While I was reading Eva Peron’s “My Message” I couldn’t help myself laugh a bit, not because I’m mocking her writing but because I’ve heard this perception of the people from many (especially politicians) over the years. “El pueblo” (as I’m sure this was Eva’s direct translation of “the people”) is conceptualized as a “race” of people which is characterized by having good moral values and being hard workers however they are exploited by another race, the oligarchs who are totally opposite to the people. Basically, the concept of the people to Eva Peron is very similar to that of politicians today try so hard to relate with; the lower working class. Eva’s use of metaphor to distinguish the people as a race is a very interesting one. She repeats this word in order to distinguish between the people and the oligarchs, since a race is composed of distinct specie that shares distinct characteristics. This basically means that since they both come from different races (oligarchs and the people) they are totally different. As different as salt is from pepper. However I do not agree with this notion since I find it very idealized.
Borges writing was interesting since it posed a totally different perspective from that of Eva’s people. As I was reading it I tried to place it in a historical context, but I wasn’t able to pin point an exact date or event. However, my best deduction is that it was at some time during Peron’s presidency, and that “the Monster” was not the army, rather a nationalist group. Regardless I found this reading quite interesting since it presents another characteristic of the people. In a way, I think Eva sees the people as been just plainly being black or white, while Borges sees the other colors of the people. These colors were not so beautiful, since it described a more violent and evil aspect of this “race” that Eva didn’t. And that is why I believe Borges account is more realistic than that of Eva’s, not because I’m saying that the people are more violent, simply because if you are assigned a particular group or race it is not a guarantee that you’ll behave accordingly with their set norms. Eva did not acknowledge that in her people race there are going to be undeniably some rotten apples, and in the oligarch race there are going to be some good apples. As I said, not everything is black or white, especially us humans and our behavior; we are much more complex than that.
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I must admit that while reading "My Message" I found myself laughing a little too. The language and content seemed so transparent, I found it hard to see how many people could believe her to be sincere. But on to engage with her idea of "race"...I think that many anthropologists/biologists would agree today that "race" is an entirely socially-constructed idea. It almost suggests that subspecies exist within the human species, and this permits the formation of assumptions about intelligence, physical ability, etc. based on so-called biological differences. For Eva Peron to use this concept to distinguish between the working-class and the "oligarchs," it seems as if she's leaving herself out...what "race" would she fit into as a social-climber? Obviously this piece was written when ideas about racial difference were still widely used, yet I find it a very interesting example of how we should be critical of accepting the powerful words of our politicians.
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