*Sigh* When I have some free time, I visit Brazilian news websites. The news are always the same: some politician was caught pocketing public money (without being punished), some violent crime happened, some idiot reality show character did something, someone is striking/manifesting about something and some public tragedy happened with a lot of people complaining about their fates. Brazil in a nutshell. But last week I saw the most shocking thing I ever imagined, and it was in my home city, Porto Alegre.
Some bicyclists were all on the street in a kind of a protest ("someone is striking/manifesting about something", remember?) and this one guy just gets tired of waiting for the bikers who are blocking the street and decides to kill all of them by storming past the middle of the cyclists.
Serious.
If you have the courage, watch the video bellow, but be warned it is strong:
For me this kind of sum up the Brazilian attitude that is the root of all evil in the country: Brazilians (in general, not all) have an absolute lack of respect for others. Politicians steal because it is "no body's money", criminality happens "because I don't have opportunities, so I am going to steal from others - but I am not limited to stealing, I can kill for a simple pair of shoes, because I don't care about others", people will cut the line because they find some friend in front (not caring about those before that were waiting longer), people will make a scandal if their rights are not respected (not caring if they themselves are disrespecting the rights of everyone around) and, of course, people will be completely insane in traffic, because "the only car that matter is mine".
I don't know the background of the video, but this is what I imagined happened (as per the traditional Brazilian behavior): bikers were on the street, mostly blocking the cars. Car driver gets pissed off and starts using the horn and shouting on the window to the bikers. Bikers get pissed off and start blocking more and more that one car and start screaming back, maybe even kicking and punching the car. Then the car driver tries to make a strike with the bikers.
Brazil (Brazilians) needs a culture shift towards respecting others. In this sense, Brazilians have a lot to learn from Norwegians. Norway just doesn't happen to be a rich country. It can be a point that Norway is rich because of the natural resources (oil), but we cannot forget that Brazil is rich in resources (including oil), so are several African countries. The secret? In my opinion it is respect for the society and for others. Instead of thinking about themselves (in this case, always the shareholders of big corporations), Norwegians thought about the society. Respect is just underrated, but it the basis for a healthy world: if people respected each other, how could there be war, terrorism or crime?
Brazil never fails to disappoint me. Shame of my country. *Sigh*
very sad what happens when ppl get pissed off...I agree with how you described brazilian "lack of respect for others", I also experienced tough situations when I was living there and came to the same conclusion: people don't keep on promises, don't come to agreed meetings, all can be considered as lack of respect.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side, as you also mentioned, it is general characteristic and there are still people who don't fit it and can be real friends :)
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