Syllogism Analysis - World Cup in Brazil

Any country that is not ready to host a world event by the time it begins should be ashamed.

Brazil is not ready to host the World Cup

Therefore, Brazil should be ashamed.


Brazil hosting the the World Cup in 2014 has been a recurring issue since its announcement in 2006. Brazilians have been arguing how a country that over 16.3 million people live in extreme poverty and 8.7% of the population do not know how to read or write due to the lack of education can host a World Cup that will require billions of reais in investments. People have also been complaining about the corrupt politicians that take advantage of the event and take money into their own pockets instead of investing it in public hospitals and schools. As of now, the World Cup has cost up to 8 billion reais in stadiums and accommodations, and yet the country is still unprepared, lacking public transit and a decent airport.

Having said that, we can see where the idea behind the syllogism comes from. To start off, the first premise states that any country that is not ready to host a world event by the time it begins should be ashamed, however, what we define as being 'ready' is subjective and relative to the person that interprets it. This involves perception as a way of knowing, as through the eyes of a Brazilian citizen, one may say that the country is completely unprepared, however, according to the standards and requirements of FIFA, Brazil is apt to host the World Cup. Having lived in Brazil for my entire life, I know from personal knowledge and experience that the country is not prepared, as there are many other issues to be resolved, for example, the quality of the public tranportation, the amount of acommodations to host everyone, and the stadiums that are not yet ready. There are also several other political issues to be taken care of before the Brazil hosts a World Cup.

The premise also mentions that the 'country' should be ashamed, which can be considered somewhat of a generalization as the country does not represent a small party of people who make the decisions regarding the event. The country reprepesents the entire population, one cannot say that we should be ashamed of ourselves for something we are not responsible for. Nevertheless, that is only in my opinion, one may also argue that the country is represented by the government or maybe even by the higher social class, which brings the idea of language as a way of knowing. Should Brazil be ashamed for not being ready for the World Cup or should we be ashamed for investing billions of dollars in stadiums instead of investing it on education and health conditions for the entire population? Should we be ashamed for not meeting high expectations being a country that soccer is the native sport? Language here plays a great role in questioning this syllogism.

The second premise then states that Brazil is not ready to host the World Cup, which goes back to the idea of perception, as being 'ready' depends on who interprets it. The source of this claim should be questioned, as we do not know from whose perception this is.

The syllogism is valid, as the conclusion follows given from the premises. However, the valdity of its truth can be questioned as there are subjective matters that are taken into consideration.