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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023

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For those who remember the brazillian election last year, today pro-bolsonaro supporters have invaded the supreme court, congress and presidential palace (easier here since all are close to each other). I don't expect any politician to die, since they all leave on the weekend, but there will be probably more deaths than in january 6th.

For those interested in shenanigans like the shaman QAnon shaman, one particularly disliked judge (Alexandre de Moraes) had his door stolen.

I’ll be honest I would love to see bigger write ups on wtf is going on in Brazil from someone whose not msm to indoctrinated.

The crowds do seem quite large especially since isn’t their capital far from population centers?

My only hot take is the obvious if it were left wing protestors then these people would be participating in Democracy and getting their voices heard. But since the color coded red tribe they are fascists destroying Democracy.

I guess I ally with Bolsonaro because I’m told he is my tribe. So I hope e these protests work out.

Interesting article indeed. A pity that so many rightish leaders don't have any constructive ambitions, ways to create strong networks of support. I get the sense that when they're talking about the Brazilian left being 'patrimonial' and using 'cordiality', the right would just be corrupt for money's sake.

The mechanics are the same, though. It's an irregular verb. I am 'patrimonial', you are known for financial irregularities, he is in prison for corruption!

The left finds ways to fund all kinds of lobby groups, protestors, civil society organizations, academics:

The PT’s ability to build a wide coalition with a variety of churches, community centers, labor organizations, social movements, and intellectual currents stems from this very fact. Its ability to navigate the juridicismo of Brasilia’s ruling class and deftly nudge it to one side is the result of this deeply Brazilian instinct. Bolsonaro’s classical liberalism and the reduction of clientelism by scaling back the state runs counter to the social expectations of the Northeast.

I'm sure this is one of the many things that Lee Kuan Yew did excellently, he could find ways to ensure his electoral opponents were suppressed, even legal ways.

Or Lee Kuan Yew governed a largely Han Chinese society that is high trust, high IQ, and obedient. And Brazil isn’t that.

Eh, the West is also fairly high trust and high IQ, if less obedient. Yet the paragraph I quoted also rings true here. We have the state-sponsored or state-supported Blob of NGOs, intellectuals, media and so on. The left finds ways to create jobs for their supporters, ways to give them influence so they can support their patrons. And they face ostensively right-wing classical liberals who don't patronize their supporters in the same way.

I suppose I was thinking of times Lee Kuan Yew found some legal issues with his opponents, lawfaring them into the ground. That's not quite the same thing of course, though I'm confident he enjoyed the 'cordiality' of Singaporean judges. Meanwhile, the right in the West is regularly rebuked by the judiciary, the cordiality is on the other side.