In case you haven't been following the news, about 11.5M documents were leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which detailed the shady business of offshore accounts, hidden wealth, and shell companies. Many high-level politicians, businessmen, and celebrities worldwide were named and scandal after scandal popped up. Because "Mossack Fonseca" is a clumsy name — I'm going to forget it the moment I finish this post — the leak was dubbed "the Panama Papers" since the company was based there. Literally everyone referred to it as that: "Panama-Papiere," "documents panaméens," "papeles de Panama," "パナマ文書," even fucking Latin.

Turns out one place wasn't happy about it, and it's Panama.

When I first initially read about this I thought the Panamanians were overreacting, but then again what else do they have? What is it known for? There's the canal. Jungles. Street gangs. Uhhhh... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

I guess if your claim to fame is a canal that wasn't even built by your country, you'd be a little touchy that the only other thing people can list is your status as a tax haven. And I suppose if Mossack Fonseca were based in say Delaware instead and the leak was known internationally as "the US Papers," that'd be pretty weird to read as an American, although if it did happen on our shores, our news organizations would probably create some snappy term that the rest of the world would follow. Panama doesn't have that luxury. If their papers desperately call this "the Leaked Papers" scandal, no one is going to listen. Living in an important country and in an important city, it's hard for me to relate to this. It doesn't just apply to Panama. Even in the United States places like West Virginia or Idaho are sensitive because they've been in the shadow of bigger players for so long. It's gotta be unsettling to wake up one morning to find the entire world is talking about you, and it's saying that shitty things are happening in your home.

We definitely need to come up with a better word than "Panamanians."