4 ms·

I hate to answer on political threads because I'm always downvoted into oblivion, but there we go... I'm writing from Brazil but lived for a while in Argentina

I hate to answer on political threads because I'm always downvoted into oblivion, but there we go... I'm writing from Brazil but lived for a while in Argentina and do business with people from other places in the subcontinent. I grew up during the iron years, where the military dictatorships here tortured and killed hundreds of dissidents, so most parents educated us to fear the police and avoid talking about politics at all costs. I guess this is why people don't like to participate in the civic life (hell, in Brazil people avoid even condo meetings because "I don't like controversy"). I think lobbying is frowned upon here because most people equate it with public bribing (not too far from the truth), which leaves us we with traditional bribing only. Go figure.

deleted 12y ago
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dguaraglia 12y ago
I always found the difference between Argentina and Brazil quite surprising. While I lived there (for seven years, in Santa Catarina) I felt like people were very divorced from politics, and would avoid the topic as much as possible. The only people that would engage me when I asked questions about politics (mostly because I wanted to learn the history of the country) were people from bigger cities (mostly Paulistas.) Argentina went completely the opposite way: once the dictatorship was over, people became incredibly political because we wanted to avoid the same kind of political vacuum that created the first coup. As a result, most people in Argentina will argue about politics, even when they don't have a completely educated opinion on the matter (but hey, that's how we work on most stuff anyway, heh.) Agreed on the conflation of lobbying with bribing. Unfortunately there's too much evidence suggesting that private interests putting money into politics is not a good idea.

4 ms·

I hate to answer on political threads because I'm always downvoted into oblivion, but there we go... I'm writing from Brazil but lived for a while in Argentina

by scardine 12y ago

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
dguaraglia 12y ago
I always found the difference between Argentina and Brazil quite surprising. While I lived there (for seven years, in Santa Catarina) I felt like people were very divorced from politics, and would avoid the topic as much as possible. The only people that would engage me when I asked questions about politics (mostly because I wanted to learn the history of the country) were people from bigger cities (mostly Paulistas.) Argentina went completely the opposite way: once the dictatorship was over, people became incredibly political because we wanted to avoid the same kind of political vacuum that created the first coup. As a result, most people in Argentina will argue about politics, even when they don't have a completely educated opinion on the matter (but hey, that's how we work on most stuff anyway, heh.) Agreed on the conflation of lobbying with bribing. Unfortunately there's too much evidence suggesting that private interests putting money into politics is not a good idea.