Passions made of celluloid, or to whomever it may concern...

Never before in the history of this country has the shameless use of the media for the illegitimate political and pressure exerted on the Judiciary been so clearly perceived.

That criminal case 470, from its inception, already displayed undeniable political overtones (as Minister Lewandowski clearly explained during the discussion on accepting the indictment) would not surprise anyone; but that these overtones would surpass the very hypothesis contained therein, that could not have been imagined...

Indeed, after the pantomime created in the last session, when Minister Celso de Mello announced that he wanted to vote and that his statement would not take more than five minutes, and yet he could not do so (have you changed your mind, Joaquim, about the need for us to be swift in the judgment?), as would be expected, the right-wing media launched themselves into their next project: demonizing obedience to conscience when deciding a legal dispute, while canonizing attention to what they call public opinion...

In this context, the question arises: What is public opinion? Who controls its assessment and, more importantly, who can manipulate it?

The catalysis of public opinion (in the precise contours that are now observed) abandons any hypothesis of public interest, embracing a novel printed content (India ink on celluloid), which does not lend itself to expressing the possible interests of the mob, insofar as it shifts the object of protection in favor of the wishes of those who publish it – after all, those who asked for Barabbas did not even know the accusations leveled against the Nazarene... 

In this context, it was habermas who established the link between ethics and morality in societies, by arguing that 'an action or judgment with the same content can be immoral in one case and moral in another, depending on the form it takes (...)'.

The pressure exerted by right-wing media on Minister Celso de Mello is based on the expectation that he will bow to the demands of what is published (ink and celluloid), in order to deliver a vote that coincides with the political interests of his patrons.

It's the game and it's part of the game, some would say (and Merval believes so); The fact is that this political mediocrity has no power to affect the interpretation of law in a democratic state, assuming that the law enforcer should never yield to underlying interests, to rented passions, to desires and wills foreign to legal dogma.

The very seasonality of political interests justifies the agreement in favor of dogmatism, insofar as it would not be enough (three decades after redemocratization) to apologize for collaboration with the regime of exception (which tortured, killed, and censored), without these apologies being (at least minimally) accompanied by acts and conduct that are morally defensible and ethically acceptable. 

This is the point: after all the media pressure, defending the interests of their owning families (Frias, Mesquita, Civita and Marinho), they now want, at the eleventh hour, to sublimate the very history of the Judiciary, manipulating it, belittling it, limiting it, making it (in)useful and a disposable puppet, a reintroduction of political desires and interests...

This red light shines (beyond the colors of shame and indecency – assuming that prostitutes have already been seen in more ethical practices and in more moralizing exercises) to nourish consciences, insofar as throughout his public life as a Supreme Court Justice, many things can be said about Celso de Mello, except that he has, at any time and in any era, been cowardly.

Therefore, the very survival of the rule of law rests on these broad shoulders of a senior judge, based on the understanding that, for a judge in the act of deciding, knowing how to distance themselves from published opinion (ink and celluloid) separates the dirt from the boot...

Some succumb and agree to clean up the mess; however, there are those who remain true to their own history, never serving as doormats in the media game.

The floor is yours, Minister Celso!