The disease of offense

Suddenly, we have Covid outbreaks. The unusual deviation comes and goes like a boomerang. When it seems controlled, it assaults us again, despite vaccines, isolation measures, masks, and bouts of bad temper. We are a country with rare disputes, and we weren't used to this. Nobody likes social pathologies. And it's not the only one that afflicts us. In the midst of our confusion, we have developed a new peculiarity: the disease of offense. It has to do, of course, with whoever occupies the seat of the highest authority. They cannot tolerate disagreements over ideological conceptions without offending adversaries, as we witness in televised debates between candidates. For, by a current that advances through the electric wires of behavior, we allow ourselves to be contaminated, little by little, by this new pleasure, that of attacking contemporaries, wounding them through moral values ​​as if, in this way, we could overthrow them. 

In Qatar, during the World Cup, this is what happened to our beloved Gilberto Gil. A man of his stature, a composer of extraordinary talent as he is, would anywhere else be the target of tributes, ceremonies of respect in the Pantheon of notables of the past, present, and future. Instead, he was surrounded by a group of violent people who chose him as their victim. They crowned the scene with an inappropriate and stupid "son of a bitch!", out of place and out of time. With the elegance that always distinguished him, Gil simply remained silent, he did not react to the provocations. The repercussions of the events, taking the community by surprise, reached all corners of the planet. This was not a trivial incident to be swept under the rug at the first opportunity. It was something of greater importance, significant of our current moment, to be considered and, if possible, corrected with determination. 

Gil's aggressors are not alone. Jair Bolsonaro himself joins them in his loser's intemperance, calling Lula dishonest, when he knows perfectly well that Lula was nothing more than a victim of a biased judge working with right-wing political projects. Other followers imitate the master. We have already seen congresswoman Carla Zambelli, chasing after an adversary, gun in hand, threatening and insulting him. She is a talented imitator, perhaps flirting with the idea of ​​replacing the boss in leading her factions. But there are others, those who have learned to annihilate contemporaries within the norms of the disease, once it has taken hold badly, and allow themselves to be contaminated, like those who contract leprosy or tuberculosis. Everything goes so far because of the resentment and bitterness over a poorly digested defeat, still stuck in the stomach. 

Gil was right. The only way to confront this war with the antidote of peace is to rely on the principles of civility. Education, respect for others, care and solidarity with the humble, if they don't defeat the bacteria, make the ongoing perversion less harsh and cruel. Indeed, the last elections weren't about defeating an alternative proposal. They were about correcting and overcoming a project. We had already drunk overflowing cups of misfortune. Now we desire vaccines, to take hunger off the streets and cultivate sensitivity; if possible, to restore the lost civility in the name of a tolerant and fraternal Brazil.