“Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.”

Yesterday, I did a pretty silly thing, after another pretty silly rebellious act of which I will tell you more about if I get caught for it, but for now, I would rather keep it under wraps :) I was on my way to visit Jen and Nate about 6pm in the evening, and for some unknown reason I got off the bus about 3 stops too soon, so about 1.5km away from where I was meant to be. Generally that's not a massive problem, but in my case, I catch the one rain day, and it has just gotten dark, the road that I am walking appears at the best of times to be a little sinister especially because it is hemmed in woodland, and there are no lights on the road, also rumoured to be one of the most accident prone roads in the area. So I am walking along, I who generally do not scare easily, with all sorts of scenarios running through my head, in all of which I of course emerge triumphant despite the menacing exaggerated strength of which-ever opponent I was dreaming up in that moment. It took me maybe 15 minutes to walk the road, and the only people that passed me were on bikes and much less interested in me then I had previously envisioned. It was in fact quite an entertaining 15 minutes, although once my 'ordeal' was over, and I got a lift from the gates of the compound to the house from a lovely Brazilian lady who sounded like she was German (she was from the South) I realised that we really do have a fear still instilled into us here. And with good reason, but it is still interesting to notice that where there was no fear before it has been talked into you by friends, or by newsreports, and it can be quite overwhelming, even when you are not faced with any actual danger.

Speaking of news reports, and fear installation, there is an entertainment programme here disguised as a crime report programme that almost everyone I know watches, it is basically scaremongering set against the sound effect that you get on most keyboards that is labelled 'haunted house', and they show crimes that have been committed Pernambuco (read Recife) in the last 24 hours. They pretty much also have no shame in what they show, there is no 'personal space' conundrum, and you just cannot turn your head away from it. I once read that under 2 year olds should not be put in front of a television because the moving images and sounds capture the childs complete attention without any control from the child, and he hasn't the capacity to turn away from it, so it can be quite traumatic rather than entertaining, because the child cannot physically turn away. That's how this feels, crime, the gorier the better captures attention and you don't want to watch it, but you have a hard time turning away from it, especially when you don't have the option of turning it off, and you can hear the enthusiastic presenter from any room in the house, the only times you can escape are add breaks, but they are cleverly started from cliff hangers making you crave for more information. The fact that you recognize the places and they are sometimes more of less a walk away just makes it even more interesting. Interesting, not frightening. It is entertainment, and presented as such, and because of the levity of the presenting, you aren't afraid until you are alone on a dark road and can recall perfectly the past 4 episodes of that crime show.

News, it isn't just Brazil that makes the horrid into entertainment. One of the best presents I have received so far is a subscription to Guardian Weekly, which means that I am in fact one week behind, but pretty much up to date on world issues. The thing about the Guardian Weekly is that they have to get rid of the filler and give you the important stuff, and it's all horrible. Even the text message sized reports scare me. It seems that our world is becoming more hate filled and territorial. Even the good news is usually followed by some news item that makes me forget the cute seals that aren't extinct any more...

So maybe it's best just not to believe that technology is progress and go back to the media 'dark ages' so that we can function on a day to day basis...