Mass stupidity (updated)

I was looking at the pictures from these protesters in Brazil today and I honestly thought to myself: What in the world are they trying to say?

Please, let’s start by being honest here. Brazilians don’t give a damn about Iraqis or Afghans. They care even less whether Bush is doing a good job governing the US or not.

So, is this still the anti-capitalist dinosaurs and their childish fantasies? Or is it people that are so disillusioned with their country that they have to blame foreigners for their situation?

Having lived in Brazil for so long, and now being here in the US for almost 10 years, this whole thing makes me nauseous.

I mean, you have an official representative (governor of Maranhão) participating in a mock hanging of Bush! How much more ridiculous and pathetic can you possibly get?

Brazilians, of course, are not alone in this delusion.

These are the results of a recent poll that measured views of countries' influence:


I ask myself: Who in their right mind think that a tiny puny democratic country like Israel, who is just fighting against people who openly say that they want to annihilate them, can be the most hated country in the world?

Is the parameter here violence? Where is the Sudan?

Are we talking about fear of imperialism? How about China who actually IS occupying countries against their will?

What the hell is Canada doing for the world???

I have to admit that this kind of mass stupidity is one of the most depressing aspects of our world today.

UPDATE:
Clovis Rossi says that he would ask Bush about Guantanamo and other accusations from Human Rights Watch. Would that make him feel better about the violence in Brazil? Or all he is trying to do is to criticize the American government so they stop criticizing the Brazilian government? What a great strategy.

Lula however, decided to focus his complaints on subsidies. Agricultural subsidies on the American side, that is. It would be great if Bush would propose to open the ethanol imports if Brazil would remove the barriers for, oh, let’s say automobiles (currently at 35% plus every other tax on manufactured products).

But the really interesting part is that the US runs a considerable trade deficit with Brazil ($6.7 billion in 2003). Also, US-Brazil trade grew 195% from 1987 to 2004. The United States is Brazil’s largest single-country trading partner. Yes, much more could be done, but the fact is that there is a lot of money flowing from the evil American hands to the oppressed Brazilian people.

So how come all these angry protesters on the streets are telling the US to go away? Could it be because Brazil’s economy is under developed and all this money from trade is going to a few fat farmers and not the rest of the country?

Do people really expect that the US can fix this? I thought the consensus was that the US should stay away from internal problems of other countries…

Am I asking for too much here?