Honesty

 As promised in the last century, let's talk about honesty.

In the book mentioned before, honesty was mainly determined by the education someone receives of their parents/as they were growing up and the values of society today. A good example is given by the act of stealing a coke from a dorm. refrigerator and stealing money left there. People usually don`t see stealing food as something wrong, especially from a public refrigerator. "Many cokes were already stolen from me, I am just taking back what is mine from somebody else...", one may think. However, to take the money left there is something else. People feel guilty about taking cash that does not belong to them. But isn`t it stealing after all?

One point raised is that we are deeply influenced by environmental factors. It means we are more likely to steal in places where stealing is not something that bad. In Brasil, some people think that earning money at someone else misfortune or manipulation is something to be proud of. It is "free money", it is "money you earned because you are smart and the others are stupid". It is really very sad but is part of the culture for a huge percentage of the population. Here we see politicians that sign documents and later say "Ok, this signature may look like mine, but I didn't do it". We reach levels of cynicism way above everywhere else. I'll just mention some facts about Brazil and Brazilian history many people might not know:

• the "Plano Collor" - Brazil was facing a major inflation problem in the late 80's. Prices in the morning and in the sunset of the same day would be different. How do we avoid the prices from raising? We confiscate all the money from people and leave them with no more then 50 bucks on their bank accounts. Many people committed suicide because suddenly they had no money to buy medicines, to raise their children, and so on... Sollution? After several manifestations due to corruption in the government, the president was impeached.
• the "Mensalao scandal" - the ruling politic party was paying deputies an ammount of R$12.000 per month to vote for laws it was imposing. The excuse of the president? "I was not aware of what was happening". The masses accepted the excuse. So tragical, the president "even cried" in front of all people on TV. Maybe he also deserved an Oscar or something...
• the "military dictatorship" - yeah, Brazil had its Nazism. It was however not so explicit as the German model, and much of the atrocities committed are not known until today, since they are "secret military files". It is very hard for people who does not know honesty to admit their faults. In order to prevent communism and maintain "ethic and tradition", violence was used as repression. As our "best memory" of these times, the infestation of all homes with TVs that would only watch "Rede Globo" can be men, the official communications channel of the regime to all population, in order to make an optimized propaganda, along with the destruction of public education (for high schools). The public universities were not destroyed at all though, because many students fought for it.

Politics here are just a reflex of how the average Brazilian thinks and behaves. It is also a demonstration of how the monopoly of a few that lasts since colonial times still can be seen. Other important point is how the ignorance of the masses will always allow so many outrageous things to happen and remain unpunished. A civilian that does not know his rights is a civilian that will never fight the system. If a civilian can barely read, how will he know his rights?

I see the main topic of the post was practically destroyed. ;)
I wish me more luck the next time. LoL

See you.