What do you think?
Feb 06
Brazil Without Make-up
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Momma, Wife, Woman, ex-Pat, American, Brazilian at heart, cranky, Sassy, Ridiculous... I'm just a big old mixing pot living life in Rio de Janeiro.
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13 comments
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Karina
February 6, 2013 at 6:25 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I liked it
John Girouard
February 6, 2013 at 6:31 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I agree with Karina!
Tom Le Mesurier
February 6, 2013 at 7:34 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
There are some people here who seem to be just waiting for a chance to complain about things (check the comments section of almost every Globo article), but this guy made some very good points. Well said.
Tom Le Mesurier
February 6, 2013 at 7:47 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
By “some people here” I mean “in Brazil”, not on Rachel’s Rantings!
Ray
February 6, 2013 at 9:36 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I don’t know why, but despite what Tom said, that this guy make a few good points, (and he really does, I agree).
I still have the urge to punch him right in the face!!!!
Ray
Ray
February 6, 2013 at 9:37 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
The guy from the video, (NOT YOU TOM) lol…
Ray
Nicole
February 6, 2013 at 10:45 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Great example of the `rir para nao chorar` mentality.
This `image` of Brazil and of Rio is one of the things that annoys me most about this time of the year. The city is over run with tourist who believe all the propaganda to be true.
Just yesterday I met a couple from the US who were totally floundering in their attempt to purchase and activitate a chip at Lojas Americanas, so I helped them. Of course, once they found out I live here came that tiring question/comment `Isn`t living here amazing! It must be a dream.`
Actually…it is REALITY with plenty of ups and PLENTY of downs.
While, I don`t know of anywhere in the world that does live up to such a `marvelous` reputation, Rio does seem to have a specialy knack for sweeping all the unpleasantries under the rug. This guy does a nice job of uncovering it without being too harsh.
The Gritty Poet
February 7, 2013 at 7:44 am (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Boiling it down:
The narrator (Rafael) states that the street sweeper appearing in Brazil’s London olympics presentation makes Usd 360 a month. He then implies that because of this it is hypocritical to feature him dancing and looking all happy in said presentation.
I think he should ask the sweeper why he dances during carnival float intermissisions in the Sambadrome. Dances while sweeping actually. Maybe Usd 360 is a big improvement in that person’s standard of living (plus the 13th salary and paid vacation). For many people of meager qualifications, which is probably his case, it may be the first time they have ever attained such benefits along with a steady paycheck. It certainly isn’t the best of worlds but to imply that it is an act of hypocrisy to invite him to London and have him be a part of the presentation is a bit outlandish I think. From what I understood he became a celebrity because of his “sweep dance” and given that the presentation includes dancing then the question should be why not invite him?
The narrator then sheds light on what he thinks is incoherent: displaying a goddess (Iemanja) of an Afro-Brazilian religion while denouncing that those who practice said religion suffer discrimination. I think this would make sense if they were subjected to official state discrimination; but they are not. The only part of his argumentation that could make sense is the whole police storming a ceremony and beating up the worshipers, but he does not point to a source. We don’t even know, considering for a moment that it did happen for argument’s sake, if the police weren’t just carryng out an eviction order and things got a bit out of hand. Or not. Who knows. The whole Catholics and Evangelicals positioning themselves against the Afro-Brazilian religions is irrelevant. Hell they even bicker among themselves and both are Christian. The question is does the law of the land allow any of these religions to intimidate the African-Brazilians ones in any form. And the answer is no. The fact that an African goddess was featured in an officially sanctioned Brazilian Olympic Comittee presentation perhaps could have provided the narrator a clue regarding this. And for a country like Brazil, which like the rest of Latin America has long been obsessed in displaying only their European elements (Hello Argentina) and sweep their native and/or African elements under the rug it sure is a step foward to feature Iemenja to the rest of the world in a stage of such visibility, especially given the long lasting aristocratic nature of the Brazilian Oympic Comittee. It is an entity which I think should be more transparent about their expenses, but the narrator criticizes them for doing something that I consider to be postive.
I agree with the Indian museum removal critique. I don’t think the nature of the museum is relevant though – as he tries to stress by juxtaposing the planned demolition to the indians dancing during the ceremony. To me if the museum was really included in the project that won the bid then the government is trying to pull a fast one. And that is the problem. Perhaps the parking lot is really necessary and will bring greater long term benefits compensating the cost of relocating the museum, and a public school according to the narrator. The fact that this was not planned from the beginning though makes me doubt it: how can something be improved without proper planning?
The biggest critique to be made though, in my opinion, is the lack of economic literature indicating that hosting an event like the olympics brings any long term and sustained economic benefits to the populace. I’d rather see that money set aside for scholarships for instance. I find the certain youth, like a daughter of a guy like that dancing street sweeper, have a hard time transitioning from High School to higher education because they can’t afford to take 6 to 12 months off after graduation to study and have a fighting chance when taking the university entrance exam. Or perhaps invest the money in technical schools, or something of that nature. After all isn’t the olympics just money splurged on throwing a party for the rest of the world? And if so isn’t that the real obscenity?
Nicole
February 7, 2013 at 11:23 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
@Gritty post – the Afro-Brazilian ban occurs ALL THE TIME, at least in Rio. The mayor, Eduardo Paes, refuses to grant public use permits to Afro-Brazilian religious groups, but grants them routinely to evangelical groups.
A few weeks ago, for example, on an afro-Brazilian religious holiday, an small organized prayer circle was arranged in the Garota de Ianema park. At the same time, there was a very loud evangelical `concert` complete with stage on the Arpoador beach. Neither had permits. The Guarda Municipal was ordered in to `remove by force` the Afro-Brazilian group but ordered to leave the evangelicals alone (they give large payoffs and campaign contributions to the right people, so they are above the law).
My husband was off duty, so he taped his coworkers obeying orders. The commanders of the GM are 90% hardcore evangelicals as is most of the prefeitura and even talking about Kardecismo (let alone Umbanda) is enough to get you transferred off to somewhere miserable like Paqueta or Bangu. The way they are forced to treat certain religious groups and give all sorts of preferances to others is a widespread by silent complaint among members of the security forces (GM, PM, Policia Civil) but they can`t really voice it because of fear of retaliation.
The Gritty Poet
February 9, 2013 at 3:09 am (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I was not aware of this. Thanks for the info.
Tracy
February 8, 2013 at 9:49 am (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Muito bom! I loved his sense of humor about it, like Nicole said, “rir para nao chorar.”
Tiffany
February 13, 2013 at 11:30 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I cannot comment much on what he said because I was thinking the whole time, “Man, he sounds like Derek Zoolander!”
The Gritty Poet
February 15, 2013 at 7:11 pm (UTC 3) Link to this comment
LOL. Here is the narrator meeting with a Rio city official who tries to dissuade him from protesting against the removal of the Indian museum by offering to build an educational venue in return.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ-8IuUkJJc