Bolsonaro, the ex-president of Brazil is rejecting accusations thrown at him for encouraging Brasilia’s invasion and demand for military intervention while being hospitalized in Orlando, Florida. He is seeking corrective treatment for a knife wound received in his run up to the 2018 election.
By now the whole world has seen or heard about thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invading Brazil’s Planalto Palace, National Congress and Supreme Magistrates Court (STF). In a Trump style frenzy, aggressive invaders ransacked the property of the Brazilian government, pillaging artefacts and sending panic across the country. The nation is stunned by such an atrocity, and of course everyone knows who is behind it.
Some people are saying the whole affair was cheered on by Bolsonaro even though he hasn’t agreed to have his name associated with such an event. However, since he entered office in January 2019, he has created a call-to-action policy of going against the grain of the main stream by overplaying affairs. This attitude has afforded him a multitude of crowd followers rising to the occasion. Since being defeated by the new and experienced president Lula, on October 30th last year, he has not accepted the situation.
Take for example when Coronavirus arrived and lockdown started 23rd March, 2020. Soon afterwards, Bolsonaro said that Covid-19 was just a little cold, and that with his sports background he had nothing to worry about. On that occasion he didn’t show any concern for his countryfolk, apart from telling them they should continue going put to work to earn money.
At the same time, he was encouraging ordinary people to protect themselves by buying guns and stocking up on ammunition. In other words, like Trump the increased gun policy created a bunch of potential trouble makers; who could theoretically stand up for their rights like an Old West cowboy!
At such a time I couldn’t stand up to his macho image, and instead decided to stick to the World Health Organization protocol which seemed like the scientific approach to avoiding contamination and spreading the virus which at that moment was new and therefore there wasn’t enough knowledge about the consequences apart from a number of deaths occurring around the world. It needed diplomacy as opposed to pigheadedness.
His followers seem to have been blind sighted by such a leader who regularly attacked anyone who got in his way. Strange how people who perhaps could never be so strongminded, all of a sudden woke up and became argumentative once he rose by speaking out, demeaning other political leaders, and throwing his weight around like a school bully. The unusual thing is many Brazilians found his methods heartwarming.
What his fanatic supporters don’t seem to realize is by acting the way they did in Brasilia; it is setting him up for being suspended from political nomination in future elections.
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Frenzy (n) = fury, anger, turmoil, rage, fever, (ant) calmness
Ransacked (v) = looted, robbed, raided, vandalized, pillaged
Pillaging (adj) = looting, prowling, raiding, pillage, robbing
Stunned (adj) = shocked, dumbfounded, speechless, astonished
Against the grain (idiom) = different from what is normal or usual. It takes courage to go against the grain and stand up for what you believe in.
Pigheadedness (n) = stubbornness, obstinacy, mulishness, single-mindedness, inflexibility
Strongminded (adj) = determined, dogged, persevering, persistent, single-minded, tenacious, strong-willed
Demeaning (adj) = belittling, condescending, patronizing, sneering, (ant) supportive
Heartwarming (adj) = cheering, positive, encouraging, gratifying, uplifting, (ant) depressing