Maxwell Smart’s clumsiness, for instance, has been great entertainment for my elders, for me and for my children. It is hard to find a person between 2 and 90 years old who does not know Donald Duck, Superman, or Batman and Robin.

But the most unforgettable series ever delivered by universal television is The Three Stooges and their adventures. Curly, Larry, and Moe have amused millions of people around the world for decades on end.

Hispanic America is widely believed to have a tendency to mimic the First World, the results of which have never been fortunate. Very often, the products obtained are dull copies with an alien air about them, especially since the return of political populism to several countries in the region.

Argentina, in particular, cultivates the melancholic cadence typical of the sorrow expressed in tango. The beloved woman who leaves with another man, the dear mother who dies, the disloyal friend, and a harsh, unrewarding life are instances of weakness rather than artistic themes. There are not many Maxwell Smarts in Spanish-speaking popular culture. We do not laugh readily. Dick Van Dyke would not have been a success in Latin America.

This is why the media has been utterly confused by the appearance of our own Curly, Larry and Moe: we are not used to funny characters and our sense of humor is direct, almost completely devoid of irony. It is also true that, since a few decades ago, there are more and more followers of the grotesque, and more and more supporters of what is lacking in taste, indecent and vulgar.

Nevertheless, we are very much confused by the public appearances and monumental projects such as the comments and manners of the “Three Stooges” from this part of the world. Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina place themselves in the hands of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and Nestor Kirchner.

It is not a coincidence that Curly, Larry and Moe have been invented over half a century ago. Among other things, humor was, after the World Wars, harmless and simple. This is why they were born in those times. The complexity taken up by the world since then renders them highly unlikely characters in today’s context.

On the other hand, our own Three Stooges have only just emerged and with formulas that deviate systematically not only from America, but also from Chilean Bachelet’s proper sobriety or Uruguayan Tabare Vazquez’s mature leadership. And Curly, Larry and Moe from the South are equally far from Colombian Uribe’s admirable effort, from Alan Garcia, recently elected President by the Peruvian people, and even from Brazilian Lula Da Silva’s balanced moderation.

Calderon’s recent victory by a narrow margin augurs that in Mexico we will find a moderate president. Very probably, the Mexicans, who needed decades to overcome the PRI’s harmful monopoly, will persevere in their healthy determination to stay away from authoritarianism and power accumulation.

Also very probably, the ridiculous initiatives will remain exclusively on the part of the South American Three Stooges: the supranational Bolivarian armed forces; the super gas pipeline that will link four countries and the intimidating pressure on international business we will put thanks to the joint exploitation of our natural resources, following the motto “living with what is ours” in a planet that every day resembles more an integrated map.

Copies are not bad in themselves. When it comes to copying, however, it is better to copy funny characters rather than pitiful ones.

* María Zaldívar is a TV journalist from Argentina and Bachelor of Political Science (UCA, Catholic University of Argentina)

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