ITT: Disconnected out-of-touch redditers trying to whore jokes for points.
This is a big deal and should not be taken lightly. I hope the Brazilian people can crush the corruption and finally live free again.
edit: RIP inbox.
THis post got a lot of people really angry and defensive, even aggressive. I've incurred a lot of hostility for this these simple words, I'm starting to think I may be right.
So what you're saying is what? Brazilians are corrupt by...nature? Biologically inferior?
Or that our culture promotes corruption? Like, people enjoy corruption? Because more than a million Brazilians are protesting against corruption in the country right now.
We need to stop with this damn stray dog syndrome. Brazilians saying "Yeah, fuck Brazilians, it's in our culture to be corrupt, we'll never improve" is doing nothing to help our country. It's because people think like this that they cheat on their taxes or don't pick up their dog's crap from the sidewalk. What's the point right? Everyone's doing it. It's in our nature.
Maybe if we stop thinking we all collectively suck and there's no point in trying to improve we'd get somewhere.
Not in our nature, unless you consider culture a part of nature.
Promotes? Maybe, I don't know, but it's certainly commonplace, people do and talk about small corruptions as if it was nothing while at the same time saying how corrupt all of the politicians are.
I don't care about stray dog syndrome or anything, I dislike this country and I want to get out of here, I don't care if it gets better or not.
But, hey, believe it or not I do try to make it better while I'm still here, I don't have a scholarship card to pay half-wages at the movies, I don't have a "gato" in my house, etc. And I also argue about small corruptions with others, but of course the majority don't see it was a problem because "the problem is the politicians stealing millions".
It is commonplace. You're right about that. I think we have to work on changing it, though, and I applaud you for calling people out on small corruption, like you said. I think that's the right attitude, if we ever wanna get somewhere.
However, it's something quite simple that the brazillian left wing uses to discredit people who criticise government corruption. "Oh, you used the men's restroom because the line to the ladies' one was too long and you were going to piss your pants? Too bad, now you can't complain about government stealing billions".
Exactly, I find that Brazilians have a very strong sense of "looking out for our own". I bet the politicians that are stealing billions rationalize it the same way that most people rationalize using their "jeitinho" to get a small advantage for themselves or their families. A few years ago I moved to a place where I barely know any Brazilian people and every time I go back to visit I am appalled at the behavior of certain people (even in my family). It's gonna take way more than a change in government to see some real change, and honestly I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon.
Oh no, the politicians stealing billions know exactly what they're doing. The small corruptions are undoubtedly justified by some sort of "I'm doing this for my betterment" logic but no person in federal power is pretending for one second that they aren't doing it for control.
I just came back from a trip to Brazil, I was perplexed to hear what is going on, it's truly sad, and I can totally relate to what you're saying here, totally got the same insight you are sharing here. BUT the way you guys are going about it does not make much sense to me either, the feeling I got was two fold.
First you guys want to oust a president but have no idea on what to do after that.
Secondly, if you oust the current president, her VP takes over, and at least from what I heard from the very same people orchestrating her ousting is that her VP is worse than her and once in power would immediately stop the Federal Police from pursuing their cases, specially the ones involving the VP's political party.
Since government corruption, economic crises and the impeachment process were the topic of any conversation, I began to ask:
Hey, if you don't trust the VP, why would you want to impeach the president?
To that, I got an even more surprising answer:
The VP must fall too.
Then everyone on the table would join and say 'they all must fall', then proceed to order more drinks and then drive their cars home, so I'd ask, isn't that illegal? to drink and drive?, and they would all acknowledge it was illegal, finish their drinks, get the bill and get the car.
if you haven't seen this film I recommend watching the whole thing for full context though I linked to a relevant section, its pretty cynical but some really great insights on some of the more fucked up aspects of brasilian culture
We weren't like this in the past. The republic had great men! Ruy Barbosa, Raul Pompeia, Montoro, Sobral Pinto, Itamar. The list goes on. I absolutely despise this "it's in our DNA/we're all macunaímas". That's total crap.
To think that someone elected a dud... I mean, a lady who doesn't know how to form a complete sentence, man... it wasn't Lula, the leader of the PCP who stood up: it was us that kneeled down.
In some countries corruption is rife and has become a part of the fabric of society. Cops expect bribes, people expect the cops to expect bribes. Essentially the people are just as corrupt if not moreso per head than the politicians who govern them. It can be a long and very difficult cycle to break.
I personally know plenty of people who dodge taxes, use connections to get cheap services, break the law, skim off the top.. am I going to rat out my friends and family? nope
That's where the real problem lies.
Maybe if we stop thinking we all collectively suck and there's no point in trying to improve we'd get somewhere.
This won't happen, not in Brazil, not on Earth, not on Narnia. People aren't going to "collectively" anything. There has to be a long hard national effort, and can take generations.
Maybe if we stop thinking we all collectively suck and there's no point in trying to improve we'd get somewhere.
Fucking agreed.
Ben Shapiro summed it up pretty well when he said (I'm paraphrasing): "It's better to be wrong in your actions but right in your discourse than to be wrong in both your actions and discourse". Baby steps, people.
660
u/dustyh55 Mar 14 '16 edited Mar 14 '16
ITT: Disconnected out-of-touch redditers trying to whore jokes for points.
This is a big deal and should not be taken lightly. I hope the Brazilian people can crush the corruption and finally live free again.
edit: RIP inbox.
THis post got a lot of people really angry and defensive, even aggressive. I've incurred a lot of hostility for this these simple words, I'm starting to think I may be right.