Dissing in the wind

One of the more offbeat stories to emerge from the Carnival in Brazil this year was that 214 people were arrested in Rio de Janeiro for urinating in the street.

Most comments present this as an amusing little story, something to file in the ‘odd stories’ section of the newspaper, but this ignores a couple of key points about Brazil when compared to other fast-developing nations:

• The police and carnival organisers apologised to the public and promised that an increased number of public conveniences would be available next year. There is a method to the madness of millions that is Carnival.
• There are plenty of places around the world where it is considered normal to urinate in the street – you would not be arrested for this behavior. Though IT Decisions loves visiting India, it is a place where it is unusual to not see someone urinating in the street, even in the centre of major cities.

Sometimes it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. As the Brazilian press chastises drunken louts for their antisocial actions those same commentators might want to look outside their own border to see how others behave.

Marcel Duchamp ‘Fountain’ photo by Mary Lafferty Holman licensed under Creative Commons