [UPDATE: This is incorrect. There is a law in Spain that protects all minors from having their photos published.], the Spanish media actually respects the wishes of the president and does not publish their images anywhere. I know, what’s that about, right? Hence the mild vortex of scandal when the White House released a photo of his daughters (perfectly within your rights, of course) and the Spanish media published it, with his daughters’ faces pixelated to protect their identities. Zapatero mistakenly stirred up a kerfuffle about it, thus lending importance to the photo. He has now released a statement saying that he understands why the Spanish media published the photos and has explicitly thanked the media outlets that had the respect to not publish it.
This spawned an obvious response of “Hey, buddy! If you’re gonna use our tax euros to fly your girls over to meet the most famous person in the world (that’s you, sir), and they publish an official picture of the encounter, you’d better believe we’re gonna publish the photos!
It just goes to show that just because you can lead a country, run a government, and command an army, doesn’t mean you can get your teenage daughters to dress in a way that they don’t look like blood-sucking vampires. You and Michelle should keep that in mind.
So anyway, on behalf of Spain and Andrés, “Sorry about that!”
Sincerely,
Erik Rasmussen
Patriotic Expatriate
Si te ha gustado este poste, por favor haz click en el botón de Digg arriba. Gracias!
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the Digg button above. Thanks!
Well im spaniard and I dont give a flying fuck…
There are more important things to take care these days dont u think so?
Bienvenidos a todos! I am curious about something. It seems that all of you Spaniards that are here reading this, found this page by googling “Zapatero’s daughters” or something similar. Why not “hijas de Zapatero”? I must conclude that you were looking for foreign opinions on this matter. Is that correct? What other foreign opinions have you found? I have seen zero coverage of this in the international and US press that I read.
I found your blog because I was looking for a pic where the girls’ faces weren’t pixelated. I was pretty curious about their look.
Sorry, I can’t offer any foreign opinions.
Im just looking becouse i like to know what think americans about our president’s family
In my opinion, he should force her daughters to dress better to meet the USA president, in that moment , they represent my country and it´s inapropiate.
I found some opinions, a lot of peaple say that it’s inapropiate, but some peaple defend that is good.
As a spaniard I want to thank you for your last post. I think Zapatero misunderstood the concept of giving freedom to their daughters and the poor things are just being put in a ridiculous light all over the world.
(Yes, I was looking for some opinions about that picture in the foreign press
)
funny that for you “freedom of press” means freedom to use “insulting material” … with such a poor and basic principles, I understand the rest of the your post, like the lack of knolwdege about age of majority, etc
Por lo demás, las hijas de zapatero se pueden hacer mormonas y su padre budista, me la suda, lo que pasa es que el pedazo de inútil se está cargando el país, y eso si que es preocupante, no las pints de sus hijas…
Saludos
Luis
Yes, i was looking for opinions from the international press Erik
and i did find your letter funny, i never took it seriously. But i wanted to make a point at the fact that in Spain his daughters’ privacy is protected not because they are the daughters of the President, but bc they are minors.
There is an interesting column by the daughter of McCain about the picture, i didnt know she is a writer, and it doesnt even matter, but what she says is good.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-27/un-photo-disaster/
Cheers
Yes, she’s been a political blogger since during the 2008 campaign. Thanks for that. She has a good point and good insight. Coming from the US, I share her sense of amazement at the Spanish media’s respect for minors’ privacy.
Erik, I’m afraid that Spanish media respect for minors privacy is just a consequence of a law that had to be released in response of prior media demeaning campaings against sons and daughters of public persons such actors, singers, some politician…
It’s not that Spaniards have more respect for children, its that we dont have respect for them (see what’s happening with Laura and Alba, the daughters of the president), so we need a law to control it. Shame…
Also check out this crap http://www.abcdesevilla.es/hemeroteca/historico-26-09-2009/sevilla/Opinion/las-andreitas-de-zetaparo_103148836885.html and you will understand why it is so important to protect children. People talk too much without thinking of what they are really saying, or the effects on others. So sad.
In the US, such attacks are just considered part of the cost of being famous and should be ignored (easier to say than do). So much so, that when I mentioned that a commenter on this post suggested that I “go back to my country!”, a friend told me that receiving insults meant that I was becoming famous.
I do like the Spanish “you can’t publish anything about a minor without permission” law. It makes a lot of sense. In the US, as our healthcare system demonstrates, we’re more about making money than protecting defenseless citizens.
Amelia, in all these posts, I see many Spaniards referreing to the PM as Zapatero. Isn’t his family name actually Rodríguez?
Dayana, this post I wrote about last names in Spain might help you. He uses his second last name because his first one is so common.
I’m more concerned that his daughters look like they are approaching American levels of obesity. Its hard to tell for sure with the dresses, but they way they hang suggests those girls are pretty big.
actually, there IS a law in spain, that prohibits to publish pictures of minors. so the “without any official law on the books” part is just wrong.
as to the question why zapatero is trying to follow that law (besides the obvious reason that it’s… well, a law)… obviously he’s doing so for safety and privacy reasons. there might be people interested in doing harm (and i don’t mean politically) to zapatero through his loved ones. this first time appearance of his daughters in public might just have enabled that.
and yes, i think the rights of these children (or any children for that matter) are in fact superior to your freedom of speech. especially if all you want to do with that freedom, is mocking two teenagers on a global scale, just because of their looks.
i am spanish and i am not a big fan of zapatero. but i would like to take back that “sorry about that!” you and andrés have spoken out in my name. there’s nothing to feel sorry about… these girls behave just like every teenager on the planet does. there’s nothing shameful about that and i hope the girls realize that some day. allthough their life must be a real nightmare at the moment.
in fact, if there’s really anyone who should feel sorry, it’s the obama administration/staff. there are strict rules of protocol in situations like this, you can’t just publish pictures of foreign leaders on the internet… it’s ahuge fauxpas, that only confirms the cliché of the self centered americans, who don’t give a rat’s ass about foreign cultures.
Alex: Quit reading my mind!!! Now!
They are adolescents whose parents probably let them do whatever the hell they want and don’t have time to bother. Having their picture taken and published has probably been the most exciting thing ever to them, especially if they are a little rebellious. Their goth style will be less scrutinized than the fact that they are overweight. BTW, not all Americans are fatasses, but the only ones the foreign press see are the Hollywood “pocket people” who are waif thin or the gigantic tanks in sweatpants they photograph or film walking down the street when someone wants to do a story about obesity. Just saying.
Emily, what exactly makes you conclude that because some parents let their teenage daughters decide how they want to dress they let them “do what the hell they want and dont have time to bother”?… its not that they are naked, or wearing nazi symbols… they are simply wearing what they wear any other day. And what if their parents decide to let them be, yes, a bit rebellious and skip the protocol? Is that so important anyway?
As Erik stated, we all ended here looking for coverage of the foreign media about this picture. Result? No coverage. I would have been really shocked if there had been, good God…
but dont you worry, as anybody, we’ll be big in Japan one day.
Is this the facebook page of the Spanish Prime Minister’s daughter Laura Zapatero?
http://www.facebook.com/laura.zapatero
I’m according that it’s more imprtan bad gestion Zapatero’s that how his dougther dress.
I think: what can we expect for our President if he ist’n to
I also entered here looking for foreign opinions on how they were dressed, because it is important for me what image they gave out of us. Nevertheless I agree that it is a more important Political management than how they dressed
Espero que esto esté bien escrito, y que se entienda más o menos lo que quiero decir,jejeje. (Las hijas van fatal vestidas y no representan a la juventud española, sólo a una minoria y la culpa la tiene el padre, pero qué podemos esperar de un político que nos deja en la cola de los paises más avanzados….)
Hi Erik!
I have just found your blog looking for the foreign opinions of this theme. I am Spanish and this is so embarrasment for all the Spanish people.
I am one of those who dont want Zapatero in the government and everyday he makes stupid things, and this is another one… probably, wont be the last one.
Greetings from La Coruña
¿qué hay de malo en un par de conservadores vestidos negros? Quizá no sean los más bellos y modernos, pero no entiendo por qué los encuentran ofensivos o embarazosos.
A Spanish friend of mine told me about the embarrassing incident. While it’s important to let children express themselves, it’s also a parents’ job to guide them and teach them how to behave in certain situations. And children (especially teenagers) need to learn there are also certain boundaries. As an adult I know I that I can’t show up to work wearing a bath robe or pijamas. It’s just not appropriate for an office.
And above all, they are not just any Spanish familiy visiting someone in the US. They were there representing the Spanish and the Europeans. So the whole family should be aware of their role when visiting President Obama in the White House! The girls are young and could’t know any better. But the parents knew the world media was watching and that they would publish the fotos.
It was just unnecessarily embarrassing…
I found this looking for foreign opinions on these kids.
These girls were on an official visit, paid for from our taxes. If they don’t want to be photographed they should stay at home and if they expect us to pay for their first-class trips they should at least have the decency to dress appropriately and understand that they too are ambassadors of our country.
They have evidently been very badly brought up by adults who don’t have a clue.
The latest on the kids is a very strong rumour that the eldest one has quit home at age 16 to go and live in some kind of commune with her lover boyfriend. Her parents are in despair at her refusal to undergo treatment for her rampant obesity problem. Interestingly, Zapatero, who cannot even govern his own family, has decided to take it out on everyone else’s by banning certain foods from schools. My kids know what works and what doesn’t and if they buy a donut one day they know it’s not a good idea to buy one the next. They know if they do they will end up looking like Zapatero’s daughters. Zapatero seems to think all kids are as dumb as the ones he has brought up so he feels he has to legislate what is pure common sense.
The good news: his disintegrating family might succeed in removing him from office. Not a minute too soon.