Big Game, Bad Bunny

When you meet a Puerto Rican, the first thing they tell you is that they're Puerto Rican. The second thing they tell you is that they're an American citizen by birth. Even amongst each other. It's not out of pride for the imperialist captor, but one gets the same impression as when the Apostle Paul is about to be flogged by a mob and says, "Wait! I'm a Roman citizen!" Then the mob is like, shit, we can't touch that guy. But, of course, the Roman state eventually beheads him.

Bad Bunny got me in my feelings. I had missed the live-streamed concert a few weekends ago, and finally found a rip of the whole thing on YouTube. I loved it, my cat loved it. I had been feeling a little bitter towards Bad Bunny because (I try not to worship celebrities but...) despite his outspokenness about the colonial occupation of Puerto Rico by the United States, I felt it was somewhat neocolonial for him to make a pact with the devil Amazon to stream his concert in exchange for disaster relief (etc.) that has essentially been withheld by the United States. I calmed myself thinking of Robert Kurvitz on the production of Disco Elysium: "Be as corrupt as possible. Those who want you to remain lily-white have no ideas and no principles to compromise for." For me it's less about a moral compromise than an anxiety that the mouse will want milk with his cookie.

But whatever. At least he's doing something, right? What frustrates me more lately is the partisan discourse surrounding Bad Bunny's announcement as the next headline performer of the Superbowl halftime show. The fascists are simply upset that a brown guy is singing Spanish at an American sporting event, you know, boo-fucking-hoo type shit. The liberals on the other hand would have you think they've recruited Bad Bunny into the purple revolution. Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican, and Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory (i.e., colony) of the United States, therefore Bad Bunny is 100% American and he should cover Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." to own the fascists because—surely—he's just as proud to be an American as any wannabe redneck used car dealer. Fucking liberals. Fascists are fiends, but they are obviously terrible. Liberals however make the presumption of speaking and acting on your behalf.

I remember while talking to my aesthetician realizing how topsy-turvy the discourse of Puerto Rican statehood is in the continental mainland. Statehood! No representation without taxation! Democrats (at least woke ones) tend to advocate for Puerto Rican statehood, whereas Republicans (despite historical support) tend to advocate against it. Puerto Rico's parties have opposite positions: the Democrat-aligned PPD advocates for continued self-governance as a commonwealth, whereas the Republican-aligned and current ruling party PNP advocates for statehood. You might notice an impasse here: Puerto Rico has a significant conservative constituency, both socially and economically speaking, which wants statehood; but for the Republicans to accept Puerto Rico as a state and thus increase their own numbers in Congress, they'd have to betray their own racism. Hence the bipartisan delusion that Puerto Rican statehood means more Democrats in Congress, despite all evidence to the contrary (at least of Puerto Ricans who are able and willing to vote; only ~27% registered voters actually voted for the PNP in 2024, ~14% voted for the PPD, ~20% voted for the unaligned Independence Party, and ~35% abstained from voting).

Puerto Rico is a hostage situation. It's not just the Republicans: Trump may have intentionally fucked the island during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria by withholding $20 billion in disaster relief to accelerate the privatization of public utilities and services, but that process began under Obama with the enactment of PROMESA and the establishment of la junta, a board appointed by the federal government to “oversee” the Puerto Rican government's budget and finances, with the goal of imposing austerity on the population and valorizing American capital. This is not to mention the island's colonial status ever since it was captured from Spain in 1898, to the effects of cultural genocide, mass sterilization, and civilian massacres. In this context, I'm frustrated at liberals' presumption that Bad Bunny is their guy, that he and every Puerto Rican culturally self-identifies as American. Do you think he'd agree with that Lee Greenwood song?

Lacan characterizes the liberal-leftist as a fool and the rightist as a knave. In other words, we already understand that the fascist is a buffoon who uncritically professes ruling ideology even or especially when it's untrue, speaking it into virtual reality. We see this in how the Nazis projected onto the Allies an ideological technique called the big lie, as per Goebbels: "... when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous." Don't they look and sound stupid? Yet liberals, by fighting untruth with truth, reinforce the previous ruling neoliberal ideology: that Puerto Ricans are proud American citizens worthy of being anglofied, despite their actual status as colonial subjects. Here's my belief: if you don't want Puerto Ricans to perform at the Superbowl, if you don't want them to be American, then give Puerto Rico independence so their rightfully elected government can finally tax the absolute shit out of your luxury resorts, your pharmaceutical manufacturers (etc.), your digital nomad-turned-settlers.

But you like having a little colony, don't you? Better learn Spanish. And perreo.