The “childishness” that affects us

Let's look at some examples of what I call "infantilism".

The Minister of Justice, if my memory serves me right, said last year that Brazilian prisons are "medieval." How so?! He – someone needed to remind him – is the Minister of Justice! One of the main people responsible for discussing, proposing, and implementing public policies in this area, and for overseeing prisons – along, of course, with state governments and the Judiciary (the latter inspecting the facilities and not allowing convicts to remain imprisoned indefinitely, even after serving their sentences).

The governor of São Paulo also recently said that the water shortage in the state and the emptying of reservoirs was due to the lack of rain. In other words: it would be Saint Peter's fault. Simple as that. Okay, the water shortage is a consequence of the scarcity of rain, but it is also due, first and foremost, to the imprudence of the government officials who did not make the necessary investments, over the years, in the state of São Paulo [the saint is different], to withstand a prolonged scarcity without the population suffering the damage, economic losses, and inconveniences of a seasonal drought – or so it is hoped.

The other day, a friend told me that his boss, the administrative director of the company he works for, complained and confided "off the record" to him, after a difficult meeting with members of the company's technical staff, that they "were in trouble," because the company's technical staff only knew how to do the bare minimum and were not prepared to face the challenges in the field of innovation and productivity that the company needed to overcome to grow and gain new clients and markets. But, look closely, pay attention: he is the administrative director of the company! It is – and always has been – his responsibility to hire and/or train the professional staff that the company needs! Why didn't he do it?!

Why doesn't the minister take, or at least suggest, measures to make the country's prisons and jails less "medieval," and therefore inhumane?! Why hasn't the governor made the necessary investments to recover or preserve the water resources of the basins in the state of São Paulo?! How can a doctor not help a human being, whether a middle-class photographer or a lower-class security guard, who is dying in front of a hospital or medical post?! It seems much easier, or even convenient and comfortable, to hide behind omission or empty speeches (full of flimsy excuses) than to SOLVE the problem.

Do you realize where I'm going with this conversation?

I know that what I call "childishness" here, in many cases, might be more appropriately called incompetence, dissimulation, negligence, ineptitude, and even, quite simply, bad faith. Or is this yet another trait of my, your, our "childishness": that of not giving the correct name to problems and thus not facing them/confronting them with maturity, in the correct way?

Or are our social and economic relations in fact irremediably affected and corrupted by (un)certain "infantilism" or "insecurity," a consequence of our avoiding confronting head-on – with apologies for the pleonasm – the issues that confront us?

In another recent, emblematic, and crushing example, the Brazilian national football team [indeed, lowercase] lost 7-1 to the German national team in a decisive match at the last World Cup. The team, which had "its hands on the trophy," had to settle for 4th place – deserved, it must be said.

Instead of the Brazilian coach taking the blame, explicitly acknowledging responsibility for the failure, for having poorly selected, tactically trained, and prepared the Brazilian players; instead of saying that the defeat was a consequence of the German team being superior, better prepared, and more competent than our team, no. One of the culprits would have been a supposed "demand" and "pressure" that the [childish!] players felt for playing at home.

Who said they fired the coach promptly and immediately as an unavoidable consequence of the resounding failure and humiliation of the unprecedented 7-1 defeat? No. They even considered the possibility of keeping him in charge of the national team. They only decided to fire the coach after the defeat against the Netherlands.

Look! We've reached the point of trying to cleverly transform a situation that completely favored us [playing at home, with the support of the fans and everything] into something that, with a shameless, flimsy excuse, harmed us. We, the Brazilian fans, are not children to believe in fairy tales. Or are we?!

In the adult world, Brazil today occupies a prominent position as a protagonist alongside Latin America and other emerging countries – as evidenced by the recent BRICS meeting, led by President Dilma, with the consequent launch of a new development bank.

The country has the legitimate desire and ambition [for some, more serious and responsible individuals, a mission] to develop. However, for this to happen, it is necessary that we assume, at a minimum, our responsibilities and competencies, not only as a sovereign nation, but, above all, as individuals, as social and economic agents.
And also, of course, as rulers.