When the Vaccine Skeptic Is Your Dad
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2021
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gustavo Arellano’s father is what he would call a ‘pandejo’ - someone who doesn't take COVID safety seriously. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Gustavo has been fighting the uphill battle to dissuade him of his skepticism. And two weeks ago, his father finally got vaccinated.
We all know a ‘pandejo.’ What can we learn from Gustavo’s relationship with his father?
Guest: Gustavo Arellano, columnist for the LA Times
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Gustavo Ariano writes for the LA Times. |
| 0:08.5 | And when I was reading his column the other day, I learned a new word, Pandejo. |
| 0:14.1 | Can you translate it for me? |
| 0:16.2 | Oh, Pandejo is the Mexican version of a COVID-Idiot. |
| 0:19.4 | A COVID-IAT? |
| 0:20.5 | Yeah. Like a COVID-Idiot? Yeah, like a COVID-I COVID-Idiot. A COVID-I-I-T? Yeah. |
| 0:21.8 | Like a COVID-Idiot? |
| 0:23.7 | Yeah, like a COVID-Idiot. |
| 0:25.0 | That word's been around. |
| 0:26.8 | So it's a portmanteau of pandemic, which, of course, we know what a pandemic is, and |
| 0:32.1 | Pendejo, which technically in Spanish means a pubic hair. |
| 0:36.6 | Oh, no. In Mexican Spanish, it means a dumbic hair. Oh, no. |
| 0:38.7 | In Mexican Spanish, it means a dumbass more than anything. |
| 0:41.9 | Like, you can say the word on the air, but you really shouldn't because it's a rude word. |
| 0:46.5 | But at the same time, it's also not like, you know, like the F word or other bad words like that. |
| 0:52.2 | So Pandéjo, to me, I'm like, this is the perfect word to use against the people who are |
| 0:58.4 | driving me the most insane nowadays, which is to say Latinos who still believe coronavirus |
| 1:03.5 | is not a thing. |
| 1:05.3 | Gustavo says this with equal parts frustration and affection, because he's got a lot of love for the Pandejos in his own life, |
| 1:13.9 | like his dad. Gustavo calls him, the king of the Pandejos. Why do you say that? |
| 1:20.1 | Well, let's see. Let's start off by what did he think of coronavirus? He didn't think it was real. |
| 1:26.1 | He then thought it was a government conspiracy. |
... |
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