Saturday, March 27, 2010

From: How alike are Brazil and US? - CSMonitor.com

Brasilia at night.Image via Wikipedia

One trip to Brazil is all it took to shake me from my ignorance and think about Brazil in a completely new way. Brazil was eerily similar to the US in many ways. The size, cultural diversity, nationalism, geographic diversity, sophistication. How its size and population have driven it to a very inward looking company with an well established domestic trade.

From Christian Science Monitor, the following:

"Brazil is no different from many countries in that there is a love-hate relationship with the US. But the two nations are very similar.

Both are continental-sized nations, inhabited by Europeans who subdued the local indigenous populations and built colonial economies on the backs of African slaves. Large wilderness spaces still remain.

Both have citizens who are open and friendly, but not very worldly.

Both are societies in which individualism is more marked than collectivism. The people are creative. Consumerism is king, and owning a car is not just vital, but a status symbol.

Owning a gun is considered another inalienable right."

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