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Any anti-American lie, in Brazil, even an absurd one, is immediately
taken as pure truth. Any
pro-American word I write is at once
explained as the work of a professional liar "sponsored by Wall
Street".
Can't Americans say a single word
in defense of themselves in the Brazilian press?
By
Olavo de Carvalho
Brazilian anti-Americanism is turning into furious rage, and nobody in Washington seems to be conscious of it. I am
tired of being the ONLY pro-American columnist in the main Brazilian media and suffering attacks and death threats for it,
while Americans themselves don't care in the least about what is happening here. A message signed by João Pedro Stédile, the leader of the "landless" movement, spreads all over the internet the
"news" that Americans have been incessantly bombing Iraq with biological weapons for the last eight years—and nobody
contradicts him. Every big Brazilian newspaper says Americans are only fighting for oil, and nobody contradicts them.
Tons of pictures showing George W. Bush with a Hitler-style mustache reach every Brazilian mailbox, but no message
against Saddam Hussein is seen anywhere except in my own electronic newspaper
www.midiasemmascara.org and a few other
sites owned by my friends. Any anti-American lie, even an absurd one, is immediately taken for granted as pure truth. Any pro-American word I
write is at once explained as the work of a professional liar "sponsored by Wall Street". My personal situation is the best
symbol of the Brazilian state of affairs.
Hundreds of powerful NGOs have millions of dollars (even from the Ford
Foundation) to spend on anti-American propaganda, but the only Brazilian
journalist who fights against them, with his own personal resources, with no American or
local support, is accused of being "sponsored" by Wall Street, the CIA or the Pentagon. My life is turning into a Franz Kafka
novel. If I believed in reincarnation I would choose to be born again as a communist or a radical anti-Zionist. That's the best of
lives for a Brazilian. Is it really impossible for American conservatives to take into account what is happening here? Is the Latin American
"Little Axis of Evil" so unimportant for you? Is it really impossible for Americans to say a single word in defense of themselves
in the Brazilian press? Don't you really have an Embassy here, or is it too busy pampering Lula to find time to do
something good for the USA? Are pro-American Brazilians such contemptible people, from both American and Brazilian points of
view, that they should never be believed at all?
Olavo de Carvalho is a philosopher and the author of several books, including
O Imbecil Coletivo: Atualidades Inculturais Brasileiras
(1996) and O Futuro do Pensamento
Brasileiro - Estudos sobre o Nosso Lugar no Mundo
(1997). He writes for three very influential dailies in Brazil:
Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo (from Rio) and
Zero Hora (from Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul). His articles can be found at
www.olavodecarvalho.org and
www.midiasemmascara.org The author welcomes comments at
lumen@openlink.com.br
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