Is the PT mudslinging about to start? According to Estadão, “the plan in the PT is to stick on Marina the label of radical, conservative, and fundamentalist.” Marina was once the crown jewel of the PT, now she is… “Radical, Conservative, and Fundamentalist.” Ah, right. Got it.
This “if it’s evangelical it’s bad” rhetoric only opens the door for opportunists to justify a “holy war” in politics. Saying every evangelical is a “radical idiot” is the same as saying every politician is a cynical thief. Saying every devout Protestant (evangelical) is an obtuse conservative is the same as saying every Muslim is a terrorist. Or that every macumbeiro sacrifices children. Say that! I dare you! Saying that a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Evangelical, etc. is the same as the pseudo-evangelical TV trash, commercializing the Faith, is IGNORANCE! I AM A BELIEVER, YES, and I AM, YES, Brazilian, politically engaged, a citizen, and I love my Catholic, atheist, and even my ugly friends.
As Caetano Veloso says, it makes me happy to be able to repeat the name of Marina Silva when newspaper pages and computer screens kick and scream so we’ll erase it.
In today’s Estadão: the “marineiro” is: - 28% between 16/24 years old; - 30% with higher education; - 29% earning 5 to 19 minimum wages; - 22% in the southeast; - 27% non-Pentecostal. - 23% among agnostics and atheists.
Evangelical is a minority ( ! ) — the classification criterion isn’t demographic, it’s sociological. Ask someone who knows and has the guts to answer.
Imagine a progressive heart, worried about the country’s social injustice, and… disappointed with the PT’s anything-goes approach? Me!
That’s it — let the dispute be on the level of relevant debates, not on intolerant mudslinging (yeah, the “tolerant” ones have been QUITE intolerant).
*** A collection of tweets from friends, acquaintances, and people I admire. I compiled some ideas, and although I agree with most, I’m not the writer, only the curator of this text.