Rohter Does It Again

I´m here in lovely Armação dos Búzios enjoying one of Brazil´s great beach areas when the rain cooperates.

The talk that has been going around the country lately has to do with this article by Larry Rohter of the New York Times. Not content to alienate Brazilians by insinuating that their president had an alcohol problem, Rohter is effectively saying that Brazil now has a weight problem. It certainly doesn´t seem to be the case here in Búzios or for that matter, my experience in 14 trips over nine and a half years here in Brazil. One point Rohter should consider is (at least in my experience) the rarity of anorexia here.

To his credit, he did make this point:

While that preference may still be strong, especially in rural areas and among the poor, the urban middle and upper classes seem to have succumbed to the global preference for slimness. Dr. Monteiro noted that in São Paulo there are now clinics to treat anorexia and bulimia, problems that barely existed 30 years ago but are appearing now because of the "mixed messages that are being sent" through the media about desirable body types.

The poor, who the study found are the group most likely to be overweight, receive the same messages but do not have the money to explore other options. Jose Roberto Lucena, for example, is a street vendor here who stands 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 231 pounds and worries about his health but argues that he is doing the best he can raising a family on wages of less than $200 a month.

Of course he could have made this point without alienating the nation. As a good friend of ours said that the media has been saying: "Rohter doesn´t like cachaça, he says that Brazilians are fat. What the hell is he doing here?"

Comments

[akaky]

"I´m here in lovely Armação de Búzios enjoying one of Brazil´s great beach areas when the rain cooperates"

Meanwhile, back in New York, it is a bright and sunny day. Of course, it's only 12 degrees F (-11 C) with a wind chill of -13 degrees (-25 C)but we can enjoy the sunshine while we lose the feeling in our fingers and toes and develop frostbite. I pretty sure you dont mean it when you do this, Randy, but I cant get the feeling that your reports from Brazil are tinged with more than a little meterological schadenfreude at the plight of your fellow New Yorkers. ;-)

[Joel]

He should read Fatland and look to his own shores.

How American, when you think about it. We see what afflicts us the worst in others and do nothing about the problem here at home.

I'd like to see him pull ten Brazillians off the street and line them up against ten Americans pulled off the street. Then let's hear him say "Brazillians are too fat."

[Valdomiro]

Rohter´s "girls from Ipanema" are czech tourists. And they´re going after the NYT. Haha!