Estados Unidos

LOS ANGELES: UNA CIUDAD SIN ALMA

OPINION

Estados Unidos

LOS ANGELES: UNA CIUDAD SIN ALMA

Llegué a Los Ángeles, California, hace más de un año. Y estoy dejando la ciudad en este preciso momento. Viajo con mis dos perros por carretera hacia Miami, donde he vivido más de 15 años. Son dos mil setecientas diecisiete millas para pensar, para reflexionar sobre lo vivido en un año lleno de contrastes.

Vine con un contrato de trabajo que se cumplió a medias por razones que no vale la pena profundizar. Vine por más (mucho más) y me voy con menos (mucho menos). Y no me refiero a lo material que siempre es aleatorio. ¿Cómo me siento? Decepcionado, un poco triste, y a la vez feliz de regresar al mar caribe, a esos atardeceres de película, y a las copas de vino con amigos entrañables de esos que no se encuentran.

Al tiempo que me voy alejando, la distancia me invita a la reflexión. Se impone ese balance que todo ser humano persigue al cierre de un ciclo.

Los Angeles es una ciudad de profundos contrastes. Tiene el clima, la montaña, el océano, el tamaño, la economía… Pero tiene también una enorme nube negra encima de su cabeza alimentada salvajemente por la mayoría de las personas que viven allí. Una energía indefinida. Oscura. Solitaria.

Generalizar nunca es bueno. Lo se. Pero permítanme decirles que aquí la mayoría de las personas son superficialmente amables, superficialmente educadas, superficialmente empáticas, superficialmente adorables y profundamente superficiales. Enfermos del quiero más, de la apariencia, de la fama, del dinero, del poder, de la influencia y donde el parecer es siempre más importante que el ser. Adoradores del falso simplismo y la autoayuda. Negadores profesionales. Y lo digo entendiendo la total relatividad de mi afirmación. Es solo una opinión formada en base a una experiencia personal. Aunque cabe destacar que hay algunos datos objetivos que parecen ratificar mi sensación: Esta es una ciudad de personas solas. Hasta las que están acompañadas, están solas. Según las últimas cifras del censo, en un tercio de los hogares de la ciudad vive una sola persona en solitario. Esto Incluye a jóvenes y viejos, ricos y pobres, hombres y mujeres y no distingue profesión. Los Angeles es la única ciudad del mundo que conozco que tiene paseadores de personas. Sí. Paseadores de personas. El afiche que promociona el servicio destaca entre las ventajas de contratarlo, razones como estas:

– “¿No quieres que la gente te vea caminando solo y asuma que no tienes amigos?

– ¿No puedes caminar solo en silencio, forzado a enfrentar tus pensamientos sobre tu futuro incierto, o sobre tu propia insignificancia en este universo en constante expansión?

Cuando se trata de conectarse, esta ciudad de 4 millones de habitantes puede ser especialmente odiosa. Distancias extensas, tráfico imposible, pero fundamentalmente se percibe una actitud social de individualismo extremo, egoísmo, soledad y falsa empatía. Las personas aquí subestiman el valor de pasar tiempo en compañía genuina de otros seres humanos que sepan tu nombre, conozcan tu historia, que te hablen, te escuchen, se interesen y que además se preocupen si de pronto desaparecieras. El compromiso personal no va más allá del emoticón. La honestidad emocional e intelectual no es un valor en alza. Si te abres, podrían descubrirte. Y eso no está en los planes de nadie. Aquí las personas ni siquiera llaman a la gente que conocen. Solo se envían mensajes de texto. Pareciera que la voz humana implica una clase de conexión que no se animan a afrontar.

Los habitantes de Los Angeles tienen miles de seguidores en Facebook e Instagram, donde editan sus vidas tratando de parecer la persona en la que quisieran convertirse. Pero en su soledad saben que, en ese escenario, un post que mencione su estado emocional real no recibirá respuesta alguna.

Aquí nadie es lo que parece. El camarero es actor, la azafata es actriz, el valet parking es director, el paseador de perros es guionista, y la lista es interminable. Aquí el negocio del “tú puedes con tu sueño” es una industria millonaria que alimenta escuelas de actuación de todo calibre, oficinas de representantes, «coaches» de dudosa honorabilidad y productores que venden fantasías por doquier. Un negocio enorme que no sería posible si le dijeran la verdad al 70% de los aspirantes a famosos respecto que no tienen el talento, la capacidad o la preparación.

Aquí la negación y la fantasía llegan realmente lejos. Aspirantes a actores con marcado acento extranjero en su inglés, a los que les aseguran que su acento está de moda y que es lo que hoy busca Hollywood; aspirantes con serios problemas para memorizar 5 líneas de texto que se entregan a las manos del influyente de turno; jóvenes que llegaron hace 9 meses persiguiendo fama y dinero y aún duermen en su automóvil. La mentira viaja de un lado a otro de la ciudad alimentada por la ceguera de la vanidad y la ingenuidad deliberada. Todo vale en este Hollywood de ensueño.

En un año no he conocido a una sola persona que se interesara genuinamente por otra persona. Sus formas de conexión son transaccionales. Se trata de encontrar qué pueden obtener de cada relación que entablan. Aquí, la diferencia entre la prostitución y una relación casual con intercambios (un viaje exótico, generosas visitas al shopping o una simple oportunidad de audición) es solo una cuestión semántica. Es una ciudad de zombis. Todos reclaman atención. Pero nadie parece estar dispuesto a darla seriamente.

Por supuesto, aquí no hay espacio para el amor. El amor es una distracción imperdonable. Un atroz atentado contra el mandato transaccional. Aquí el amor confunde, ralentiza el camino al éxito, y solo implica pérdida de oportunidades. Aquí las relaciones son descartables si no proveen algo tangible.

Aquí las personas vienen y van. La migración es una puerta giratoria. Según la oficina del censo los que abandonaron California en 2017 superan en 140,000 personas a los que han llegado en el mismo periodo, en una tendencia que se sostiene desde 2008. Los Angeles atrae a las personas en sus veintes pero pierde a las que están en sus treintas. California, en general, no crece como una sociedad completa. Está perdiendo el concepto de familia. Y esta realidad demográfica tal vez explique la consagración de una conducta social individualista, salvajemente competitiva, solitaria, egoísta y decadente.

No hay nada de especial en esta ciudad más allá de la fantasía inventada por la estupidez y la falta de sentido común de los cultores de lo “cool”. Los Angeles  tiene la peor congestión de tráfico del mundo, según un estudio realizado en 2017 por Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard, superando a Moscú, Nueva York y San Pablo. Es, además una de las zonas sísmicas más activas del mundo. Asentada sobre la falla de San Andrés vive a la espera de su «Big One»: un terremoto de dimensiones catastróficas que puede ocurrir en cualquier momento entre ahora y los próximos 100 años debido a la tensión acumulada en la falla de San Andrés. El transporte público es casi inexistente y la renta de una vivienda es ridículamente cara. Los ricos viven protegidos y confortables mientras la gentrificación y las tasas de pobreza, indigencia y crimen aumentan año tras año.

Los Ángeles fue calificada como la ciudad más estresante de Estados Unidos. Todos los gurús del simplismo y la autoayuda, los estudios de yoga, los bares de zumos y las limpiezas metafísicas de colon que crecen como hongos en todos los rincones de Los Ángeles, nacen para prestarle un servicio cool al angelino estresado. Aparentemente, toda «la buena vibra» que forma parte de la escenografía de esta ciudad no logra compensar el smog, el tráfico horrible, la hipocresía, la mala economía, la soledad y los escandalosos precios de la renta. Un estudio de la Asociación Americana de Psicología demostró que los angelinos no solo están descontentos con su situación económica; incluso cuando tienen trabajo, están completamente insatisfechos y eso está afectando su salud física.

Los Ángeles es la sexta ciudad más tóxica del país. La ciudad es un pozo de toxinas. Y si bien se ubica en el número 6 del país en toxicidad, la calidad del aire es la peor de todo Estados Unidos, con un smog que crea una capa gruesa de veneno sobre la ciudad. La calidad del agua es pésima y contiene elementos como arsénico y metano. El promedio de muertes de peatones atropellados en Los Angeles es el triple que el promedio nacional. Para los ciclistas, solo es el doble que en el resto del país.

 

Aquí, todos viven en un mundo de fantasía. Están tan apegados a esa historia inventada acerca de quienes son, que desechan todas las señales que la realidad les provee causándoles tanta ansiedad como miedo. Un mundo, en cierto modo, vacío, silencioso y, la mayoría de las veces, solitario. No estoy en contra de perseguir los sueños; todo lo contrario. Pero cuando las expectativas están tan divorciadas de la realidad convierten a las personas en zombis sin alma. En intrascendentes mercaderes de sus propias vidas. Objetos animados vendibles al mejor postor.

Pertenecer parece ser el objetivo central, excluyente y obsesivo de los habitantes de Los Angeles. Decenas de miles de ingenuos que alimentan el negocio de unos pocos. Los Angeles muestra una de las concentraciones más cerradas de poder, dinero e influencia de todo Estados Unidos. Los devotos de las relaciones transaccionales con mucha, mucha suerte y la disposición total para hacer lo que sea (sí, leíste bien: lo que sea) pelearán incansablemente por acercarse a las puertas de una oportunidad. Pero la estadística dice que cada año solo 1 persona de cada 400,000 llega a incorporarse realmente a ese cerrado círculo.

Para los habitantes de Los Angeles la alegría siempre es efímera, superficial e incompleta. Cuando la realidad los alcanza, durmiendo en sus autos o en un húmedo y oscuro patio trasero, vuelven a ese lugar donde su vida real existe. Algunos no lo resisten. Su sentido de la moral y de la lógica pueden más y abandonan la ciudad. Otros, con entrenamiento, la cuota de negación suficiente y un desprecio total por los valores más básicos del ser humano, sepultarán su dignidad y volverán al ruedo donde la fantasía y el sueño de fama y fortuna sin mérito les inyectará – en forma de “likes” – el combustible necesario para seguir.

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Introduction
This Privacy Policy applies to all of the products, services, and websites offered by Ghids Media Corporation and its subsidiaries or affiliated companies (collectively, “Ghids Media”). We provide this notice explaining our privacy practices and the choices you can make about how your information is collected and used by Ghids Media Corporation. Ghids Media has appointed a Data Protection Office to contact if you have any questions or concerns. The Data Protection Office contact information is as follows: Data Protection Office  Ghids Media Corporation  11007 Griffing Blvd. Miami, FL33161  [email protected]
An overview of the information we may collect.
You can take advantage of many Bonnier products, services, and websites without providing any information that personally identifies you by name, address, or other personally-identifying information. We only collect personally-identifying information when you voluntarily submit it to us. Sometimes, we need personally-identifying information to provide you with the products and services you request. Depending upon the product or service, we may ask you for various personally-identifying information. This might include, for example, your name, address, email address, telephone number, gender, and birth date. We may also ask for other information about you, such as your credit card information (when making a purchase), interests, income, or education level. We consider certain identifying information “sensitive.” This includes your credit card number, income level, or other information usually regarded as confidential. Some personal information will never be requested or collected, such as information on your race or ethnic origin, political opinions, trade union memberships, religious beliefs, health, sex life, or sexual orientation. You may choose not to provide us with any personally-identifying information. In that case, you can still access and use many portions of our websites; however, you will not be able to access and use those portions of any Bonnier website that require your personal information. Many Ghids Media websites include community features, such as online forums and message boards. The information posted in these areas becomes public information, and any third party’s use of this information is beyond our control. If you elect to submit content that includes information that can be used to identify you, you must assume that the content can and will be displayed on any website on the Internet. Our properties may feature measurement software, which will allow you to contribute to market research. We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain information when you visit our website and directly in emails/communications. These companies may use information you have shared (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over, email address) during your visits to this and other Web sites to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. Our partners use this information to recognize you across different channels and platforms over time for advertising, analytics, attribution, and reporting purposes; any information collected is stored in hashed or non-human-readable form. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. Ghids Media websites sometimes may offer contests, sweepstakes, or promotions sponsored by or co-sponsored with identified third parties. Under their sponsorship, these third parties may obtain personally-identifying information that visitors voluntarily submit to them to participate in the contest, sweepstakes, or promotion. B Ghids Media has no control over the third-party sponsors’ use of this information. If a third-party sponsor beyond our control will obtain information that you supply us, we will notify you when we collect the information from you. For specific promotions, only those who provide us with the requested personally-identifying information will be able to order products, programs, and services or otherwise participate in the promotion’s activities and offerings. Some of our websites contain links to other sites. By clicking on these links, you will leave the website operated by Ghids Media and this Privacy Policy will no longer apply. These other sites’ information practices may be different than ours. You should consult the other sites’ privacy notices, as we have no control over information submitted to or collected by these third parties.
How we use the information we collect
We use the personally-identifying information you provide us to fulfill your requests for our products, programs, and services, respond to your inquiries about offerings, and offer you other products, programs, or services that we believe may be of interest to you. We sometimes use this information to communicate with you, such as to notify you when you have won one of our contests, make changes to subscriber agreements, fulfill a request by you for an online newsletter, or contact you about your account with us. We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions. We may syndicate the publicly available content of our community areas to unaffiliated third-party websites using RSS or other technologies. The information you have shared in the community areas may be included in this syndication. We will use the personally-identifying information that you provide about others in order to provide the products or services that you have requested; for example, to enable us to send them your gifts or cards. If you provide us someone else’s personally-identifying information for referral purposes, we may use that information to invite them to visit our websites or to provide them information about our products or services. If you provide us with your email and/or postal address, we may include that address in email and/or postal address lists that we sell, trade, or rent to third parties. These lists will never contain sensitive information. If you do not wish for your email or postal address to be shared with companies not owned by Bonnier who want to market products or services to you, you have the opportunity to opt out, as described below. You may also opt out of the receipt of any marketing materials from Ghids Media as described below. We may transfer your sensitive personally-identifying information to other Bonnier offices for internal management and administrative purposes. In addition, your personal data will be transferred to other Bonnier offices where necessary for the performance or conclusion of our contractual obligations to you or for your benefit. Transfers of personally-identifying information may also be made where necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims. We do not transfer personal information internationally. Ghids Media will only share your sensitive personal information with outside companies or individuals in any of the following limited circumstances:
  • When we use trusted businesses or persons to process personal information on our behalf. Before sharing any personal information with outside parties, we require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
  • When we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation, or disclosure is necessary to:
  1. comply with applicable law, regulation, or legal process;
  2. enforce the applicable Terms of Service or other agreements and policies on the Company’s Websites;
  3. detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues; or
  4. protect against imminent harm to the rights, property, or safety or Ghids Media, its users, or the public as required or permitted by law.
  • When you consent. Before we share your sensitive personal information outside of the previously listed circumstances, we will ask you for permission first. Please note that this only applies to sensitive information, as defined above.
We may also use, transfer, sell, and share aggregated, anonymous data about our users for any legal purpose, such as analyzing usage trends and seeking compatible advertisers and partners. In no event will this aggregated data contain any information that could be used to identify individual users of our products or services.
How we protect the safety and integrity of the information we collect
We take appropriate physical, electronic, and procedural measures to safeguard and protect your personal information. We use a variety of security measures, including encryption and authentication, to maintain the confidentiality of your personal information. We store your personal information on systems behind firewalls that are only accessible to a limited number of persons, each of whom is required to keep the information confidential. We also take appropriate measures to secure the transmission of sensitive personal information from your computer to the Company’s computers. When you transmit sensitive personal information to us, like credit card information, we offer the use of a secure connection to our servers. To the extent you select the secure connection method or your browser supports such functionality, all credit card account information that you supply is transmitted via secure encryption technology. Regardless of these measures, no system connected to the Internet or data transmission sent over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We will provide notice if we become aware of any security breach that may affect any sensitive personal information pertaining to you that we have stored on our systems. Ghids Media only collects personal information that is relevant to the purposes for which it will be used. Though we do take appropriate steps to review and update the information that we store to ensure that it is accurate, complete, and current, we also depend on you to update or correct your personal information when necessary. To protect your privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to help verify your identity before granting access or making corrections. We will decline to process requests where we cannot verify the identity of the requester. We may also decline to process requests that are automated, repetitive, systematic, or impractical, or that might jeopardize the privacy of others. In some limited circumstances, such as to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our policies, we may retain some of information that you have requested us to remove. Therefore, you should not expect that all of your personal information will be completely removed from our databases in response to your requests.
Your privacy options
We do not share your email address with any third-party, unless you have given us the explicit permission to do so. Email messages we send on behalf of our advertisers or other Bonnier brands are delivered from our internal email marketing system only. We may also use an encrypted form of your email address strictly for matching purposes, both internally and externally. We only want to communicate with you if you want to hear from us. All email messages we send will contain Unsubscribe and Manage Preferences links in the footer of each email, which you can use to control what type of email messages you receive. In order to provide you with all relevant content for our brand(s) with which you have interest and to give you the greatest degree of control over what type of messages you receive, your email address may exist on multiple lists. Taking action using the Unsubscribe link will suppress you from a single list for that type of content (ex: Editorial, Sponsored or Consumer Marketing). For this reason, if you want to stop receiving all email messages from a Bonnier brand, using the Manage Preferences link from the email footer may be a more appropriate option. You may also use the Manage Preferences link to receive other content types, update your personal information or sign up for emails from other Ghids Media brands.
Questions, Concerns, and Complaints
If you have any questions or concerns about this Policy, or if you think that we have used your personal information in a manner inconsistent with this Policy, please contact us by mail or email: Data Protection Office Ghids Media Corporation 11007 Griffing Blvd. Miami, FL33161 [email protected] If we receive a complaint from you, we will contact you in an attempt to address your concerns. If we are not able to resolve a complaint, we will participate in appropriate independent recourse mechanisms as necessary. Boats Guide Florida, Usa Onboard, Alma Magazine, Alma Miami and Ghids are Trademarks of Ghids Media Corp.

GHIDS MEDIA CORP & USA ONBOARD

Website And Web Application
Terms and conditions

USA ONBOARD is a media owned by GHIDS MEDIA CORP.

These terms and conditions (“Agreement”) set forth the general terms and conditions of your use of the BoatsGuideFlorida.com website (“Website”), “BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA” mobile application (“Mobile Application”), UsaOnboard.com website (“Website”), and any of their related products and services (collectively, “Services”). This Agreement is legally binding between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and GHIDS MEDIA CORP (doing business as “BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA”, USA ONBOARD, “we”, “us” or “our”). If you are entering into this agreement on behalf of a business or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity to this agreement, in which case the terms “User”, “you” or “your” shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with the terms of this agreement, you must not accept this agreement and may not access and use the Services. By accessing and using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. You acknowledge that this Agreement is a contract between you and BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA & USA ONBOARD even though it is electronic and is not physically signed by you, and it governs your use of the Services.

Accounts and membership

If you create an account on the Services, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with it. We may monitor and review new accounts before you may sign in and start using the Services. Providing false contact information of any kind may result in the termination of your account. You must immediately notify us of any unauthorized uses of your account or any other breaches of security. We will not be liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions. We may suspend, disable, or delete your account (or any part thereof) if we determine that you have violated any provision of this Agreement or that your conduct or content would tend to damage our reputation and goodwill. If we delete your account for the foregoing reasons, you may not re-register for our Services. We may block your email address and Internet protocol address to prevent further registration.

User content

We do not own any data, information or material (collectively, “Content”) that you submit on the Services in the course of using the Service. You shall have sole responsibility for the accuracy, quality, integrity, legality, reliability, appropriateness, and intellectual property ownership or right to use of all submitted Content. We may monitor and review the Content on the Services submitted or created using our Services by you. You grant us permission to access, copy, distribute, store, transmit, reformat, display and perform the Content of your user account solely as required for the purpose of providing the Services to you. Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, we have the right, though not the obligation, to, in our own sole discretion, refuse or remove any Content that, in our reasonable opinion, violates any of our policies or is in any way harmful or objectionable. You also grant us the license to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish or distribute the Content created by you or stored in your user account for commercial, marketing or any similar purpose.

Billing and payments

You shall pay all fees or charges to your account in accordance with the fees, charges, and billing terms in effect at the time a fee or charge is due and payable. Where Services are offered on a free trial basis, payment may be required after the free trial period ends, and not when you enter your billing details (which may be required prior to the commencement of the free trial period). If auto-renewal is enabled for the Services you have subscribed for, you will be charged automatically in accordance with the term you selected. If, in our judgment, your purchase constitutes a high-risk transaction, we will require you to provide us with a copy of your valid government-issued photo identification, and possibly a copy of a recent bank statement for the credit or debit card used for the purchase. We reserve the right to change products at any time. We also reserve the right to refuse any order you place with us. We may, in our sole discretion, limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, per household or per order. These restrictions may include orders placed by or under the same customer account, the same credit card, and/or orders that use the same billing and/or shipping address. In the event that we make a change to or cancel an order, we may attempt to notify you by contacting the e-mail and/or billing address/phone number provided at the time the order was made.

Accuracy of information

Occasionally there may be information on the Services that contains typographical errors, inaccuracies or omissions that may relate to availability, promotions and offers. We reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions, and to change or update information or cancel orders if any information on the Services or Services is inaccurate at any time without prior notice (including after you have submitted your order). We undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify information on the Services including, without limitation, pricing information, except as required by law. No specified update or refresh date applied on the Services should be taken to indicate that all information on the Services or Services has been modified or updated.

Third party services

If you decide to enable, access or use third party services, be advised that your access and use of such other services are governed solely by the terms and conditions of such other services, and we do not endorse, are not responsible or liable for, and make no representations as to any aspect of such other services, including, without limitation, their content or the manner in which they handle data (including your data) or any interaction between you and the provider of such other services. You irrevocably waive any claim against BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA with respect to such other services. BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA is not liable for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with your enablement, access or use of any such other services, or your reliance on the privacy practices, data security processes or other policies of such other services. You may be required to register for or log into such other services on their respective platforms. By enabling any other services, you are expressly permitting BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA to disclose your data as necessary to facilitate the use or enablement of such other service.

Backups

We perform regular backups of the Website and its Content and will do our best to ensure completeness and accuracy of these backups. In the event of the hardware failure or data loss we will restore backups automatically to minimize the impact and downtime.

Advertisements

During your use of the Services, you may enter into correspondence with or participate in promotions of advertisers or sponsors showing their goods or services through the Services. Any such activity, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such activity, is solely between you and the applicable third party. We shall have no liability, obligation or responsibility for any such correspondence, purchase or promotion between you and any such third party.

Links to other resources

Although the Services may link to other resources (such as websites, mobile applications, etc.), we are not, directly or indirectly, implying any approval, association, sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation with any linked resource, unless specifically stated herein. Some of the links on the Services may be “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, BOATS GUIDE FLORIDA will receive an affiliate commission. We are not responsible for examining or evaluating, and we do not warrant the offerings of, any businesses or individuals or the content of their resources. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the ac