A second world future

When talking about Brazil conservatives often quote Charles de Gaulle's famous quip "Brazil is the country of the future and always will be." The most recent example being when Brazilian president Lula de Silva blamed "whites people with blue eyes" for the current financial crisis.

On one level though, the idea of Brazil being a country of the future may not be as far-fetched as conservatives think.

I'm not talking about Brazil turning into some kind of Latin Tiger, although its economy is improving, but the uncomfortable possibility that the West is becoming more like Brazil.

In many respects Brazil represents the global average in terms of living standards and civilisation.

Income wise, it's very close to the world average, and is also pretty average on most other socio-economic indicators like life expectancy and infant mortality. It's relatively peaceful and doesn't spend a lot on defence, although crime levels are very high in the big cities.

The multiracial population varies a lot in terms of IQ, but overall is close to the global average of about 90, and as in other multicultural countries like the U.S, there's a smart Eurasian elite (white plus Japanese) and big disparities in wealth between rich and poor.

The countries high culture is nothing to write home about, although it no doubt has the odd high achiever, and it's scientists don't win many noble prizes. Few people are seriously interested in politics, and history, and films and TV shows are generally mediocre. Only its football team and the odd supermodel really stand out from the crowd.

In terms of social attitudes is also very much in tune with current trends. Racism is not seen as a big issue, morals are relatively loose, and people are pretty hedonistic. Corruption is moderately high and the populist government supports the odd long -term development, but is mostly focused on short-term prosperity and pacifying its multicultural population.

In other words, by most measures, average Brazil is where the above average western world in the age of globalisation seems to be heading.

Second world mediocrity I suppose is a big step up from third-world anarchy, which some environmental doomsayers say is our future, but it's still a big step down from a comfortable life in the first world.