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Rio 2016 shitshow thread

Started by Da6s, August 01, 2016, 11:02:44 PM

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Da6s

Because we're one week out and it's too late to abort.


http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/rio-2016-water-pollution-virus-risk-danger-swimming-sailing-rowing-chance-of-infection-almost-a7165866.html Warning - auto play video on site.

QuoteJust days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according to a 16-month-long study commissioned by the Associated Press.

I know they've already fired all of the security force, are having boat-docks collapse, have had athlete orgy village fires start & laptops stolen from rooms, Zika, robbed/mugged paralympians, robbed tourists, and of course, the disease water.


The next 2 weeks are going to be quite the train wreck. Already reading /r/apocalympics2016 daily.
We appear to be doomed by our DNA to repeat the same destructive behaviors our forebears have repeated for millenia. If anything our problem solving skills have actually diminished with the advent of technology & our ubiquitous modern conveniences. & yet despite our predisposition towards fear-driven hostility; towards what we anachronistically term primitive behavior another instinct is just as firmly encoded in our make-up. We are capable as our ancestors were of incredible breathtaking acts of kindness. Every hour of every day a man risks his life at a moments notice to save another. Forget for a moment the belligerent benevolent billionaires who grant the unfortunate a crumb of costfree cake. I speak of pure acts of selflessness. A Mother who rushes into the street to save a child from a speeding vehicle. A person who runs into a burning building to reach a family trapped on the upper story. Such actions,such moments,such unconscious selfless decisions,define what it is to be human

Cain

Quotecontaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria

Well to be fair, this is only expected when you're killing so many people in the favelas your police officers are probably dumping the bodies in the very same water.

Bernie Eccleston's mother in law was also kidnapped from her house just outside Rio.  So the kidnap for profit trade may make an appearance.  Or not, since apparently the men in question are all dead or in custody now.

Junkenstein

Are we pointing at or near eccleston for that or are security services like just to retaliate like this for the duration? Either way, fun implications.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Cain

Brazilian security forces have a reputation for brutality going back to the 60s, at the very least.

The violence jumped up a notch due to the games, but there was a hell of a lot of violence before that was even being discussed.

Junkenstein

Quote from: Cain on August 02, 2016, 02:16:33 AM
Brazilian security forces have a reputation for brutality going back to the 60s, at the very least.

The violence jumped up a notch due to the games, but there was a hell of a lot of violence before that was even being discussed.

That's why I suspected professional pride. Reputation to maintain and that.

Though eccleston easily has the cash to solve his own problems in any matter of his choosing, really.

Either way, some groups will be making a lot of cash soon.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Sano

I usually tend to lurk around here, but since this is about the city I live in, I figure I might as well say a thing or two.

This is all certainly going to be some kind of a shitshow, although I wouldn't put any money on which kind. People also predicted the world cup would be a disaster, which it wasn't, so I'm actually a tiny (but only a tiny) bit optimistic. I'm also not following news very closely at the moment, so there's probably a lot going wrong which I don't know about. I do find it amusing how a lot of people on the internet (mainly on reddit) seem to think that the whole country is a jungle with little to no technology, but that's to be expected, I guess.

Brazillians in general have what we call the complexo de vira-lata - the feeling that everything that is made or happens in Brazil is worse by the mere fact that it's made or happens in Brazil. We also find pleasure in telling people from elsewhere that everything is terrible here; I thus expect a lot of sensationalism and inflated news. This is not to say, of course, that there isn't reason to panic. The political situation is certainly worse than at the time of the world cup, ditto on the economic side. Our mayor seems content to play the fiddle while everything around him burns. The recent australian fiasco did surprise me, though; if there's one thing the mayor cares about is the city's international status (and his, by proxy), this just underscores how much he has just given up. The water pollution problems are notorious and have been for years. The crime rate has actually been going down through decades but is still high by many standards, and it seems to have been a bit on the rise since the past month (actually not by much, as far as I know). I'll refrain from commenting on our police force because that's too depressing, fucked up and commonplace at the same time. However, following the news from europe it seems what people are mostly afraid of is someone attempting a terrorist attack.

My social circle has been mainly ignoring the fact that the olympics is a thing for a while now, specially because of the political scandals. But this has been changing and the memes are already starting.
Everything comes to an end, reader. It is an old truism to which may be added that not everything that lasts, lasts for long. This latter part is not readily admitted; on the contrary the idea that an air castle lasts longer than the very air of which it is made is hard to get out of a person's head, and this is fortunate, otherwise the custom of making those almost eternal constructions might be lost.

Da6s

#6
Only 19 of the 31 orgy village buildings passed inspection:  http://deadspin.com/only-19-of-the-31-olympics-athletes-village-buildings-h-1784288452
We appear to be doomed by our DNA to repeat the same destructive behaviors our forebears have repeated for millenia. If anything our problem solving skills have actually diminished with the advent of technology & our ubiquitous modern conveniences. & yet despite our predisposition towards fear-driven hostility; towards what we anachronistically term primitive behavior another instinct is just as firmly encoded in our make-up. We are capable as our ancestors were of incredible breathtaking acts of kindness. Every hour of every day a man risks his life at a moments notice to save another. Forget for a moment the belligerent benevolent billionaires who grant the unfortunate a crumb of costfree cake. I speak of pure acts of selflessness. A Mother who rushes into the street to save a child from a speeding vehicle. A person who runs into a burning building to reach a family trapped on the upper story. Such actions,such moments,such unconscious selfless decisions,define what it is to be human

Junkenstein

Hi Sano,

1 - Please do post more. That was well written and very useful. A local perspective is always much appreciated and helps provide a lot of context to shit. Also, you don't seem to be a fucking lunatic so we could do with a little more of this kind of thing.

2- This "complexo de vira-lata", I imagine this functions as something of a self fulfilling prophecy?

3 - What's your guess as to levels of corruption surrounding the event at the moment? I'm assuming "extraordinary" not because of Rio but more due to that most previous similar events in other countries have been notoriously dodgy in multiple respects. The building article has strong echoes of the recent Sochi (spelling?) fuckups.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

LMNO

Hi Sano,

What Junk just said, double.

Sano

Quote from: Junkenstein on August 02, 2016, 12:42:36 PM
Hi Sano,

1 - Please do post more. That was well written and very useful. A local perspective is always much appreciated and helps provide a lot of context to shit. Also, you don't seem to be a fucking lunatic so we could do with a little more of this kind of thing.

2- This "complexo de vira-lata", I imagine this functions as something of a self fulfilling prophecy?

3 - What's your guess as to levels of corruption surrounding the event at the moment? I'm assuming "extraordinary" not because of Rio but more due to that most previous similar events in other countries have been notoriously dodgy in multiple respects. The building article has strong echoes of the recent Sochi (spelling?) fuckups.

1 - Oh, thanks. Will do.

2 - Kind of, yeah. But brazilians tend to imagine other places (mainly USA and Europe) are some kind of paradise, so they overinflate their expectations. Not to mention, of course, that they strongly oppose the measures that make them a more comfortable place to live. The nordic countries are a good example: the average brazilian will go on and on about how they're so much better than brazil, while denying their policies with a vague "it wouldn't work here".

3 - Yeah, "extraordinary" doesn't quite cut it. Anyone would expect corruption in this case, but the mayor is also corrupt - the new transportation system built for the city's economic center, VLT, which caused a lot of nuisance during its construction (I study there) was promised to be free, but less than a month after it opened the mayor said it'll cost the standard bus fare in a few months, which is amusing since most of its stations are so close to each other that people can simply walk. IIRC the stuff that was built for the world cup is already crumbling, and there's at least one building built on a swamp. About the only thing I'd expect to be done in a reasonably competent manner was the athletes' lodgings, and, well...

Other things going on in Brazil right now:

- The political shitshow, of course. The left is in utter disarray, the right is cheering, and even the interim president Michel Temer shows signs of starting to regret being dragged into this mess. The media, mainly newspapers and magazines, seem like a ravenous beast.

- Recently in São Paulo there has been a dislodging of poor people from the state's property; one of the left's few truly charismatic figures, Eduardo Suplicy, was arrested for trying to resist it with the people who lived there. São Paulo's mayor, Fernando Haddad, who ordered the dislodging, is actually also in the same political party as Suplicy. For this and for litterally confiscating homeless people's blankets during winter he is losing support of the left (which has always been small in São Paulo anyway) very fast; he never had support from the right because of the other terrible, terrible things he has done such as putting biker lanes in the city.

- I seem to recall some ecologists saying that after decades of drought (which only started to become manageable after Lula) the brazillian northeast may be in for severe floods in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile the southeast has been suffering from water scarcity for maybe half a decade now.

- I actually don't remember hearing about zika for many weeks now; this indicates that at least this is under control. So there's that.

Oh, and if anyone wants to read something about brazil's current situation with lots of historical context and detail about the last decade I have to say that this text, Crisis in Brazil, is the best one I ever found.
Everything comes to an end, reader. It is an old truism to which may be added that not everything that lasts, lasts for long. This latter part is not readily admitted; on the contrary the idea that an air castle lasts longer than the very air of which it is made is hard to get out of a person's head, and this is fortunate, otherwise the custom of making those almost eternal constructions might be lost.

Junkenstein

For the love of zeus, keep this up please.

It's such a refreshing change from the racists and goat fuckers.
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

Da6s

Sano,

Any confirmation on today's mass protests that are being reported? Is the unrest being portrayed actually accurate?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article92947932.html

We appear to be doomed by our DNA to repeat the same destructive behaviors our forebears have repeated for millenia. If anything our problem solving skills have actually diminished with the advent of technology & our ubiquitous modern conveniences. & yet despite our predisposition towards fear-driven hostility; towards what we anachronistically term primitive behavior another instinct is just as firmly encoded in our make-up. We are capable as our ancestors were of incredible breathtaking acts of kindness. Every hour of every day a man risks his life at a moments notice to save another. Forget for a moment the belligerent benevolent billionaires who grant the unfortunate a crumb of costfree cake. I speak of pure acts of selflessness. A Mother who rushes into the street to save a child from a speeding vehicle. A person who runs into a burning building to reach a family trapped on the upper story. Such actions,such moments,such unconscious selfless decisions,define what it is to be human

Sano

Quote from: Da6s on August 02, 2016, 04:28:47 PM
Sano,

Any confirmation on today's mass protests that are being reported? Is the unrest being portrayed actually accurate?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article92947932.html

There have been mass protests basically monthly in every major brazillian city since 2013. This is a bit difficult to explain, but I'll try.

In 2013 the general economic situation was starting to deteriorate. Local mayors, in bed with the transportation industry, had basically raised the prices for bus fare almost every semester for a while. Even in the car nightmare that is São Paulo public transportation is a main way of going to work, so it affected a lot of people. In the midst of this, a leftist movement, "Movimento Passe-Livre", had small protests to gain support for free bus fares for everyone (whether this is achievable is questionable, but still), accompanied by some (also a very small number) protesting against the incredible expenses of the coming world cup while brazil's education and health systems were left aside.

The police response was brutal. Tear gas, rubber bullets, some people disappearing, some people being arrested for no reason, etc. All actually standard procedure used by the police when dealing with the marginalized, mainly black population of the favelas. But now they were being used against the mainly white, middle class, activist masses. The media, not quite knowing what would come out of it, surprisingly did a decent job of covering it, sometimes actions of police brutality being transmitted live. Summing it to the new economic and transport unrest, millions took to the streets across brazil back then, asking for better health and education services.

The media now realising its mistake started an immense campaign to delegitimize the protesters, drawing attention to the violence of some. Many of the violent protesters, however, were probably undercover policemen, and this came to light as social media became the main source of news (it had been expanding silently until then). The reaction of the population against traditional media that resulted was quite frankly probably a first in the country, and the media, now scared for its life, made the most obvious backtracking and started trying to coopt the protests, diluting it with opposition to the government (backed also by the right, but they could also point to the government support of the police as it did not want unrest so near the world cup) and some more obscure legal procceedings going on at the moment. Traditional media *still* hasn't quite recovered, but they were successful in that, with Movimento Passe-Livre itself soon withdrawing support for the next protests, while even more upper-middle class people started going to the streets, many without the slightest idea why they were doing so, except taking selfies and posting them to instagram. On this situation the left lost an incredible opportunity to broaden its reach as it was (and remains) a lot fractured, while the right was more organized and attracted more people. On this scenario some crazy new generation of libertarians who believe the government is the devil was also able to get some internet fame, and while they were initially opposed to the "old right" they quickly became coopted by them also. I actually have some left-leaning libertarian friends in São Paulo who know them personally (the political spectrum in brazil has always been bizarre; I myself know two leftist monarchists, both of them gay men).

So now, and specially with the recent political scandals, there's always mass protests, but at the media's whim and with a lot of manipulation by it and the right.

tl;dr It's utter chaos down here.
Everything comes to an end, reader. It is an old truism to which may be added that not everything that lasts, lasts for long. This latter part is not readily admitted; on the contrary the idea that an air castle lasts longer than the very air of which it is made is hard to get out of a person's head, and this is fortunate, otherwise the custom of making those almost eternal constructions might be lost.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Quote from: Junkenstein on August 02, 2016, 12:42:36 PM
Hi Sano,

1 - Please do post more. That was well written and very useful. A local perspective is always much appreciated and helps provide a lot of context to shit. Also, you don't seem to be a fucking lunatic so we could do with a little more of this kind of thing.


Yesssss so much this.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Sano

Everything comes to an end, reader. It is an old truism to which may be added that not everything that lasts, lasts for long. This latter part is not readily admitted; on the contrary the idea that an air castle lasts longer than the very air of which it is made is hard to get out of a person's head, and this is fortunate, otherwise the custom of making those almost eternal constructions might be lost.