Gollum Greed

"Now, Let's see...Tackled sexual orientation, religious beliefs, what else...okay, one more: Independentistas are like Gollum."

Yeah. Wrote that a few days ago and urged you to Stay Tuned. Payoff time is now.

First, for those of you not of the fantasy literature persuasion/interest, a brief recap of Gollum. Created by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit, Gollum is a former hobbit named Sméagol who de-evolved into a wretched creature living deep underground due to his uncontrolled fixation on a ring of power, his object of visceral obsession.

You can see where I'm going with this.

Once a loving, peaceful and satisfied hobbit, Sméagol becomes a liar, a thief, a complete denial of what he once was and in order to enjoy his obsession and curtail his increasing paranoia, he seeks refuge away from the light, in the dark, where he can consort with his thoughts and fears, alienating even those who cared for him in his past life. Gollum eventually falls into the realm of the forgotten, emerging only when his needs overwhelm him, or when an accidental encounter forces him to react.

I give you now the independentista non-movement of Puerto Rico. Firmly planted in the loving, peaceful, proud tradition of Our people, who have known only foreign wars and who have struggled against fierce odds to survive and thrive, independencia became hooked and obsessed with the idea that turning its back on what We are in order to pursue power was the name of the game. The sterling, noble and righteous character of the ideal was subverted to political gains, the "voice of opposition," that joined the cesspool and not only learned to love it, but learned to depend on it.

Pursued by other powers, independencia went underground, afraid to reach out, afraid to stand up, afraid to insist on its own value, in order to lie and cheat and thieve and kill...and then call it "heroic." When the persecution ended, not by intellectual force of resistance but by external fiat, the Gollums emerged as twisted independence, blinking in the light and wailing in paranoia and for lost time, unaware that indifference had replaced admiration and dignity with disgust.

As the natural powers faded, what was once their fool's gold became their true gold, their one obsessive lust: money. Like clockwork, the Gollums come out every four years, receiving that which they slobber over son compulsively, cackling with glee, prancing like enfeebled chimps, only to return to their underground until the calendar's siren call wends its way across the Island.

The independentista non-movement is a wretched creature, too twisted to stand straight, too blind to look at reality's light, too infirm to fight and too addled to think straight. We--I--could put a name on this Gollum, but a name isn't necessary. What's tragic is that the natural expression of Our nation's growth has regressed from its rightful place of pride in Our hearts and minds to nothing more than a lizard-brain's timely greed. Hobbits may not be the strongest or smartest, but they are the bravest, and what We have left is not much more than a Gollum wallowing in abject cowardice...with money in its pocket.

The Jenius Has Spoken.