Political Memes

I want to share something to provide us with some perspective. There’s the story of the first time two Xavante tribe leaders in Brazil got brought to São Paulo in 1974, as told by Mário Sérgio Cortella, today one of the foremost philosophers of the country.

They eventually were brought to one of the biggest bulk produce markets in the country. The amount of high quality food around them was astonishing, and they were struggling to come to terms with such abundance. Then, one of them turns and asks what a kid was doing. It was a destitute kid collecting spoiled food. “He’s grabbing food”, the hosts answered.

After mulling over the answer and looking around for some 15 minutes, he inquired: “I don’t understand. Why is that kid getting spoiled food when there’s an abundance of good food all around?” They told him you need money to get food from the good pile, and the kid had none. “Why not?” “He’s a child.” “And his parents don’t have it?” “No.” “Why not?” Unable to dodge the questions and unable to bridge the cultural gulf and explain how the capitalist system worked, they waved their hands and just declared “Well, you see, it’s just the way things work here.”

After that exchange, the tribe leaders looked at each other and then requested to leave. Not the market, not the city, but the society entirely. They wanted to go back to their tribes and wanted nothing to do with any of that society that was ok with a starving kid eating garbage right next to a pile of good food.