Any country that is not ready to host
a world event by the time it begins should be ashamed.
Brazil is not ready for the World Cup
Therefore Brazil should be ashamed
The argument shown here
is very interesting because like most syllogisms, it borders on issues of being
valid but also logically correct.
First off, we cannot take as a given that any country that is not ready to host a world event by the time it begins should be ashamed. Although this phrase is the foundation and base for the syllogism and argument presented, there are no valid points to prove that this is in fact true. Besides this, there are also many other factors that cause the first statement to be very subjective and open to questioning and doubt. What necessarily defines a country to be not ready to host an event? Being that the World Cup is a FIFA run event, we would consider the requirements that they propose and demand to be the necessary aspects to "host," or be ready for said event. However, the statement does not define ready to be "met all requirements." Many of these could be absent or not accomplished, but the country would still be able to host a highly successful and functional World Cup. Being Brazilian myself, I naturally have a large bias to defend my country and argue that it is in fact ready for the 2014 World Cup. This is not true though, because it is clear that many stadiums are not complete and we are less than 90 days to the World Cup.
This leads me to believe that Brazil will not be ready for the World Cup when it comes, and not prepared to carry out as the previous hosts have. Therefore, the second statement can be considered to be valid. It is impossible to host a month of World Cup soccer games without the completion of all of the necessary soccer stadiums. Due to this I am inclined to believe that when the time comes, we will not be prepared to carry it out. This has been a highly debated topic ever since the announcement of Brazil being the host. Nobody has ever truly believed we would be ready, and that is completely dependent on how quickly the stadiums can be finished.
A question, however, that should be made about the statement itself is whether a country truly should be ashamed or not. With analysis, we see that the World Cup itself is a multi-billion dollar investment, which completely reworks member city infrastructures drastically. Brazil is not as developed as many of the other nations, which is one of the largest controversies with its decision to be host. The money used in preparation could've been used for many other investments in the country, so there could be an argument that because of this lack of development of the country, this is not a surprise. The premise can also be questioned by the meaning of “who” should be ashamed. Should citizens of Brazil be ashamed because their government poorly planned the organization and preparation for the cup? Should other countries look down upon Brazil as a whole just because the 2014 management team was unsuccessful in their execution? There are many questions to be made surrounding who necessarily should be at fault, if at all anyone. Do the underdeveloped conditions of the country’s economy and society justify the unpreparedness for the World Cup? Seeing that language is a way of knowing, we see here that the word is very ambiguous, and can be interpreted different ways, and also tested to prove if it should be true at all.
Overall, the sequence of the syllogism in fact leads me to believe that Brazil should technically be ashamed. As said before, my bias to Brazil affects my analysis of the validity, but it is correct logically and does follow the truths needed for me to believe it.
First off, we cannot take as a given that any country that is not ready to host a world event by the time it begins should be ashamed. Although this phrase is the foundation and base for the syllogism and argument presented, there are no valid points to prove that this is in fact true. Besides this, there are also many other factors that cause the first statement to be very subjective and open to questioning and doubt. What necessarily defines a country to be not ready to host an event? Being that the World Cup is a FIFA run event, we would consider the requirements that they propose and demand to be the necessary aspects to "host," or be ready for said event. However, the statement does not define ready to be "met all requirements." Many of these could be absent or not accomplished, but the country would still be able to host a highly successful and functional World Cup. Being Brazilian myself, I naturally have a large bias to defend my country and argue that it is in fact ready for the 2014 World Cup. This is not true though, because it is clear that many stadiums are not complete and we are less than 90 days to the World Cup.
This leads me to believe that Brazil will not be ready for the World Cup when it comes, and not prepared to carry out as the previous hosts have. Therefore, the second statement can be considered to be valid. It is impossible to host a month of World Cup soccer games without the completion of all of the necessary soccer stadiums. Due to this I am inclined to believe that when the time comes, we will not be prepared to carry it out. This has been a highly debated topic ever since the announcement of Brazil being the host. Nobody has ever truly believed we would be ready, and that is completely dependent on how quickly the stadiums can be finished.
A question, however, that should be made about the statement itself is whether a country truly should be ashamed or not. With analysis, we see that the World Cup itself is a multi-billion dollar investment, which completely reworks member city infrastructures drastically. Brazil is not as developed as many of the other nations, which is one of the largest controversies with its decision to be host. The money used in preparation could've been used for many other investments in the country, so there could be an argument that because of this lack of development of the country, this is not a surprise. The premise can also be questioned by the meaning of “who” should be ashamed. Should citizens of Brazil be ashamed because their government poorly planned the organization and preparation for the cup? Should other countries look down upon Brazil as a whole just because the 2014 management team was unsuccessful in their execution? There are many questions to be made surrounding who necessarily should be at fault, if at all anyone. Do the underdeveloped conditions of the country’s economy and society justify the unpreparedness for the World Cup? Seeing that language is a way of knowing, we see here that the word is very ambiguous, and can be interpreted different ways, and also tested to prove if it should be true at all.
Overall, the sequence of the syllogism in fact leads me to believe that Brazil should technically be ashamed. As said before, my bias to Brazil affects my analysis of the validity, but it is correct logically and does follow the truths needed for me to believe it.
Although I may be bias as well, I actually somewhat agree with the premise. Brazil is not ready for the world cup. As you said, not only are the stadiums are not ready, but with people coming from all over the world, I can only begin to imagine what the traffic will be like. I honestly don't know everything that is going on, but in an article I read (at the bottom), Brazil even admitted to not having a plan B if the stadiums aren't ready on time because they don't think they'll need one, but at the rate it's going I feel like some sort of back up plan should be made. The only thing I have personally seen accomplishes is a light-rail system to get people from place to place. Although, they were still working on it when I saw it and it also won't take care of the thousands of people that will be in Brazil.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the reason I said that I somewhat agree with the premise was because to say that Brazil should be ashamed is a very opinionated and harsh statement that I would not say if I were trying to make a strong and irrefutable argument.
I understand where you are coming from, however I think you could have used more examples of what Brazil is doing to get ready for the world cup and what exactly it is they haven't done.
Article I read: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/17/brazil-sports-minister-small-protests-2014-world-cup
Thiago, I agree with most of what you said. However, there was one thing that you did not touch which was how ready Brazil is and the word "ready" itself. In the premise, there is no specification of what type of "ready" is associated. So, like you said, the word "ready" used in this syllogism is not specific. There can be two types of ready: ready for the event, as if stadiums are ready but the whole infrastructure isn't, and there is the ready as a whole country, which is not the case in this premise. Something that you have to put in mind is that one way or the other, Brazil is going to host the World Cup. Sure, there is a personal bias and knowledge included, but this has to be put in mind. Brazil will be half ready by the time the World Cup comes. Sure, I agree that the infrastructure and the other big problems will still be evident, but the stadiums itself will be ready for the World Cup one way or the other. There is definitely no time for FIFA to change the host, so we as Brazilians have to accept the fact that this has to happen. I think that your point of being ashamed is excellent! There are some Brazilians (corrupting politicians itself) that are not ashamed of our country's present situation regarding the World Cup. I agree with you as well that we should be ashamed, because this event, if invested correctly, would boost the economy and the country would have shown improvements. However, this statement can be and is considered to be true, just like you said. I also have a personal bias when this topic comes up, but, just like you, I accept the truth of this argument.
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ReplyDeleteThiago, I would like to say first that I agree with your argument that the billions of reais should have been used to strengthen the things inside the country, like public hospitals, public transportation, airports, etc. I got on this site (http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/esportes,custo-dos-estadios-da-copa-do-mundo-ja-chega-a-r-8-9-bilhoes,1123266,0.htm) that about 8.9 billion reais are already being used to build the stadiums. So yes, I do agree that we should be ashamed, because FIFA promised in 2007 that the stadiums would only be worth 2.6 billion reais. Now what I don't agree with you 100% is whether Brazil is ready or not. I like the way you considered the word ready to be either all the requirements met or the stadiums are built. If we analyze it in terms of stadiums being ready, I think Brazil will have all of their stadiums ready by June of this year. I read in this article (http://esportes.terra.com.br/futebol/copa-2014/cem-dias-para-a-copa-veja-como-estao-os-12-estadios,daa58246a4584410VgnVCM4000009bcceb0aRCRD.html) that 7 of the 12 stadiums are ready, and the rest are in their final touches. So by June, I think that all of the stadiums will be ready, despite the high costs. But I have to agree, in terms of the whole project, Brazil is definitely not ready. The airports are chaotic, the buses are overpopulated, the public hospitals have no infrastructure. So yes, Brazil should be ashamed, but it will be ready in terms of stadiums and not the project as a whole.
ReplyDeleteGood work, Thiago, and also good job to the others who have commented here. I like the way that all of you are trying to navigate all the details, definitions, and multiple perspectives without losing control of the overall argument. That is one of the main skills I'm hoping you'll build in the junior year.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to see you question "self," Thiago, and try to evaluate what portion of influence to give to your own beliefs and hopes here. I like that you accept that you have some bias, but you can actually go further here. Is your bias something that has no basis in anything or is your bias the source of other knowledge. Is there something that you "know" about Brazil that has a bearing on these premises? I think it's fair to explore "self" a little further and not just write off what might be intuition or emotional truth as bias.
Finally, I really like your analysis in the "ashamed" paragraph.