Será que a Economist lulou?

Na Economist online, um tal de Brooke Unger diz o seguinte:

A discussion with Brooke Unger, São Paulo correspondent of The Economist

“The elite in São Paulo are passionately against Lula. This is from a combination of things... partly because the corruption that the Workers' Party engaged in is more widely known in São Paulo... and partly there remains a class prejudice against Lula, who comes from a very humble background. There is a feeling among paulistanos that he is not worthy to represent Brazil.”

Ouça a entrevista aqui. Às vezes sinto um desânimo quando vejo algo assim: a Economist, caindo no papo do Lula?

Decidi escrever uma cartinha para eles a respeito. Como não acho que eles vão publicar, coloco no meu bloguinho:

Brazilian elite

Sir,

As a Brazilian who left Brazil as a consequence of the lack of hope in the future of the country, I would like to make a remark about the interview of your correspondent Brooke Unger of Oct 10th. In general the interview is good. However there is a problem in some of the concepts brought up by him. There was indeed class prejudice against Lula when he assumed office. However, during the last 4 years, what has been seen in Brazil is a never ending horror tale exposing the incredibly corrupt guts of the Worker's Party (PT). The class prejudice is over. What matters now is that Lula's government is considered shamelessly and blatantly corrupt in an unprecedented scale and in all levels as is widely documented in the local media.

To make matters worse Lula tries, in his speeches, to fuel a class confrontation between what he calls "elite" and the poor. "Elite" in Lula's concept is just the shrinking middle classes, while the real "elite" is enjoying the easy profits coming from the highest real interest rates and the most outrageous spreads in the world. The middle classes currently pay real interests of around 30%/yr in personal credit and more than 80%/yr in credit card purchases.

The way your correspondent uses the words "elite" and "prejudice" shows either that Mr Unger does not understand what's happening in the country or that his definition of some words has also changed according to Lula's gospel.

Paulo Zappi - Melbourne - Australia

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Atualização:

Claro que não iam publicar. Entretanto recebi uma resposta do próprio Unger:

Dear Mr Zappi,

Thanks very much for your letter about my interview. I am not Brazilian, but I have been living in Sao Paulo for the past four years, and I can assure you that the prejudice against Lula is still very much alive. I was recently asked to give a palestra at a company here and was given a fake photo of Lula in the UK signing a guest book. The inset showed him writing "Da book is on da table" or something like that. That's just a graphic example of the snobbery I encounter often. Clearly, people are also angry at Lula because of corruption, and rightly so (although that is hardly the monopoly of the PT and its allies). But class clearly has something to do with the hostility towards him among the coupon clipping elite.

regards,

Brooke Unger
Sao Paulo Bureau Chief
The Economist

Impressionante: ele repete todos os argumentos PT-Chauísticos. Parece que fez curso no MST. Suspeito que esse negócio de "coupon clipping elite" é uma forma nova de dizer "burguês" no sentido esquerdista da palavra. Usou essa expressão para escapulir da minha reclamação de que a palavra "elite" estava mal utilizada neste contexto. O que vocês acham? Devo responder?