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Relajo, Apretado & Their Influence on Politics in the Digital Age

The following is an excerpt from an an assignment I wrote today:

I consider myself a very analytical thinker. I think out multiple different outcomes for the situations I’m presented with. I measure the effects of those decisions like a chemist combining a variety of different compounds in a science experiment in order to measure the effects of a reaction or a chef mixing many different ingredients while seeking the perfect taste for their dish to ensure their guests are satisfied. At the end of the day you never know exactly how others are going to react to your cooking but, with experience, you can begin to make very strong predictions. In my mind, everything in the world can be explained, in some part, by an equation.  Some equations more expansive and difficult than others.  I also find value in community building and in creating environments where everyone can grow and develop skills they didn’t even know they could realize.  Much like an architect, I’ll find myself doing the math and layout out the blueprint to create and build these experiences for myself and for others.  But perhaps the most important piece of community building and inspiring growth and development is to establish an anchor; a value or goal by which you and those you’re working with can intrinsically share.  It’s from here by which you can slowly build a foundation of similar values and beliefs that drive everyone to become architects themselves and then begin to build themselves, the people around them and entire communities and organizations upward. They now have a stake in the success of this structure because they’re contributing to its success and also reaping the reward.  However, any building can fall when the base begins to crumble or when a value goes unfulfilled or forgotten.  Every structure needs routine maintenance in order to adapt to a changing climate.  It can begin to collapse when its ability to sustain is not taken seriously.  When you work with larger groups, these foundational values are easier to lose sight of if people begin to stray too far from those original values. They become unintentionally less important and more out of focus than ever before. Before you know it, everyone has not only stayed too far from the foundation and spread too thin but they’ve become far too distant from one another. Disorganized, they all begin to question why they’re here in the first place.  All this work for a glimpse of chaos?  If the building goes unmaintained it will then crumble and fall to the ground from whence it came.

It's in this metaphor that I personally find Portilla’s concept of relajo important. Many leaders find it difficult to maintain order not because they push their peers too hard, but because they find it difficult to remind their peers why they are here in the first place.  Or, perhaps, the environment changes and values upholding the base of your organizations structures are no longer viable. This lack of communication and dedication to the universal undertaking of building something larger than oneself is lost. We lose all reinforcement. This can lead to apathy or resentment which can lead to intentional or unintentional ignorance which can lead to more destructive forms of humor, satire, sarcasm; the concept of rejalo. They chip away at the value of an idea that was once held to the highest degree.

The concept of Relajo can be found in The Suspension of Seriousness by Carlos Alberto Sanchez, who translates the work of Jorge Portilla’s “Phenomenology of Relajo”.  Here relajo can be explained through an expression of values. Portilla explains, “The acts that tend to provoke the transformation of a serious situation into relajo necessarily imply that adoption of a position (regarding the value) and that lack of attention.” (132) In this sense, relajo happens to make light of or relieve a value of its importance.  In many instances this phenomenon can ease a high stress situation, however, it can also serve as a roadblock to a conversation that absolutely needs to happen either to improve quality of life or perhaps prevent significant loss of life or a value.  Given this context I am proposing that, in this day and age, relajo can be of major detriment to society when discussing politics, particularly through social media.

To fully grasp my position it’s incredibly important to fully grasp the concept of relajo. Although he is more neutral than I am on the net positive or negative influence of relajo, Jorge Portilla, in particular, is very clear in his evaluation of relajo and its function. He goes on to explain relajo as something that cannot happen in solitude because, “in solitude there is nowhere to throw it.” (133)[1]  Relajo is always experienced in a group, but in order to have a visible impact there, “are bodily attitudes, words, chants, noises that imply a call to others to adopt the negation of a proposed value.” (131)[2] This phenomenon manifests itself in an attitude that still requires a sense of seriousness. Portilla continues, “…when, in an immediate and direct way, I pronounce that “yes” inside myself, when I give an adequate resource to the demand for actualization inherent to the value, I tactically commit myself to a behavior, I mortgage my future behavior, making it agree beforehand with that demand; I take the value seriously.” (129)[3]. It is in this climate that opportunities for relajo increase.

Many consider and perceive the battlefield of politics as a brutalist mud-slinging affair between human beings who are far too self-absorbed into the position. And yet, many still acknowledge the weight in the decisions politicians have to make on a daily basis and the scale of impact those decisions can have on its people and its institutions.  But, no matter which side you fall on in that debate, neither piece sounds all that attractive at first glance.  Either way, it’s a lot of pressure.  In this regard, an environment of taking things seriously for the cause of seriousness itself is already sowing the seeds for the infiltration of relajo.  We can see it in the popularity of satirical news sites like The Onion or late night shows like The Daily Show.  Both rely heavily on particular styles of writing that take real life situations and extract bits and pieces of them to form comedic narratives to relieve us of the pressure of current events and major global issues.  Relajo can find itself embedded in the delivery of the humor found in these examples because they can often displace the concern for poor political decision-making in the name of humor for humor’s sake.  It takes your mind off the issue and relieves you of the stress you feel from your concern but no real solution is created.  The result is a deflation in your concern and the deflation in the values you hold in particular favor that created an environment for your initial concern.  In other words, if a political leader makes a mistake then we develop a concern.  We would mostly likely agree that in order to relieve that concern the next logical step is to correct the mistake and establish measures to prevent it from happening again.  However, we’ve grown accustomed to indulging in these forms of entertainment because they take our concern, acknowledge that it’s a problem but then draw comparisons to something we consider below us.  Perhaps we elaborately compare a Bush-era government decision to a barrel of monkeys.  Monkeys are statistically less intelligent than the average human being. But monkeys are also very child-like in their presentation through mass media so we can empathize with their spirit in trying.  It makes us feel better than the politicians of the era but it doesn’t give credit to the values we expect in our leadership.  The 2000’s found this form of writing so popular and consumable that competition opened the door to more and more public acceptance of the phenomenon. This sort of narrative in political-satire is so consistent across mass media today that we’re often conditioned to solve our concern in comedic relief of some sort.  Websites, blogs, social media, and entertainment have only continued to blur the line between satire and reality because it keeps people tuned in and, well, entertained.  But in the same fell swoop, we find our stock in values somewhat compromised in the popular political discourse.  Politics shouldn’t be nearly as entertaining.  I can certainly agree with intellectuals who are vocal in criticizing the politicians and business men and women making poor decisions on our behalf but we also have to place the blame in the third estate (journalism/media) who should be keeping our institutions of power in check but by informing society but would rather pinch pennies for the sake of getting more views, and as a result making money. All this informed by the way we consume information in the social media age.  We want instant gratification and, therefore, we need a good headline to captivate our attention or a notification pushed to our phone that provides an answer for a void in your heart.  We’re losing faith in institutions not simply because of poor decision-making but because we’re too busy consuming entertainment and a false sense of security to actively participate.  Now, more than ever, we need to take seriously our inability to take politics seriously.  Rather than share a spicy political internet meme that we find, “so true” perhaps we act on it. Otherwise we may lose our voice entirely.  Relajo cannot be left unattended. If we cannot at least educate ourselves on how it impacts our political discourse, alongside forms of comedic relief, that we lose sight of ourselves.

And all this brings me to Portilla’s explanation of another concept, apretado. Translated to, “tight one”, the apretado is processed by the spirit of seriousness. “The apretado/a is a person who we, observers, think takes things way too seriously. But this is not because things are serious or demand to be taken seriously; rather, it is because these are the kinds of things that the apretado/a believes should be taken seriously.” (60)[4]  In asking the reader to consider my aforementioned concerns about the dangers of relajo in political discourse one might attempt to label me an apretado.  “In apretado/a being and value are welded together and become a personality.” (60)[5]  There may be an argument to be made for my unrealistic expectations of others to see beyond what could be considered an exploited and possibly conditioned indulgence in the entertainment market of political satire.

However, I must acknowledge that I do ultimately believe that both relajo and apretado can be used together to create a balanced approach to political discourse.  In an ideal word, a leader with the tact to utilize and know how to respond to both would preserve a balance in personality that could bring people together.  A measured approach to both could have a significant effect on bringing personalities from the entire spectrum of seriousness together.  But I must advise that, when you consider the trends in political discourse towards an uneasy indulgence in relajo that seems to prevent us from reaching the root of major political and global issues than maybe, just maybe, we have to temporarily tip the scales towards a more serious values-based approach.  Otherwise, it is my fear that our institutions will only lose sight of their already foggy values that established a foundation for them to exist in the first place.  By revisiting these founding principles through a spirit of seriousness we can return to a more sobering middle ground to allow for a measured balance in the critical thinking of the collective consciousness of society.

I speak of my concern because I’ve experienced relajo and apretado in my work with others and how I measure the importance of particular values in my interactions with others.  I’ve began to see the world open up through another lens as a means to understand another dichotomy that supports another structure of humanity and society itself.  In this regard I do believe that Portilla’s concepts have a place in understanding society and, political discourse in particular.  When all is said and done my understanding of these concepts can provide me and hopefully anyone else with a better grasp on how to continue our efforts to build communities in the future.  My understanding of these concepts and their effects can also assist in measuring my ethical impact as I begin to enter the field of advertising - a major influencer on how media is consumed.  Portilla finds both relajo and apretado important in the discourse between individuals. They both can contribute a positive and negative impact on creating solutions to major issues that we, as human beings, must overcome in order to move our society forward.  Where we go from here will take a conscious effort from all of us, to establish how seriously we hold particular values.  And that’s a good lesson learned in relajo and apretado.

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favorite quotes (19/∞)

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If you look at history, even recent history, you see that there is indeed progress… . Over time, the cycle is clearly, generally upwards. And it doesn’t happen by laws of nature. And it doesn’t happen by social laws… . It happens as a result of hard work by dedicated people who are willing to look at problems honestly, to look at them without illusions, and to go to work chipping away at them, with no guarantee of success — in fact, with a need for a rather high tolerance for failure along the way, and plenty of disappointments.

Noam Chomsky (via dansmonarbre)

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