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 My take on Philip Mizewski’s article "In Defense of
Brazil"
published in the June 2001 issue of Brazzil.
By Mark Eberhart
I think one point was only slightly addressed in the US vs. Brazil article, which is
vital to a complete understanding of historical differences between the US and Brazil. It
was mentioned that the US was founded by people who primarily wanted to have land and
farms to just sustain themselves. This was true for the most part, as was true that 99
percent of our ancestors were racist to some degree.
One thing you should mention, if you write about this again, is the fact that Brazil
was founded mainly by "opportunistic" people who came to reap the resources it
offered (wood & minerals). The US was mainly founded by what we might think of today
as right-wing religious zealots who were avoiding persecution in their own lands. They
came to the US with the idea of staying forever, rebuilding the society which they
probably missed very much.
Unfortunately, this was not always the case in Latin America, where trips there were
financed by governments that wanted spoils and riches brought back to them. Many Latin
American countries have been riddled with corruption since their inception due to
complacent attitudes towards efficiency in government as well as control over internal
bribes and corruption.
Although I feel much like you do—I practiced being an ex-patriot myself when I
lived most of 1999 in Porto Alegre—I feel pretty sure that our ability to have faith
in our government is due in no small part to our fight for independence (even though it
was essentially over monetary gain & taxes, which our founding fathers would be
turning over in their graves if they found out what kinds of taxes we have now). There is
an overall feeling that the US Government was and continues to be based
("loosely" is an operative word here) upon an honor system where our US
politicians receive positive feedback when they "police" one another. Our system
of checks and balances has proved to work well, in that it does not allow one arm of
government to outdo the other without first looking at who's done what. Not paying your
taxes, bribing officials and/or finding "ways" to do things in the US is
generally considered taboo and unethical.
My experience in Brazil has shown me that avoiding taxes, bribing officials and finding
jeitinhos to do stuff (like get a residential area re-zoned so you can build an
office building there, or paying a local official to "look the other way") is
quite common in Brazil. In fact, from what I saw in Brazil, there really is no underlying
thought that "I'm doing a bad thing by cheating on my taxes" or "bribing is
wrong, I won't do it". On the contrary, when faced with a situation, such as being
stopped by the police, you are simply thought of as "smart" or
"clever" if you can talk your way out with $10 or if you get lots of money back
from taxes by cheating the government. It's kind of a game people play there, it really
isn't a big deal to Brazilians.
People in Brazil have learned, over many, many years, to not rely upon the government,
due to its corruption. I believe that this corruption can be traced back to the roots of
the founding of the country. The fact that there was never a true "fight" for
independence, I think, was a detriment to Brazil and has resulted in diminished national
pride. Of the hundreds of Brazilians I've met, know and have relationships with (my wife
is Brazilian from Rio Grande do Sul), nobody seems "patriotic" about Brazil, and
will usually laugh at the concept of singing their national anthem, if they even know it.
If Brazil is going to shed it's stigmatism of being corrupt and full of problems, I
believe there needs to be a stronger movement from the people to make this happen. The
leaders of Brazil need to be more seated in honorable behavior so they can gain the trust
of the country. The controlling powers in the US fought inside US boundaries 3-4 times in
less than 100 years to maintain the nature of the country. Although underlying reasons
were due primarily to monetary reasons, the fact that people actually died to
create what Americans have is something that does not fade away fast. People tend to take
something more seriously when others have given their lives for it, this just isn't the
case in Brazil or most Latin countries, barring Cuba, which seems to be doing quite well
on its own.
Myself, I plan on retiring in Brazil; I've found the "protestant" and
"virtuous" nature of our country has created a double-edge sword. We have
incredibly high suicide rates, soaring violence, no appreciation of the word
"vacation", no sense of humor and no ability to trust others since we all have
too much to lose in the way of material possessions. We have monetary security, but no way
of enjoying it.
If we could have the American security mixed with the Brazilian attitude, then it truly
would be a perfect world ;) Until that happens (which I don't see occurring since
one always cancels out the other), we will have to continue jumping from one country to
the other, admiring how "green" the grass is on the other side. Great article!
I'm glad you wrote it...
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