| blog_sibylla (English version) - by Simone Campos |
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New novel Don't bother to buy any of it, it's all in Portuguese. |
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Bygones |
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More of the same |
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A Brazilian is never distracted and therefore commits no such thing as a Freudian slip. A Brazilian can’t do more than the very thing they assigned themselves to do, should it be “do this little work then spend the rest of the day chatting up babes at Orkut”. It’s like they had no subconscious mind, but the truth is worse: they have no super-ego. They’ll do exactly as their ego wishes. They’ll cheat their wifes first chance, they’ll kill harmless puppies, they’ll try to bail out of the lightest obligation. Then again, if anything of it comes to public, they’ll deny it fiercely, because the little super-ego we could amass is a collective one. Everyone pretends not to do just like the pointed out scapegoat of the hour and frowns at him - the press, corrupted as it is, is included in this number. That indignation is so carefully faked for the same reason for which we have no super-ego: Brazilian people act outward-mindedly all the time. As Brazilian are always looking at other people and worrying about what others will think, they never take the time to look inside or share a moment with themselves; all they want is party party party. Out out out. That makes us shallow – not really in the evil sense, but in the pathetic sense -, defenseless to consumerism, always embarking on the next road trip to nowhere (see “Second life fiasco” for details). Also on the pathetic side, we should point out the Brazilian gloominess. The “underdog complex” as named by Nelson Rodrigues is merely a manifestation of it. “Tristeza não tem fim/felicidade sim” [The sorrow never ends/ but happiness does], a samba by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, translates very well this mental atmosphere. The thing is, not so long ago we were not as cornfed or as pretty as the people we saw on films, advertising and, later, on TV – foreign people, or rare Brazilian who showed a foreign, white, agreeable complexion (remember that "outwardliness"? It also applies at a country-to-country level...) When we entered the football field, us scrawny latinos, felt that we were no match for those big blond athletes – up to 1958, even with our great football, we hadn't won our first Cup. That Brazilian facet is changing, though, because we were taught by many years of military dictatorship (and by the left-winged intelligentsia as well), as well as by five Football Cups won (believe me, that’s critical), that we are not that bad. As often happens in “morale boosting” movements, this motto soon turned to unabashed pride, the kind that proclaims us a “potentate” while toothless illiterate kids still roam our city streets and peasants still starve in the remotest regions. The gloominess now expresses itself in the form of an aggressive, spoiled-child-like mindset that ranges from the poorest strats of society to the elite. Everybody wants it their way and they want it now. So yes, it’s looking bad. I think someday I'll have to bail out too - on trying to fix this place. link to this post ~ 8:43 PM |
| blog_sibylla (English version) - by Simone Campos |
|
New novel Don't bother to buy any of it, it's all in Portuguese. |
|
Bygones |
|
More of the same |