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Comment by ryanmccullagh | Hacker News Reader

Anyone who has never been to Brazil has no right to speak about this topic. Edit: I see the down-votes, but will stand my ground on this topic.

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Can you explain your position here a bit? It seems rather aggressive and somewhat demeaning, although I'm not sure if you intended to come off this way. Do you mean people who haven't been to Brazil literally have no right to discuss this, or do you mean to say they aren't in a position to truly understand the situation?

Interesting position.

Can someone who's never been to a black hole be allowed to speak about them?

Can someone who's never been to Washington DC speak about US history?

Can someone who's never had cancer speak about it?

Can someone who's never been homeless speak about issues and solutions?

Can someone who hasn't been killed in a favela speak about violent deaths in favelas?

Maybe the murderer could speak about violent deaths?

I'm waiting for when we acknowledge that only gun owners should be able to talk about gun control, personally.

(in case this isn't clear, this is a gibe at the typically left-leaning pattern that only natives of a country should be able to criticise it / only women should be able to talk about abortion rights / only trans people should be able to talk about trans issues / etc)

I've been to Brazil. Stayed in Rio for 5 days. Went to Sugarloaf Mountain and saw Cristo Redentor. Saw a regional "futbol" match, got drunk and danced the night away. Never stepped foot into a favela, closest I got was as I flew into and out of the airport there.

Why do I have a right to speak about Brazilian favelas and a (team of) reporter(s) whose done dozens (or hundreds) of hours of research on the topic does not?

You don't have any right since you've never been to Brazil outside of tourist context. All the places you've listed are famous tourist attractions. Do you believe your opinion and views about Favelas actually have merit? If so, on what basis?

The point was being made that your "been to Brazil" bar is far too low.

You're committing the same fallacy as the other responder. This bar is THE LEAST of the thresholds, not THE LAST of them. You're misconstruing the comments to which you're responding.

I lived in Brazil for a year and drove past Favelas sometimes but otherwise lived an upper middle class lifestyle.

Do I have a right to speak about Brazilian favelas unlike a (team of) reporter(s) whose done dozens (or hundreds) of hours of research on the topic?

Is everything with stripes a zebra?

The comment decries impugns those who have "never been to Brazil". It does not corroborate those who have.

Everyone understood that, the conversation is now about how inaccurate that is.

Please don't post flamebait here; also, please don't post unsubstantive comments; also, please don't break the site guidelines by going on about downvotes.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I used to live in Gávea at the base of Rocinha in Rio and although I used to spend most of my time in the city, I used used to go hang out with my buddy Marcos up in Laborieux, the morro de Rocinha, from time to time. Am I allowed an opinion?

I am detecting a big fragility.

Ooohhh, no one can talk about the bad parts of my country, ooooohh.

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