Cobb

Your brother is a hunk! Am I allowed to say that? [/leer]

Nah, those are just the muscles of necessity. He's a cop, you know. (/competitive brother mode)

"I never saw anybody like HIM at a Dunkin' Donuts," he mumbled, reflecting on his own 35% body fat.

Brazil has serious racial issues. Maybe I'm missing how he's missing that, people neckin' or not.

And then the class issues involved in that country.

Something's missin'

Yeah, he's on vacation. Besides, I very much like my brother's worldview. Keep knuckleheads down, stay healthy, live simple.

On the other hand, and like I've been saying about happy darkies. A computer science degree goes a hell of a long way down there.

In college, I dimly recall reading a book about the economics of slavery. In comparing slavery in Brazil versus slavery in the Colonies, the author noted that Brazilian slave owners guarded their slaves as the prisoners they were, since if they escaped, they blended into the general population, and their ownership could not be proven. In the Colonies, if you were Black, you were presumed to be a slave unless you could prove otherwise.

This history might seems to point to the social phenomena your brother notes. But it also seems that the poor in Brazil are really, really poor, and that life is awfully cheap. I wish I could understand why this is so.