Eduardo Stefani

I wrote my last article in the heat of the moment after reading the text I said, which is a summary about the conservative acts of the candidate for vice-president of our norther brother. I tried to pass my perception on, actually, something personal about the speeches we are listening to every day, as well as the whole culture, because both are showing a severe lack of quality.

After a few days, I think I was a little pessimistic. It give us the perception that everything is bad. I didn't want to insinuate that the world is loosing its way, but I was talking about western speeches, basically I have access to. My big questioning is how in a moment so technologically advanced and with huge general knowledge, we can be bought by cheap speeches. The minds seen to be unprepared to the correctly understand. Not who shows political or ideological trends, but regarding basic questions which must be overcomed for centuries, as the attempt to take creationism, as is the intention of some figures in power, including Brazil.

Beyond these perceptions, I wish to make a few comments:

I said that the big world wars collaborated to impoverishing world speech. Even though wars have been occurring during the entire history of mankind, we experimented with a good period of peace and construction of contemporary civilization during the last centuries. The big world wars, to some extend, brutalized men. Who didn't go, watched the collapse and destruction of all that they saw since they were children. Who went to war and came back alive, were brutalized, because of everything they saw. We had from this moment, the trigger for a lot of violence during the entire twentieth century and the reappearance of practices considered very wild for a civilized man. We can't forget after 2001, torture practices were frighteningly condoned.

It's a perception I have, specially as a conclusion of what I have been reading recently. Maybe I'm have been partial or even wrong, but we can't deny that we saw during the twentieth century the loss of some civilized habits we had developed during the last centuries.

On the other hand, my article seems nostalgic. I couldn't be nostalgic, because I have existed on this planet since the end of the romantic '70s. It's a tendency to say that the past is better and we are living in decay. It's true, because if we take some newspaper articles from the 18th or 19th century, we also read of the feeling that society is in decay, therefore I hope I haven't passed on a nostalgic message. In summary, the decay walks hand in hand with development and the challenge is to find the correct measure.

I quoted a film named “The Decline of the American Empire”. If you have net seen it, you must watch it, with its sensitivity and depth it shows what is happening to us. The decline comes from the individuality, low birth rate and many facts evident in the film. I confess I can't remember all the details and it deserves my attention one more time. It's curious, because there are eight academics, four men and four women. At a dinner, lubricated by wine, the subject is sexuality, trivia and after all something about Marx. Actually it's a welcome mix, but gives a notion which may result in the multiplier effect of a society emphasizing individuality and forgetting the society. At least in my understanding, the decline is hiding there, in an individualistic society. This paragraph deserves some articles to synthesize the messages and try to understand the impoverishment of out speech.

Also a hint of the movie “The Barbarian Invasions”!

I hope I could clarify some points I got as contradictory. It can cause a nice evening of warm discussions.

[], Eduardo Stefani - 30/10/2008