Beagles, pitbulls and rottweilers

Dogs made headlines. Last week was marked by their presence in newspaper, online, and magazine headlines. First, courageous activists gave voice to man's best friend. The liberation of 178 beagles from the Royal Institute caused commotion, outrage, and surprise throughout society. And it drew attention to a subject rarely discussed in the country: can we allow the use of animals in experiments for the cosmetics industry? What happens to animals that are guinea pigs for drug testing, how are they treated?

That alone justifies the actions of dogs' best friends. And the dogs, look how spectacular marketing works, ended up on the cover of Veja magazine.

Folha de São Paulo has become known for hiring as a columnist the journalist known in the blogosphere as the "Pitbull of Veja." And he arrived showing his teeth right away.

The addition of Reinaldo Azevedo and the ubiquitous geographer Demétrio Magnoli to Folha's team of columnists has generated controversy. Many believe the newspaper has shifted to the right. But how can a newspaper that served the military regime, softened its stance on the dictatorship, published a false profile of the president of the republic, and, engaging in politics, terrified the country with a hoax about an improbable urban yellow fever epidemic, possibly go further to the right? Further to the right than that?

Anything is possible. Suzana Singer called it. The Folha's ombudswoman insinuated that Azevedo, whom she has transformed into a Rottweiler, may be being used by the newspaper to conduct experiments with the reader/voter, to test hypotheses, as Ali Kamel would say in a canine manner. Singer says that with the hiring of the new columnists, "Folha aims to become the main arena for political debate in 2014, an election year."

Well, it's not that Folha [newspaper] was lacking columnists, it has over a hundred! The thing is, Frias's newspaper published a survey conducted by Datafolha that measured the ideological profile of Brazilians, which is quite curious. And it seems that Otavinho, the baron of Barão de Limeira [street name], was thrilled with the result: 49% of the population says they are inclined towards the "values" of the right and only 30% are left-wing.

So, how come Lula and Dilma have been so unchallenged for a decade? Reinaldo Azevedo offered an answer with the title of his article published shortly after the release of the unusual ideological profile of Brazilians: "Datafolha survey: right and center-right are a relative majority in Brazil, but have no one to vote for." "Brazil is the only democracy in the world that doesn't have a viable conservative party—or, if you prefer, 'right-wing'."

So Otavinho decided to activate the Coup-Mongering Press Party. Let's remember the words of the ineffable Maria Judith Brito, president of the National Association of Newspapers and executive of Folha, stating in an interview with O Globo that "the media are in fact taking the opposition's position in this country, since the opposition is profoundly weakened."

What Folha wants is to strengthen its opposition discourse, encourage its readers/voters to show their teeth, and create an environment for opposition candidates to lose their shame in clearly positioning themselves on the right.

And Folha, cunningly, implants this discourse in certain individuals who submit to it, since they are already known for their conservative profile and have their own opinions, so to speak, which detaches their antics from the newspaper's opinion. There is no discourse without a subject, and no subject without ideology, as Pêcheux teaches us.

Both Demétrio and Azevedo are prestigious figures in the mainstream media, always used to counter the government's discourse, which is presented in major outlets as pure marketing, that is, lies. They, therefore, these columnists, are the heralds of truth. "Power needs the production of discourses of truth," according to Foucault; it needs a solid and convincing discourse, without marketing tricks.

Power requires the production, accumulation, circulation, and functioning of a solid and convincing discourse.

Reinaldo Azevedo said that the agreement is that he can write about whatever he wants in Folha; in other words, it's not Folha that speaks, it's not the subject of the discourse. If it doesn't work, both of them will be fired and Folha will go back to being what it was.

Suzana Singer fears that the ferocity of the new columnists may displease Folha's readers and tarnish the newspaper's image. Reinaldo Azevedo didn't like the ombudswoman's criticism and, without restraint, went after the journalist and challenged her to a debate. A dangerous move, considering Azevedo is a fighting animal.

The problem with Folha's image, with this contortion of turning further and further to the right, is that this is how the dogs end up biting their own tails.