Even supposedly serious thinkers succumbed and revealed more about their own fantasies
than any insight about Cuba. Liberal pundit David Corn could only think
of his stereotypes in a startling missive posted on twitter. “Cuba's a
swell place to visit. Beaches, rum, baseball, music. It'll be great for
more USers to visit-& that could counter repression there.” If there
were a prize awarded for truly stupid twitter posts, Code Pink’s Medea
Benjamin should win with these words, “Obama spoke with Raul Castro
yesterday. The ice is melting. Mojitos for all!”
It is difficult to know where to begin in analyzing such nonsense. It
isn’t clear what Corn means by repression, but surely the presence of
Americans having fun has never made people safe anywhere in the world.
As for Benjamin, anyone whose response to a foreign policy decision
includes references to a cocktail should be ignored now and forever.
-- Margaret Kimberley, "Freedom Rider: Cuba in the American Imagination" (Black Agenda Report).