Brazilian elections are coming, and they have already proved to be the most complicated in Brazil's history.
So when The Economist dedicated its cover to Jair Bolsonaro, I thought: Mumsnetters might like it.
This article sums it up: www.economist.com/leaders/2018/09/20/jair-bolsonaro-latin-americas-latest-menace
I will start saying I'm a leftist, so it's rare that I read The Economist and agree with it. This article, however, was on point.
Jair Bolsonaro first came to my attention for telling a congresswoman "I wouldn't rape you, you are too ugly". The comments continued:
He refers to black people by "arrobas", a weight unit meant for cattle.
He says Brazil's few conservation units stop economic development.
He says women should earn less, because we can get pregnant.
He agrees with torture and death penalty.
He would rather a dead son than a gay one.
He believes beating a child will stop "gay behaviour."
He had four children: three boys, then he "failed" and had a girl.
He says minorities should bow down to the majority.
His followers deny there was a military dictatorship in Brazil, that raped, tortured and killed, and more recently, that Hitler and his nazism was left wing. This prompted the German embassy in Recife to correct them, only for the followers say: "I don't think you know much about nazism." globalvoices.org/2018/09/20/while-some-brazilians-tried-to-school-germans-on-nazism-others-apologized-in-shame/
His vice said, this week: "Children raised without a father don't grow up normal".
This man's followers seem to only be interested in Bolsonaro's hatred. Brazil is a baby nation that can go wrong with so, so little, and seeing Bolsonaro's rise to powers saddens me to no end.
I'm fairly young, and as a child I would think: "Everything is going to improve so much when people my age start voting." And this is the second presidential election people my age can vote, yet Brazil seems to sink lower and lower.
The worst thing? This thread is just the tip of the iceberg.