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About half a millennium before the Christian era, Aesop was already writing a fable to teach his countrymen to distinguish between those who use force and those who use reason. The rational lamb drank water in the same river as the rational wolf. This one was closer to the spring. Still, he told the little lamb he was muddying his water. If the rational lamb were not a lamb, and had some malice or simple common sense, he would consider the wolf to be a wolf, rather than being a rational animal, and that he himself, however much he considers himself a worthy animal, is at the same time an appetizing prey. If a wolf is looking for conflict with you, lamb, run!
But the little lamb believed that it was all reason and dialogue, and that he could solve the problem by convincing the wolf that his argument was unreasonable. The lamb argues that, due to the river’s course, it is impossible for it to muddy the wolf’s water. It’s an argument from crystalline evidence. So crystalline, yet so crystalline, it’s impossible the wolf didn’t know it beforehand. After arguing, the wolf swallows the lamb.
Moral of the story: no it is reasonable to always rely on the power of reason, as this is not the only power in the world.
Irrationality evident in 2019
Early on in the beginning of the pandemic, Europe started to close parks and lock people in their homes. However, crowding the subways to go to work was allowed. In the case of France, singer HK wrote a series of verses and songs against irrational sanitary measures. One in particular “Danser Encore22275411280″, it was translated into several European languages and became a kind of anthem of protests. (I wrote about this when I learned about it, as it was muffled.) In the national territory, I remember the first scare I had with the irrationality of the measures. That’s when the city of São Paulo decided to restrict the bus fleet. Now balls, casseroles: as the only example of lockdown in Brazil, comparable to that of Europe, was in the municipality of Araraquara, it was clear, logical, evident, that the bulk of the population of São Paulo would continue to go out on the streets to work. And since the virus was known to be respiratory-transmissible, it was obvious, of course, of course, that crowding people into tighter carriages increased the contagion. Given the evidence, I was no genius to notice this. The news itself was often accompanied by criticism. And despite the city hall of São Paulo was being imitated by the city halls of the capitals throughout Brazil.
After that, there was a reduction in the opening hours of stores and the public service. I got tired of hearing people complaining that the measures didn’t make sense, because people started to congregate in the stores and to crowd in the lines of the public service. The authorities made no effort to provide any satisfactory answers. At most, the civil servants’ psolists said that the blame for the reduction in work lay with Bolsonaro, who had not vaccinated them. But for the reduction of public transport, necas. They repeated that people would stop leaving the house, even though they knew it was a lie. They are like the wolf of the fable.
Finally, the height of the absurd , the shopping malls have been reopened before parks and squares. Last year, I wanted to show Campo Grande to my aunt from Rio, but it was closed. In the shopping we could to enter. Does anyone mean there is rationality in this? It’s as if the wolves repeated to us, from Europe to Salvador, giving a balloon in São Paulo: You are muddying my water, oh little lamb! Stay away from the squares, avoid the outdoors and huddle on crowded public transport so as not to catch covid!
