Two Adjectives to Describe the Culture of Palmas

Palmas, 2008

On my first trip to Palmas I played a game of beach football. I ran into space to be available for a pass, monitored my teammates availability, looking around when I had the ball, looking to pass.

A common perception in Palmas.

It was all a waste of time. You get the ball, run and shoot. When you don’t have the ball, you do nothing. The person with the ball will not pass to you, so why bother? 

It was not a team game, it was a game for individuals to seek their own individual glory.

At the end of that trip, leaving the airport, I was attended to by an airline agent. Another customer approaches, interrupts and the attendant serves him first. The “culture” here does not allow the attendant to refuse the interruption but obliges him to attend the interupter.

These two experiences serve as perfect metaphors for my time here in 2015.

Palmas, 2015

In another post I’ll detail some (recent) experiences that have led me to these conclusions (there are too many to include in one post), but here is a summary of my one year of living among the people of Palmas. And please remember I am not talking about everyone. There are many truly genuine, generous people. But my impression of the culture as a whole is thus.

Arrogant and selfish. These are the two main adjectives that spring to my mind, and that I hear on the lips of anyone here who has a perspective of the overwhelming attitude in the culture here.

The individual's priority is to look out for onself. At every moment of their lives they are searching for an advantage over others. Overtaking on the inside lane, or on a roundabout, queue jumping, interrupting people being served, arriving late for work, leaving early and doing nothing in between.

Short term individual resolution is all that counts. The consequences of a lie told today are not considered. The “culture” dictates that people should pursue the easiest resolution for today, now, regardless of how this may affect other people today, or you tomorrow.

Brazilians have a very strong image overseas as friendly, welcoming, open. Solidarity and community are apparently essential to Brazilian culture. And it’s true, amongst people you know, amongst family and friends, people look after one another extremely well. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of many people here. Sadly, however, here in Palmas my overwhelming experience is very different to the image everyone expects of Brazil.

I understand there are reasons for this attitude. Given the history of colonisation, theft, slavery, corruption, dictatorship, exploitation and extreme poverty, survival for oneself and one’s family takes precedent. However we are no longer living in those times. Society has moved on but the attitude remains in the past.

What is also frustrating is to see this same attitude amongst people you would hope would be instigators of social change – educated, intelligent, well-travelled, socially aware people often behave in the same way as everyone else. To see a doctor or lawyer driving drunk, and terribly, with kids in the back seat and no one using a seat belt for me is the worst of all.