Post Office

Every time I pass the national government’s Communications offices, a grand building situated near Puerto Madero and a stone’s throw from the most significant government buildings (the Labour Ministry, the Casa Rosada, et al), I am in awe. It reminds me of when I first saw it, years ago, before I understood the power of Communications, or rather, what the word meant, both for the world in general and for Argentina in particular. I always thought that it was a bit too smart to be a Post Office.

Communication, as a profession, is about the expression of meaning. Meaning is more often than not interpreted as truth, but real communications, I have learnt, it just about getting your point (or somebody else’s point) across effectively. The truth has little to do with it.

This is especially true in Argentina, a society that professes itself to be governed by opposites. You either support the government or you oppose it; you either like Boca Juniors or River Plate; we are colonialists or they are. This society is based on the demonstration of opposites as the only two certainties, but what makes the society strong is the weakness of the same opposites. There is no such thing here as truth or lie, good or bad, right or wrong; instead, what this society is based on is everything in between.

In terms of where that leaves public figures and their relations with ordinary people, there seems to be a tacit agreement based on the fact that politicians and the rest will always present their opinions in the most simplistic terms possible, couched within extremes, and the people will nod and vote in the knowledge that Othe extremes are a total invention. It is a fantastic example of democracy: in a world where no-one is ever really held accountable for anything, one can do or say exactly what one likes, so long as one is able to get one’s point across.

As a result, the machinations of Argentine politics (and indeed society as a whole) are like one enormous private joke, but a joke that is so complicated and convoluted that it only makes sense if you heard the beginning. There are people that know more of the joke than others, but for most it is a baffling web of multiple meanings sponsored by individuals or groups or movements, creating an endless conveyor belt of statements, facts, beliefs, messages. To say Communications is a vital industry here is an understatement: without it, Argentina as we know it would simply not be possible.

One obvious conclusion to draw is that in an environment where there is so much meaning it is almost impossible to discern the truth. However, we can rest assured that there are undoubtedly people in Argentina who have seen and heard the punchline in the private joke, and somebody somewhere is laughing.