Polarized America

[Pangloss62]

Brasil is a country, and as such it is only an idea with abstract boundaries shown on a map, as is any country. People have "wants," not countries. Sao Paulo alone has about 30 million people, and many of them desire cheap and plentiful products, enough for WalMart to open stores there. Many others deeply resent the Americanization of "their" Brasil, and boycott Coke, McDonalds, and WalMart. They put anti-McDonalds bumper stickers on their fuscas (VW Bugs) and drink ONLY Guarana.

But some Brasilians display a very paradoxical love/hate pattern of behavior when it comes to American culture, deriding McDonalds while listening to the latest American songs on their car radios. Most universally loathe W., but want to supersize their universally small cars up to an American SUV. That's why I used the "disease" analogy. American style consumerism is taking over the world despite its critics. "Doom" indeed.