- Mar 30, 2005
- 174
- 356
Especially as one of our other Brazilian players Emerson was almost killed very recently. I wonder if people would have the same view if he was?I know exactly why bolsonaro is popular as I've been told by the multitude of Brazilians I work with.
He's the "tough on crime" candidate - in a country that has an appalling record on criminal justice. For Brazilians today crime and public safety is an exponentially bigger problem than gay rights. Therefore, the guy who solved the bigger problem gets their support.
One of my colleagues who is gay and lives in Brazil told me he supported Bolsonaro because whilst he was anti gay he was making Brazil a safer place. "I can't be gay if I'm dead because someone has killed me for my mobile phone so it's an easy choice".
From our western perch, I think we sometimes fail to see the context of how these "strongman" figures get their support even when they have views that we consider regressive and backwards. Simply because there are other issues that their public generally considers to be of greater importance.