Syllogism

Prompt:

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.

Before responding to the prompt, it is important to have a brief explanation on what the World Cup is and also to understand some key terms that are crucial to the answer of this syllogism. The World Cup is an event by FIFA (Féderation Internationale de Football Association) that happens every four years. The last one was in 2010 in South Africa, and this year, it will be hosted by Brazil. There are 32 teams divided into 8 groups of 4, where the top two in each group advances to the round of 16, then 8 to the quarterfinals, 4 to the semi, and two to the final. Just to have an idea, the World Cup is the second most viewed event in the world, only loosing to the Super Bowl (American Football).  Brazil has 5 championships, and soccer is the most important sport in the country. Now let’s get straight to the point. A huge discussion is going on whether Brazil is ready or not to host the World Cup, and even worse, if the country’s internal problems (involving the huge corruption of the politics and others) will negatively impact the event as a whole. But in order to answer the syllogism above, we must first determine what two words mean. The first one is ready. Is Brazil being ready means that all the stadiums are ready or both the stadiums and the whole infrastructure are ready? This is certainly a huge deal because Brazil may be ready in one category and not ready in another. The second word is ashamed. To what extent should Brazil be ashamed? Does it mean ashamed not to have enough infrastructure and public needs? Or does it mean to be ashamed of the politics being involved and the corruption between them. Or even both… These two words are key, so I will write about the two different approaches in each one of them.

The first one is how much Brazil is ready. If we take in consideration only the stadiums, Brazil is ready. According to an article in Terra, a Brazilian site, 6 stadiums are still not 100%, but 5 of them are in their final touches. So eventually, Brazil will get all of its stadiums ready. But on the other hand, if we use the word “ready” to mean that the whole project is ready, then Brazil is definitely not ready. As we know, the public transportation suffers major problems (the traffic is chaotic, the metro stations are not ready and the buses are often overpopulated), as well as the airports (some terminals are not ready and there are too many flights for too little terminals) and the public hospitals (which is definitely terrible).  The second word is the word ashamed. As mentioned in paragraph one, I truly believe that Brazil should be ashamed in both cases. Brazil has not enough infrastructures to host the world cup, as stated in the previous point.  And even worse, the corruption here is simply insane. According to an article in Estadão, FIFA said in 2007, when Brazil was nominated to be host in 2014, that the stadiums would only be worth about R$ 2.6 billion (about $1.1 Billion). In this article published in January 27^th of this year, it states that the costs of the stadiums are already R$8.9 Billion. The price is already more than three times greater than what FIFA promised in 2007.

      But these are only pre-World Cup thoughts and emotions. When the event occurs, the problems faced before it will be forgotten. Not forever, but only during the event. Let’s face it, soccer is the most practiced and adored sport in Brazil, so the people will definitely go to the stadium to cheer for the “seleção”. It is simple: our passion will overcome our problems. Despite the corruption and the negative internal problems in the country, the people will go to the stadium and they will enjoy the World Cup. So, going back to the syllogism, Brazil is somewhat ready to host the World Cup, but it should be ashamed because of corruption and lack of infrastructure in the country.

Websites Used:
1. http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/esportes,custo-dos-estadios-da-copa-do-mundo-ja-chega-a-r-8-9-bilhoes,1123266,0.htm
2. http://esportes.terra.com.br/futebol/copa-2014/cem-dias-para-a-copa-veja-como-estao-os-12-estadios,daa58246a4584410VgnVCM4000009bcceb0aRCRD.html