Charity as a spetacle: how to forge a philanthropist and make him to be so adored

BRAZILIAN TV PRESENTER, ENTERTAINER AND BUSINESSMAN LUCIANO HUCK, FROM 'CALDEIRÃO DO HUCK' SHOW FROM GLOBO NETWORK, IN PEDRO LEOPOLDO CITY, WHERE CHICO XAVIER WAS BORN.

Charity can be a spetacle? Yes, it can surely be. But people in Brazil doesn't recognize the difference between the spetacle and the reality.

Brazil is a fertile place to reality shows. People is overmediatic, TV is their playground and social media is the "real" spot of their social lives.

While people avoid to find their own friends, running away when they see then or restricting to give some little salute words, social media "life" is full of "likes" and "unlikes" reactions, selfie images and impulsive writing comments.

It influences the religious perceive and when some brazilians became spiritist, the alleged mediums like Francisco Candido Xavier, Divaldo Franco and João de Deus (John of God) are adored like they're being the adult-life fairy-godmothers.

And why theste alleged spiritist mediums are so adored?

Because they represent a symbology of several conservative values of religiousness and family, but also represent banal paradygms about humility, humanity, love, peace and charity.

And it's a realistic vision? No, it doesn't.

There's a vision that became well-constructed by the mainstream media. There's a powerful marketing about pretense philanthropists, made by ingenous rhetoric from religious institutions, with the decisive help of mainstream media.


BRITISH CATHOLIC JOURNALIST AND CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE (ABOVE) MADE A MARKETING RHETORIC WHICH MADE MOTHER THERESA OF KOLKATTA AS A PRETENSE SAINT AND INSPIRED IN BRAZIL THE SAME WORK TO CHICO XAVIER'S MYTH.

The classic example involved Malcolm Muggeridge, catholic journalist and conservative activist who was so famous for his help to make the "saint myth" to Mother Theresa of Calcuta.

The Muggeridge's BBC documentary, titled Something Beautiful for God and released in 1969, shows Mother Theresa as a "brave philanthropist" who "dedicated all her life to the poor and the sick".

It was an attractive myth, but 25 years later, other british journalist, Christopher Hitchens, made other documentary, Hell's Angel, and the book The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice, that shockingly unmasked the "lived saint woman" she was by her myth.

Under the sweetened image of "mother of the poor and the sick", there was a wicked woman who left the poor and sick in subhuman conditions.

It brought some controverse, but college researches confirmed that Mother Theresa kept, in her Home of the Dying in Kolkatta, India, poor and sick people lied in uncomfortable beds, non-higienic conditions and medicated only by aspirine or paracetamol.

One of the most cruel aspects is that the syringes used for injections were reused and washed only with tap water, which is usually dirty.

The Home of the Dying rooms were so dark and gloomy, but Muggeridge's staff - which didn't really share his points of view about Mother Theresa - provided the trick making great spotlights.

According to the film's camera operatior, Ken McMillan, the dark rooms became so bright because the then-newest Kodak camera from the documentary staff was used there.

In simple words, it means that the bright light from Home of the Dying was not a "divine light" mentioned by Muggeridge, but the "miracle of technology" made by a modern filming camera.

Some voluntaries worked to Mother Theresa denounced the ill-treatment and degrading conditions that Mother Teresa left to the poor and the sick.

But, despite the painful truth of this reality, Mother Theresa became officially a saint, associated to the two ridiculous and never-well-explained miracles.

One alleged miracle, in India, was a cure to cancer of an adult woman and housekeeper, in 2002. But she was cured because she had a regular medical threatment and chemotherapy as usually works in Medicine.

Nevertheless, the cure is officially attributed to prayers made with Mother Theresa's medal which the woman's family got in that moment.

Other alleged miracle, in 2008, describes a supposed terminal cancer suffered by an engineer from Santos, Brazil, after a honeymoon travel to Porto Alegre.

He alleged to suffer a terrible headache after meal, which forced him and his newlywed wife to return to Santos and send him to intern in a catholic hospital, São Lucas.

The hospital alleged he was so few days to live for the supposed brain cancer in terminal stage. His wife went to a next church and got the Mother Theresa medal.

In a day after, a man allegedly near to death and seriously sick woke up himself and walked without difficult to make his breakfast, as if he always was so healthy and strong.

The suspect that the cancer never existed and it was a story invented by the hospital members. The real sickness is that the engineer, probably, got only a food intoxication and had a speed recover after this.

The story, however, was made a pretense true and Mother Theresa got a "second miracle" to make her a saint. And amazingly happened in Brazil, where there's enough fools to adore pretense saints.

In brazilian Spiritism, it's usual to not believe necessarily in miracles, although they're respected by its members and Mother Theresa was adopted by this doutrine as a charity symbol.

Anyway, the Muggeridge's documentary inspired brazilian Spiritism to work the same campaign to reinforce the myth of Chico Xavier, an idol provided by the association of Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) and Assis Chateaubriand's Diarios Associados.

Diarios Associados worked Chico Xavier myth as a religious philanthropist, but the emphasis about him consisted to show his alleged mediunity, giving an impression that he was the most important brazilian paranormal.

The problem with the myth - seemed with mistrust by O Cruzeiro magazine's journalists, which tried to report frauds of Chico Xavier's mediunity, including his support to the Otilia Diogo's materialization farse, in the 1960s - is that it stimulates so much sensationalism.

Other plan was made, coincidently after TV Tupi's bankruptcy in 1980, five years after airing the Ivani Ribeiro's soap opera A Viagem (The Journey), freely adapted from Chico Xavier's book Nosso Lar (Our Home).


GLOBO NETWORK'S BUSINESSMAN ROBERTO MARINHO AND CHICO XAVIER (INSIDE THE TV SCREEN, IN THIS PHOTOMONTAGE) - A COMMON VIEW.

FEB improved the rising of Globo Organization in Brazil's dictatorship years, the mid-1970s, to make a new partnership to recycle the adoration to Chico Xavier, a best seller author of this federation.

Xavier feeded the sensationalist media working the pretense dead-relative letters to poor people, mixing alleged paranormality and religious devotion, making the alleged medium's fame for the pleasure of yellow press' journalists.

It's usual that the brazilian yellow press glamourizes the violence and death.

But this conservative media, targeted to the poor readers, also explores religious fanatism, and Chico Xavier's alleged paranormality is good to this low-level press to work reports with great impact and money-revenue.

But sensationalism is not enough to keep Chico Xavier's myth, although this skillful trick of mediumistic letters is officially considered "the greatest charity" of this alleged medium.

It's necessary to make a clean work that makes less sensationalism and get further to sanctify the alleged spiritist medium and his following similars.

Globo corporation, aka Organizações Globo, received the job to recycle Chico Xavier's myth in the same clearful way.

The job was not hard. Malcolm Muggeridge made the entire work, and the work should only be applied to Chico Xavier, just under different context from brazilian Spiritism.

The same script about alleged Mother Theresa's philanthropy was inserted to Chico Xavier and he became to be the actor of this same spetacle acting.

It was a myth of philanthropy which charity doesn't really make great social results, only bringing adoration and devotion to the occasion's benefactor.

We must to pay attention that Brazil had not any social progress from the apparent philanthropy by the alleged mediums, despite the fanatic, fascinated and intensive adoration to them.

The charity, thus, never really worked to the poor, reduced to be a mediocre group of house inmates or dependents of eventual donations, who are not brought by the alleged spiritist mediums, but by third parties, as the brazilian Spiritism followers.

This pretense philanthropy only works for the benefactors' adoration, although the low results usually got in its activities and campaigns.

It doesn't matter that the misery was disappeared and the food donations run out in a few of days. The pretense charity must to be celebrated and the benefactors have to be glorified for the almost-nothing they done.

It's a show and brazilian people have currently and opportunity to know the ficticious show of charity watching the Luciano Huck's Caldeirão do Huck (Huck's Cauldron), also aired by Globo Network.

The Globo Network makes the same charity campaigns - also known by events like its philanthropic event Criança Esperança (Hopeful Child), held every year - that made Chico Xavier a religious myth by current terms since 40 years ago, through journalistic shows like Globo Reporter and Fantastico.

Luciano Huck was the rich young people's TV columnist, originally presenting Circulando show, aired in Central Nacional de Televisão (CNT) network, during the late 1990s.

Afterwards, Huck, himself a rich family member from São Paulo, became so famous presenting, in TV Bandeirantes' network, the variety show just called H, a mixture of sensual women, game shows and mainstream young stars.

Since 2000, Huck is a Globo Network star, and he's married to a former childish star Angelica Ksyvickis and both have three children, two boys and a girl.

The charity myth worked to Luciano Huck - shortly after he became a successful and celebrated "funk carioca" representative and always supporter - is observed in Caldeirão do Huck's section, called "Lata Velha" (Old Can), a politically correct reply to MTV's Pimp My Ride.

In this show part, Huck explores poor people's cases and stories, and try to help them, reforming a car to bring them to use in specific finalities.

Rumors denounced that the poor sometimes had forced to give the reformed cars back to Huck's production staff, through small recompense.

Brazilian people generally have so much difficult to admit difference to a real charity that transform lives and the spectacular charity that only brings the adored reputation of the alleged benefactors.

There's so much shadowy secrets and misteries to be revealed. And when the charity puts the benefactor above the needy, it's recommended to distrust.