Bolsonaro and pandemic denial: Some considerations on the leader, anti-intellectualism, and nationalism

Abstract

On the 9^th of May 2020 The Lancet, the leading medical journal, published an editorial referring to the current situation of the pandemic in Brazil, which is short of being disastrous, and describing Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, as the biggest threat to Brazil – we would add to the world. In this paper, we enquire the issue of leadership, anti-intellectualism and nationalism by conducting a philosophical enquiry, whilst also questioning the role and shortcomings of the Brazilian educational system in sowing the seeds, and allowing this situation to develop in the country. This philosophical enquiry does not attempt to lay blame on the Brazilian educational system; rather, it is an attempt, an urge for reflection and self-reflection, so that the errs of the past may be remediated in the future; hopefully, a near future.

Keywords:

• Bolsonar
• leader
• anti-intellectualism
• nationalism
• pandemic

Notes

1 Charles Clarke, Home Secretary at the time, stated that the four terrorists were ‘cleanskins’, meaning that they were previously unknown to the policy and secret services (The Guardian 2005).

2 For an excellent and very informative discussion on this see Michael Hand’s Patriotism in Schools, from the PESGB Impact Series (cf. Hand 2011).

3 Morgan and Guilherme (2014: 4-5) affirmed that: “The relation of I–Thou stresses the mutual and holistic existence of two human beings. It is an encounter of equals who recognise each other as such—it is a dialogue” and “the I–It relation human beings fail to establish a dialogue. That is, in the I–It relation one being confronts another and does not recognise the Other as an equal, because the Other is objectified”.

4 The original reads: “Alors que l’hécatombe se poursuit, le président d’extrême droite Jair Bolsonaro s’est demandé en mars, dans l’une de ses causeries hebdomadaires sur Facebook, s’il ne fallait pas carrément utiliser "son" armée pour empêcher les gouverneurs et les maires de faire appliquer des mesures de distanciation sociale dans leur État ou leur ville”

5 For matters of space, and focus, we do not wish to get into discussions about ‘supernatural evil’ and the metaphysical implications of this. However, it is still interesting to note recent account about the nature of ‘evil’ that rely on regularity of acts, dispositions, affects, and motivations to account for ‘evil character’ and’ ‘evil personhood’ (cf. Calder 2018).

6 This passage refers to the July Revolt of 1927, which was a clash between Social Democrats and an alliance of industrialists and the Roman Catholic Church. 84 demonstrators and 4 policemen died and some 600 individuals were injured. These protests led to the fall of the right-wing government of Chancellor Ignaz Seipel.

7 Government agencies, such as the Brazilian Indian Foundation (FUNAI) and National Department of Indigenous Health (SESAI) have been slow in reporting cases and deaths in indigenous communities; in fact, they are only providing assistance for non-urban communities. Also, as the elderly have been the most affected by the pandemic, with each death of an elder, part of the community’s cultural heritage vanishes (cf. Instituto Socioambiental 2021; National Geographic 2021; Guilherme 2013).

8 Stanley Milgram investigated the issue of ‘obedience’ with individuals in lab experiments (cf. Milgram 1963), and Philip Zimbardo investigated ‘conformity to social roles’ (cf. Haney, Banks & Zimbardo 1973). Both experiments tried to make sense of events during WWII.

9 Bolsonaro is called by his followers “the myth” (“Mito” in Portuguese) or “the Captain” (“Capitao” in Portuguese) (Piovezani 2019; Silva 2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anonymous

The author has been kept anonymous out of concern for his/her personal safety.