My friend Renato Parada is a great example of how our current political crisis can have a positive effect on society. A few months ago, it was rather unusual to see any sort of political commentary on his blog. When it happened, it was usually mockery. Nowadays, though, he has become perhaps the most “fair and balanced” political voice of Insanus’s blogs.

Take this post, for example. While I wouldn’t be so quick as to say all those who can’t read are ignorants, he makes a pretty good point, specially for a country where voting is compulsory. So, to the post:

A country of illiterates

The [O Estado de S. Paulo]’s September 8 edition publishes a poll conducted by Ibope on functional analphabetism in Brazil that, strangely enough, did not repercute. The poll shows that 75% of the population can’t read or write properly. They can read or write words, but can’t grasp their meaning, can’t understand a text. According to this figure, of the 170 million Brazilians, 130 million live in complete and utter ignorance.

São Paulo’s Public Ministry’s attorney, Luiza Nagib, recollects that poll on [last thurday’s] Estado’s op-ed page, in one of the first commentaries I’ve read about it. Frayed and thoroughly repeated arguments, that nonetheless must be brought up again in face of a poll with such numbers. Besides enumerating the damages of having such a poorly educated population, she questions how many of the alleged 40 million literates actually like to read. What would the percentage be?

Either when the poll was released or now with the attorney’s op-ed, I remembered a post on Nova Corja [in portuguese] where Walter mentions that Brazilian democracy is the world’s most representative. What some thought was an exaggeration, a resort to hyperbole, doesn’t sound that absurd. Walter leads by saying: “Nearly 5% (and I’m being optimistic) of the Brazilian population can read - and understand -, say, 10 pages of a Machado de Assis novel.” And he shows how politicians like Severino are not an anomaly, but a faithful picture of our society.

Such data’s consequence on the whole of society is understandable. To have 75% of a population made out of functionally illiterate people affects everybody. No one is spared. From grade schools to universities, from public school teachers to the most renowned researchers, all are scarred by this humongous Brazilian ignorance. As a result, students are educated in the worst possible fashion, with methods developed for the functionally illiterate. And I don’t even have to talk about other people. I realize myself the huge difficulties I have when trying to write something that makes any sense for my readers.

Until some time ago I thought reading wasn’t that important. What mattered was being good, regardless of literacy. There are people like that, sure, but amongst the whole of the population ignorance’s influence is deeply negative. And education without books is impossible. But how to make anybody develop a taste for reading? It is almost a mistery, all but impossible, in a country where there aren’t even minimal good educational conditions to allow its people to read and understand a sentence.

With its vast population living in utter ignorance, it’s difficult to picture a different reality for Brazil other than the one presently blown open, with the population being eternally preyed upon by a group of corrupt politicians in a stratospheric scale. And corruption is deeply related to ignorance. As the attorney reminds us: “most of our rulers come from this illiterate stratum of our population”. Poor education and corruption go hand in hand. Walter said it all, it won’t stop resounding in my mind: Brazilian democracy is the world’s most representative.