What does a "sala de despiece" mean?
El País: Washington al desnudo
They reference it in the above article, and I translate it as the "cutting room," but do they mean "cutting room" as in sort of like the editing room of a newspaper (which would then be a reference to where US political decisions take place)? or am I interpreting this incorrectly?
1 Answer
El canciller Bismarck justificó la necesidad de mantener a los ciudadanos alejados del proceso político con el argumento de que los ciudadanos querían comer salchichas, pero no saber cómo se hacían. Gracias a Wikileaks, hemos entrado en la sala de despiece del Departamento de Estado estadounidense y hemos tenido la oportunidad de ver cómo se manufacturan los diferentes productos y cómo se adaptan a los diferentes mercados (amigos, enemigos, amigos de mis enemigos, enemigos de mis amigos, etcétera).
Looking at the analogy of "wanting to eat sausages, but not know how they are made" I would guess that "la sala de despiece" refers to the cutting room where butchered meat is cut up rather than an editing room. At least, when I googled la sala de despiece that is what all of the sites that I found concerned.
I find the analogy between the making of sausages and how they are processed to how the U.S. State Department operates be a very clever one. especially the comment about how no one wants to be concerned about how they accomplish their end product.
