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Valeria Guerra Reiter

Writer, historian, actress, theater director, professor, and columnist.

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From far-right ideologue to bear exterminator.

Olavo de Carvalho (Photo: © REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/All Rights Reserved)

Who is Olavo de Carvalho?

I first encountered him when I read one of his articles published in a "traditional" Brazilian newspaper and reproduced in a book from the University of Northern Paraná. This caught my attention. I read and reread it, after all, the text would serve as the basis for students to create one of their bimonthly portfolios in their History degree. And how could I not refute it?

The "philosopher" who resided in the United States wrote few truths and many errors. But no one in the universe can be entirely imperfect. And death "apparently" does not redeem, however, the inert state of a dead being; it should not lead us to feelings of disdain.  

“Helping to forge a fascist factoid” and “eliminating animals” like bears, for example, constitute (in my opinion) glaring imperfections in the existential logic of Olavo de Carvalho's trajectory. There are divergent and convergent opinions and value judgments in this regard; and that is democratic.

The Brazilian people are in need of gurus; and they usually find them in the most varied niches: artistic, political-partisan and (also) ideological; as was the case with the deceased gentleman.

The ideology of "healthy" or "not unhealthy" doesn't choose who to wear... It's up to the "client" to discern which one will suit them best.

I continue to believe that inequality is a keychain used by all those dandies who have chosen to disguise themselves in the costumes adorned with neoliberal sequins.

Olavo is gone. The body is gone. And this applies to all of us "chemically organized" to be born, grow, develop, and die...

What we leave behind, as a trace or planting, is what will (always) need to be analyzed, to be refuted or absorbed into the evolutionary path of humanistic character.

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* This is an opinion article, the responsibility of the author, and does not reflect the opinion of Brasil 247.