the most Portuguese

Recently, I have been characterizing Catholic culture in order to understand the inner workings of Portuguese society. I have also stated that the blogosphere is, in my eyes, an excellent laboratory for experimentation and observation of society. It is high time to ask the question: which is the most Portuguese of all blogs?

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The answer is Blasfémias. By far.

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First, as in any Catholic society, Blasfémias needs an orthodoxy and it has one. As its name and motto suggest it is some form of rational, lay, liberalism directed at offending God and the Portuguese people and subverting its traditions.

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Second, like any other Catholic society, Blasfémias is an open Blog putting together people coming from different walks of life. Everybody is welcome and everyone can do as he likes. There is considerable freedom of action.

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Third, the only reason for exclusion is not action, but thought or words. Heresy is the cardinal sin in Blasfémias as it is in any other Catholic society. Given the Blog's orthodoxy, heresy in Blasfémias means defending God and the Portuguese people and its traditions. I know of at least three herectics who were excommunicated from Blasfémias. As with the Inquisition, their crimes were crimes of thought.

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Fourth, like any other Catholic community, Blasfémias cannot survive without restricting freedom of expression and imposing censorship. In fact, specially in times of crises the Blog actively resorts to all sorts of censorship and PIDE-type behaviour, such as controlling the IP's of its visitors. The herectics are then denounced in public and their character assassinated.

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Fifth, when left without a common authority - I argued below - , Catholic societies tend to disaggregate into adversarial factions each one believing it has absolute truth and with a tendency to become fanatical. There is indeed a number of fanatical people in Blasfémias. They show up most clearly, among bloggers and commentators, when you test them with heresy (v.g., talking positively about God and the Church, negatively about Jews, positively about Salazar, negatively about Bush, positively about Muslims, etc.).

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Sixth, public discussion in a Catholic society leads nowhere - I argued in a recent post - because 95% of the people do not know what they are talking about and will only produce noise; the views of the other 5% are submerged by such noise. Issues raised in Blasfémias' posts are sometimes very interesting, but the discussions are dismal, usually ending up in anarchy and chaos. A consensus is never reached on any issue - not even a minimal consensus. Actually, 95% of the commentaries appearing in the commentary boxes are garbage.

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Seventh, when Protestant freedom of expression comes to prevail among a Catholic people they end up protesting against everything - I argued in another post. Actually, the vast majority of posts and commentaries in Blasfémias are some variant of protesting, including indignation. And when bloggers and commentators have protested against everything, they usually start protesting against each other.

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Eighth, Catholic peoples are not independent thinkers - I argued still in another post. Their doctrines are always imported. They are typically second-hand traders of ideas. The liberalism prevaling in Blasfémias is no different.

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Nineth, every Catholic community needs a supreme, personal authority - a Pope. This is the man who commands authority and respect from all others so that, when they get in conflict with each other, he is in a position to discipline them - if necessary with a few nalgadas. Blasfémias's pope is uncle LR.

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Tenth, the thesis of this post is the following: if Blasfémias, as its name and motto seem to suggest, was created to change Portuguese society or mentality, it won't. Because there is no Blog as Portuguese and as rooted in Catholic culture as it is.