Guns, God and fake news dominate Brazil’s presidential race
(Photo: Getty Images)
A gun store at the Marroquinho neighbourhood in Rio’s Centro neighbourhood.
I am sitting in a corner of a room at the presidential office in Rio de Janeiro where our next-door neighbours are a pair of brothers, the head of the Brazilian Army, and a former President of the United States. Outside, I hear the sound of a gunshot. The bullets that fly through the air are not from any of the nine guns I see there. Each bullet is made of lead and plastic. The noise is not real. It is a sound I hear everyday every month in cities around the world.
The gunshots and the sound of metal hitting metal are a constant. Every time I go to the gym or walk down the street, I hear the sound of gunfire, even though I know it is a rare, isolated sound.
I hear the shootings and the sound of metal hitting metal every time I listen to an audio recording that someone has recorded from around the world. The sounds that fill our cities are always there, even if people choose not to listen to them.
I am sitting in the presidential office where the sounds of gunshots are constant, because these sounds are part of the history of Brazil, and the history of the entire world, today. The sound has been with us for years.
I am sitting in the presidential office where the sounds of gunfire are constant, because these sounds are part of the history of Brazil, and the history of the entire world, today. The sound has been with us for years.
This is the sound of Brazil’s presidential race. A shooting is not news, not in terms of global politics. News is the sound of gunfire and of metal hitting metal. The sound of bullets and metal colliding does not count, only the sound of gunfire does, because everyone knows when there is a shooting somewhere in the world, there is also a world of sound that accompanies it.
But in Brazil, a news sound is a sound of gunfire. No one wants to hear the sound of gunfire. In the country’s most important election since 1960, the presidential race has become something different: An election that is completely shaped by the sound of gunfire.
Brazil’s presidential election is one of the world’s most significant, like the Super Bowl, and the elections
