Arturo Sandoval and Political Intolerance

Some years ago, I was in communication with the great Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval—the godson of the unforgettable Dizzy Gillespie—through the old, abandoned Twitter. For me, that was a source of great joy, because, even though I am at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Sandoval, I believe it’s possible to set that aside because of the artistic side of the thing, which is what continues to interest me about him.

I would ask him things, and he would answer me, including what his training regime was at his age. From our exchanges, the unfulfilled promise of sending a signed CD remained. What happened? It all fell apart when Sandoval saw me on Twitter criticizing Mario Díaz-Balart, the Republican representative of Cuban origin based in Florida. He blocked me ipso facto.

Intolerance is a serious problem. If you have a point to debate, let’s do it above any differences, based on clear arguments. Let’s be dialectical and recognize that, as the Cuban intellectual Fernando Martínez Heredia said, “even the devil has his little heart,” starting from the premise that, for each side in a conflict, the other side is the devil. Listen to what I have to say about Díaz-Balart and subject it to scrutiny; if there’s any truth to it, nothing is more liberating than acknowledging it. But it’s extremely difficult for many.

On Hive

A specific form of intolerance seems to have recently manifested itself regarding my content here, which I assume is linked to the increasingly direct way I have been presenting my views on the Trump administration’s policies toward Cuba, from the headline to the body of the post. Even so, I have nothing but gratitude for those who have decided to stop supporting my work on Hive, because for years they did so and ended up becoming almost the sole basis of my income.

That said, just as the health of the conversation improves and the filter bubble bursts when Sandoval—or anyone—is capable of engaging with the arguments of their political counterpart, I believe this, our place, would also benefit if the criteria for supporting the author of a politically oriented post were not their ideological alignment but the sincerity with which they address the topic and their use of responsible and varied information sources and perspectives. And that generally relates to the sensitive issue of the rationality that large wallets use when voting, with every right they have.