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A long time ago, shortly before the Pan-American Games of 2007 here in Rio de Janeiro, there was this "controversy" which became bigger than it should. People got outraged for something incredibly insignificant. Here's what happened: as the international delegations were arriving and getting ready for the games, a staffer for the American delegation wrote in a whiteboard "Welcome to the Congo!" at their staying place.
That's it.
His explanation - that to me, felt logical - was that it was very hot, and he wanted to make a creative remark about it: if you've ever expended a summer in Rio, you know this is not so far from the truth. He didn't mean to insult our country or our culture in any way; I don't have any proof he didn't have second intentions, but it's not likely for someone to go into other people's country insulting everyone around. But Brazilians took that way out of context, believing the man to be a bigoted redneck. They were so sure the guy didn't mean well that they took offence even with a bug spray that was over his table - it wasn't mosquito season, this guy is ignorant! Well... yes. He was. How could he know when it is mosquito season in a foreign country?
People took their pitchforks and torches, demanding apologies, explanations and guarantees. Eventually, the man was ostracised and expelled back to America - it was sincerely not safe for him to stay around. All of this turmoil for making a joke, apparently without knowing how prone to be offended Brazilians are. And in the meanwhile, nobody even thought about how the Congolese would take this outrage: however insulted they might have been didn't matter, but it matters a lot that one unimportant American thought Brazil is as hot as Congo.
Afterwards, some years later, there was a Law & Order episode in which Rio would have involved itself in a plot of money and murder to host the Olympic Games in 2016. A mere work of fiction, no more true than the OTPs you see here in DeviantArt. And people went crazy angry, more than they would if a child here got killed by a stray bullet (seriously). And don't get me started when Robin Williams joked about how Rio got the Olympic Games: people here were so mad with the pun that they were seriously contemplating suing the guy. For what? For making a joke in his own country? It almost reminds me of when North Korea demanded a barbershop in the UK to stop mocking Kim Jong-un's haircut last year. We learned nothing.
I remember these "outraging" stories thanks to a YouTube video in which two former Disney World employees mocked Brazilian stereotypes who visit the park. As you would guess, the video was overwhelmed with dislikes, and both comedians were accused of being racist, ignorant, bigoted and other angry terms. And I am outraged, alright... by how Brazilians can be so butthurt, without any sense of humour whatsoever. Brazilians at the internet began assaulting the duo for making comedy of whatever they wanted. And yet, I bet half a month ago, these same offended Brazilians were trending #JeSuisCharlie, apparently without knowing exactly what it stood for. It seems to me that Brazilians can make fun of anyone, including themselves, but other cultures - specially Americans - are not allowed to do the same.
Of course there is good humour and the there's bad humour, and some jokes can be condescending, mean and anything but funny. But in the end, the video was an exaggerated demonstration of Brazilian tourists that do exist: euphoric people with a certain sense of entitlement. And instead of absorbing anything from that work of comedy, Brazilians basically called a fatwa on the duo, and this is terrible for our reputation: it paints us as childish brats who can't take any criticism or jest whatsoever. This backlash was much worst to our reputation than the actual video.
Brazilians are some of the most sensitive people in the world. Whereas Australians, the Japanese, the Swedish and even Americans learned to live with the stereotypes the rest of the world bestowed upon them, we seem not to accept jokes of any kind. Before our recent World Cup, the greatest "internet outrage" was when members of an Australian news show proved to be blatantly ignorant about the idiom we speak here in Brazil. For anyone else, that was balls-out hilarious, but many Brazilians got angry at the ignorance of the Aussies about our language, as if they had the obligation to know. It's almost like if we were putting ourselves in a level of superiority, as other cultures should know everything about our country. And yet, I bet half of our nation couldn't point Australia on a map. No sir, nothing revolting there.
Brazilians are some of the most sensitive people in the world. Whereas Australians, the Japanese, the Swedish and even Americans learned to live with the stereotypes the rest of the world bestowed upon them, we seem not to accept jokes of any kind. Before our recent World Cup, the greatest "internet outrage" was when members of an Australian news show proved to be blatantly ignorant about the idiom we speak here in Brazil. For anyone else, that was balls-out hilarious, but many Brazilians got angry at the ignorance of the Aussies about our language, as if they had the obligation to know. It's almost like if we were putting ourselves in a level of superiority, as other cultures should know everything about our country. And yet, I bet half of our nation couldn't point Australia on a map. No sir, nothing revolting there.
And how can I forget the whole Sean story? Anywhere else, this would be one of the most insignificant events for anyone to squander time on. But in Brazil, it was a scandal: a boy born in America was being raised - apparently illegally - by his grandmother in Brazil. His father wanted the kid back to New Jersey, and Brazilians basically got into a war with the man, declaring the boy to be a Brazilian, and that the man had "no right" to take the kid from his family. In any other place, such story would be resolved as subtly as possible, but in Brazil, it scaled into a big symbolic battle between "the righteous Brazilians" and the "evil American" who wanted to separate the boy from his loving mother-figure. The boy was used as nothing more than an excuse to "win" over America, and only those more level-headed realised the man was the kid's father, and that he was long kept by his mother-in-law from being with or even seeing his son. Now I wonder: would these people be as worked up if the man was Mexican, or Chinese, or Danish? It's not about the boy, but about the conflict with the "evil empire".
Brazilians embarrass me many times. It's a culture that demands respect and gives none. We don't want the "important countries" of the world to mock or even acknowledge our many problems. Maybe, when people criticise Brazil, this should be an opportunity for us to correct our problems, instead of pushing them under the carpet. Take a look at what happened with South Korea - after the end of the Korea War, the country was at shambles. You could safely say they were a third world country. But with their orderly resolve, they put the pieces together, and today, they are one of the greatest countries in the world. Imagine if they just cared about rebutting criticism and throwing tantrums: they would end up as... us. As it is very evident, Brazilians care very deeply about what the "big, important" countries think or say about us; Brazilians couldn't give less of a damn if the Congolese got offended by how a comparison between our land and theirs insulted us, and as a result, may end up hating us. We don't care about their outrage, but in the instant Sylvester Stallone jokes about our country, people here go bananas. We put ourselves in a place of importance that we didn't earn.
A study came out declaring that from the 50 most violent cities in the world, 19 are Brazilian. What about we start getting less butthurt about petty themes such as whatever Robin Williams said, and to embrace - and fight - our reality? When are we going to understand that the enemy is not Indonesia executing some unfortunate Brazilian, nor a New Jersey father, but ourselves? We are responsible for our own society, and today, Brazil is an absolute mess, and I see no revolt for that.
Maybe someone overseas did make a joke of bad taste about us... or maybe our bias perceive it as bad taste, and if it was towards any other country, it would be hilarious. But that seriously doesn't matter, at least no more than real problems. Don't take anything seriously that is not prejudicing your way of living.
Take actually bad things seriously.
Brazilians embarrass me many times. It's a culture that demands respect and gives none. We don't want the "important countries" of the world to mock or even acknowledge our many problems. Maybe, when people criticise Brazil, this should be an opportunity for us to correct our problems, instead of pushing them under the carpet. Take a look at what happened with South Korea - after the end of the Korea War, the country was at shambles. You could safely say they were a third world country. But with their orderly resolve, they put the pieces together, and today, they are one of the greatest countries in the world. Imagine if they just cared about rebutting criticism and throwing tantrums: they would end up as... us. As it is very evident, Brazilians care very deeply about what the "big, important" countries think or say about us; Brazilians couldn't give less of a damn if the Congolese got offended by how a comparison between our land and theirs insulted us, and as a result, may end up hating us. We don't care about their outrage, but in the instant Sylvester Stallone jokes about our country, people here go bananas. We put ourselves in a place of importance that we didn't earn.
A study came out declaring that from the 50 most violent cities in the world, 19 are Brazilian. What about we start getting less butthurt about petty themes such as whatever Robin Williams said, and to embrace - and fight - our reality? When are we going to understand that the enemy is not Indonesia executing some unfortunate Brazilian, nor a New Jersey father, but ourselves? We are responsible for our own society, and today, Brazil is an absolute mess, and I see no revolt for that.
Maybe someone overseas did make a joke of bad taste about us... or maybe our bias perceive it as bad taste, and if it was towards any other country, it would be hilarious. But that seriously doesn't matter, at least no more than real problems. Don't take anything seriously that is not prejudicing your way of living.
Take actually bad things seriously.
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