Death Wish 6: Bolsonaro’s Brazilian Slaughterhouse

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 4/18/2020 08:34:00 PM
"I'm sorry, some people will die. That's life." - Jair Bolsonaro.
 Charles Bronson starred in a number of increasingly formulaic action movies depicting gritty scenes of urban decay in the Death Wish series. The first of these movies actually garnered passable reviews and captured the zeitgeist of the times. By the fifth installment, though, its formula had worn out its welcome critically and commercially. That should not be especially troubling for fans of this series since a real-life Charles Bronson wannabe has been installed as a Latin American leader in Brazil. A real-life sequel appears to be unfolding in Brazil as its ultra right-wing Trump-alike Jair Bolsonaro dismisses COVID-19 as, well, a hoax.

The Death Wish series has been described as fascist in promoting dark vigilante justice.  Railing against homosexuals, left-wingers, and pretty much everyone else not aligned with his ultra right-wing agenda, Bolsonaro is a real-life personification of Charles Bronson's caricature. What better way to "cleanse" society of those weak enough to succumb to what he says is such a minor affliction? Some people will die, etc.

Unlike Trump who is occasionally swayed by reason--however fleeting--Bolsonaro is immune to persuasion by science and invents his own. (Unsurprisingly, he believes the number of cases and fatalities are being grossly inflated by political opponents.) He is one of the global "leaders" unwilling to compromise on the matter. Fortunately, Brazil's is a federal system of government, allowing saner local governments to implement quarantines and suchlike. Yet the lack of a meaningful and coordinated national-level response has invited criticism from left, center and right about Bolsonaro's competence (and sanity). According to former President Lula:
Jair Bolsonaro is leading Brazilians “to the slaughterhouse” with his irresponsible handling of coronavirus, the country’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said. In an impassioned interview with the Guardian – which came as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll hit 1,924 – Lula said that by undermining social distancing and defenestrating his own health minister, Brazil’s “troglodyte” leader risked repeating the devastating scenes playing out in Ecuador where families have had to dump their loved ones’ corpses in the streets.

“Unfortunately I fear Brazil is going to suffer a great deal because of Bolsonaro’s recklessness … I fear that if this grows Brazil could see some cases like those horrific, monstrous images we saw in Guayaquil,” said the 74-year-old leftist.
Alike Trump, Bolsonaro does not adopt fringe positions for the heck of it. He may be delusional in downplaying the coronavirus' harms--and place millions of Brazilians in harm's way as a result--but there is a political calculation here still. He is playing to his base, and will act according to how things play out:
  • If the disease peters out (likely through restrictions on movement placed by the governors), he can say he was right all along that COVID-19 was overhyped. 
  • If the disease claims the lives of thousands more Brazilians, he can still claim to have been right since at least the economy is up and running again--providing livelihoods to tens of millions--which is the more important thing than the lives of a few thousand. 
Is Bolsonaro leading Brazil into the slaughterhouse? Bolsonaro doesn't really care, especially if those who die are the sundry "malign" elements in society who wouldn't vote for him anyway. That is modern-day fascist reasoning. What Bolsonaro believes is that, either way, his actions will play into the beliefs of his base, and that's how to win re-election. To him, it's a politically calibrated death wish absent any real talent at governing. Sounds familiar? We'll be heading back to Estados Unidos soon enough...