And now this break from my fandom chatter to say something really important ...
Here I am supposed to be all wrapped up in my own country’s political problems and stressing over our mid-term elections, and all I could do today was watch coverage of the Brazilian voting results analysis and listen to pundits talk about the possibility of Jair Bolsonaro rising to power.
Honestly, it hurts my stomach to see so many nations in the world giving over to authoritarian regimes. I’m not one to wax hyperbole about the fate of a nation, and I’m not even worried about mine -- It’s always been horrible here for one group or another. So much so I think some of us are numb to our own disenfranchisement. -- but I’m really afraid for Brazil and what a Bolsonaro presidency would bring.
You’re talking about a man and his followers who think Brazil was better off under a military dictatorship that resulted in thousands of people being killed. And the saddest part? Unlike the UK, Canada, and the US, many of Bolsonaro’s followers and supporters of far-right policies and ideals are their youngest voters.
That’s right. Jair Bolsonaro has a huge following among the 20-something voting block. People too young to remember what that military dictatorship was like, even though it lasted well into the 1980s.
This shit is really scary. And not because John Oliver said so. (I can’t stand that guy anyway.) The swing to right-wing authoritarian governments around the world is pervasive in a way far more unsettling than our new perjuring sex offender on the Supreme Court. This is a world where we’re pushing 7.5 billion people, and the wealthy elite are in fear of an uprising of the poor that will create a class war they know they cannot win. So they’re making their last power grab before the next global financial disaster hits, and the poor will be too weak to assemble. I wish this was my imagination, but sadly, it isn’t.
Shit, even Germany has seen a rebirth of the Nazi movement in the last year. In Germany. Where it’s illegal to even make jokes about the Holocaust. Unfortunately, it’s kind of expected though given the rise of Pegida.
I don’t know. It’s like the world decided to ignore everything history ever taught us, and all the inmates are now running the asylum.
