XEROPITTURA

Post-Elitism And Brazillian Culture

I used to tell my friends about how easy it was to distinguish someone's background by watching them try to

behave in supposedly "neutral" environments. I had this game where me and one of my best friends would guess

where a certain person we focused on lived by their choices of words, how fast they talked and also by how

that person was dressed. Sometimes, I'd get more points for things she didn't know of or she would win based

on how much she knew the persons traits. So by the end of a day together, we'd usually have 7 points each.

Most of the time, the game would start and finish in the neighbourhoods we lived in (Moema or Jd. Europa) but

the targets weren't from our neighbourhoods, and it was ridiculous to see them trying to play it off.

The places me and that friend lived in were rather basic than a tourist attraction, but I won't lie to you

that since some top-tier stores are located in these areas to make you believe they're in a good position,

these spots got a huge flow of clients from a lot of different backgrounds, usually aspiring teenagers. And

besides for ourselves and our families, these visitors didn't really know the companies spent their last

pennies on buying expensive square meters to see if it makes people believe they're entering the luxury kind

of standard. Wich in my opinion, is the absolute master move to make racks on lying to the masses.

With these two informations now being absorbed by your brain, I want you to try to guess if your behaviours

alone are loud enough to describe you. Let's say, do you think that you can guess my age if I tell you that

I like to listen to Footwork and trap music? Or even that I have a considerable extensive archive of books and

old subversive magazines? If you cannot at least track my blood origin alone, you're part of these people who

are unaware of people around you. But it's okay, I'm here to try to explain it to you like you're 5.

Every place you can think of makes you behave in a certain way, (if it doesn't, stay at home.) usually by

learning how the said place operates, how the people in it usually work or even by how you've seen things

happening in there. I mean, if everything inside of your brain is working right, you're not going to loudly

talk in a movie theater, and you're also not going to use curse words where there's women. You're going to

do filter your behaviours, polish yourself and put on a mask. Now, this is where it gets interesting.

If you've been in a certain place where your behaviours are accepted, you're not going to know anything about

yourself. Like, if you live somewhere where no one has beaten the shit out of you for smoking weed, you're

still going to bring 3 or 4 blunts to a top-class neighbourhood and think it's okay to smoke there. I mean,

no one else has ever called you out on it so, why correct it, right? No one is gonna do shit. Or so you think.

Me and my friend Lorraine used to go to the same malls every weekend if we weren't doing stuff on our condos

or travelling. And almost every month, we'd get a couple rookies trying to play it off like they also were

like us (usually boys wearing designer caps, shirts, or girls using the same designer bags and shoes) and

this is where our game started: if that person was quiet and didn't move fast, we'd assume the said target did

live nearby but moved to another condo out of convenience. If that target didn't have parents, we'd think she

or he was as influencer or got to take care of their family member's apartment for a week. But, if that person

was obnoxious, used tons of cheap makeup, stared at us and used any form of slanging while speaking fast or

changed their facial expressions as they were talking about their problems, me and Lorraine would be sure that

this new person we found out about was from a very cheap and trashy background. And most times, we were right.

Something that it's impossible to lie about is your background and what culture you're consuming. It doesn't

really matter if you're taking ettiquete classes, if you're manifesting new realities, or even if you're from

a place where the higher-class people visit, you're still going to let your background slip in through the

mask you're using to fit in. Wich by itself isn't bad or wrong, but it's ridiculous to see people that don't

know anything about a certain spot or lifestyle, trying to fit in like they know the environment from years

of experience. And it's really embarassing to see some other people not changing their behaviours once they're

in a better place to live. Not only for them to show that they're still covered in mud but also for us who

sometimes have to bear slanging and poor ettiquete in order to not cause a fight or even defamation.

Because of everything I mentioned, I believe it still isn't common knowledge that you can't lie about culture.

Culture is rooted in every human soul, rooted in every brick that's been placed, wether it's a literal brick

or something else, like music or clothing code. So don't try to be a smart-ass anywhere, you'll get tagged.

P'S: Lorry just sent me a message to ask me if I remember about a girl who kept telling us her $600 jacket would

be enough to buy our closets. That's such a cute joke. It won't even pay half of my Gucci crop top. Thanks.