Your article on the NYTimes, referring to my President as an alcoholic,is based on hear-saying. I am surprised (should I be?) that a journalist with your qualities (of international repute -to sum up) would agree to serve as a servant to your bosses, and write a difaming article like this one.
I believe that you need your salary more than a lesson on dignity. Money is money, we all learned that early in life. Nevertheless, there are some itens in life that shouldn t go unappraised. One of them is dignity. You sold your dignity to your bosses at the New York Times, by writing up an article that is based on rumors, on fofocas , caught in the less reliable of sources: among others, Mr. Leonel Brizola, openly an ennemy of Lula.
I am not saying that Lula drinks or doesn t drink. I don t know for sure, as you don t either. However, I learned, also early in life, not to defame people. Avoid by all means to disclose aspects of anybody s life that I am not able to show as real and truthful.
What you did is below dignity, my dear Larry. You spooned some comments here and there and sent to your bosses the merchandise ordered. Your article, or the merchandise delivered, has all the scents, shape and weight of earlier packages: in order to humiliate a country, let s get the president. Look for some weakness on his part. Oh, he drinks! He has a habit of drinking among friends during his famous barbeques! Wow, here is a wonderful opportunity to get the man! Show the world that the man is a drinker! A consummate drinker and that this habit of his can impair his ability to conduct a country...
I am not sure, dear Larry, whether my president is a drinker or not. Through the many pictures shown in papers, magazines and on TV, I have not seen that his behavior is better or worse due to a drinking problem. (It would be easy to catch such a behavior through eyes, language and manners, as you know.) The man may drink during his spare time among intimate friends. Don t you, dear Larry? Don t you get drunk, really drunk to the point of being unable to write a line on your computer and having to postpone some articles for one or two days? Tell me that you don t drink, dear Larry (unless you are a Mormon, I will not believe you).
We are used to drink among friends, Larry. We are. And while we are having fun with friends, we are in recess from our obligations at the office. That s why the week has six days - one day at least is made for us to relax. If one drinks during these events, it is called social drinking . Relaxing drinking.
Your article is made by special order. You had to write it in order to keep your job. Too bad that you came to this point. Because like me, you really don t believe that President Lula is addicted to drinking. Your article shows that you, being reluctant to make a definite assessment of the Brazilian President s habit , decided to base your statements on other people s opinions and perspectives. You went to one side of the river. How about being a little more journalistic and searching for the other side of the same story? How about that? Oh, I see... your bosses do not want to hear more about it. For them, it is a case closed. Ther intention was to start a campaign of de-stabilization in the country.... Oh I see... Now it makes more sense. Sense? No, I don t think so. ---- Go and get back to what you learned in life, dear Larry. Dignity. (Or didn t you?)
