Variations between Philosophy and Shit

I never met Olavo Carvalho. I came across his meteoric rise to the national political scene a few times and, until the last days of his life – which I believe was a successful life, by his own standards – I was the subject of his comments and videos. Then, in 1994, when I was Editor of the journal Ciência Hoje, published by the SBPC (Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science), one of the most respected periodicals in Latin America, OC submitted an article on classical Greek philosophy. As is standard practice, we sent it for a "double-blind" peer review by specialists. Both rejected it. There were errors ranging from interpretations to the placement of centuries. We informed the author, with an extract from the reviewers' reports. Routine for a scientific journal.

That same week we were surprised by a lengthy article from the "philosopher," without mentioning the negative opinion or its reasons, accusing the magazine of ideological "policing." A tactic that will always be available in this country.

Yone Leite, one of the world's leading experts in linguistics and lexicographer of the Tapirapé people at the National Museum, and responsible for the "flow" of the magazine, and I had to explain ourselves to the entire board of Ciência Hoje, the SBPC, and the philosophy societies. They sought to find out who OC was, which university he attended, and what his degrees were.

Theses?

Books?

Nothing.

Meanwhile, someone "leaked" my name as the person responsible. I then became the target, still in O Globo, of a furious article "against the communist parasites hiding in universities."

The McCarthyist mantra against universities made explicit the resentment, the poor quality of education, and the blatant egotrip.

I continued my life with the tranquility of Arab caravans. In 2000, I published, with the team from the Laboratory of the Present Time/Tempo/UFRJ, the "Critical Dictionary of Right-Wing Thought".

OC became overwhelmed. He wrote an entire page, still in O Globo, to either refute or correct the "Dictionary...".

O Globo, amidst the insults, offered me equal space to respond. I refused. In fact, I used only two lines: there was no historical or philosophical work by the gentleman under discussion for comment.

Emir Sader was left with the futile attempt to argue. 

However, to their astonishment, insults rained down, and the philosophy of bullshit emerged. And it wouldn't be answered.

I think that's what hurt the most in OC.

Although he had, and lost, memorable low-level clashes with notable Brazilian public figures, thereby dragging a part of Brazilian politics into the gutter, OC never entered a Brazilian university.

His appreciation for the physical body as a substitute geography for philosophy aimed to stun, offend, and paralyze. He brought to Brazil, marked by the pedantic tone of academia, from Ruy Barbosa to Lacerda, infamy as a form of political discourse. 

It is, and will be, what fascism has always practiced against its enemies: don't debate, insult!