Diogo Mainardi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article may not meet the general notability guideline or one of the following specific guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand or rewrite the article to establish its notability. The best way to address this concern is to reference published, third-party sources about the subject. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for redirection, merging, or deletion, per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion. This article has been tagged since September 2008. |
Diogo Briso Mainardi (born September 22, 1962) is a Brazilian journalist, publicist and TV commentator, mainly known for his articles in Brazil's largest weekly magazine, Veja.
He was born in São Paulo, where he finished high school. He went to London to study economics at the London School of Economics. Not managing to maintain a passing average, he quit in his freshman year, and never graduated. During that period, he met Ivan Lessa, whom he regards as one of his greatest influences.
Mainardi previously lived in Venice, where he met Gore Vidal who heaped praise on him during a mid-1980s conference tour in Brazil. He has published five books: Malthus (1989), Arquipélago (1992), Polígono das Secas (1995), Contra o Brasil (1998), and A Tapas e Pontapés (2004). None of the first four - all novels - were successes, but his latest book, featuring excerpts of his political articles in Veja, has been a commercial - but not a critical - success. He has also written two screenplays: 16060 (1995) and Mater Dei (2001). Both films were major box-office flops, something Mainardi regularly makes fun of in a self-deprecating manner.
Mainardi has been subject of controversy, due to his political positions, commonly perceived as elitist and right-wing. He often criticizes Brazil's current president, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, and his party, from a rightist point-of-view. Particularly, he likes to insist in Lula's supposed lack of intelligence and finesse. In 2007 Mainardi wrote a book by the name Lula É Minha Anta (Lula is my tapir) [1]. (in Brazilian Portuguese slang, "anta" is a heavy insult. When the tapir panics, it is said to run through the forest, trampling whatever is in its way. So to call someone an "anta" is to say that such person is like a stupid animal, who does violent irrational things and cannot be stopped by persuasion [1]. Or, as Mainardi himself says in the book's earmark, "Lula is mine. Only I can call him ignorant and authoritarian"). As a result of his journalistic style, he has been sued by many politicians and other journalists. Journalist Franklin Martins won a 30,000 reais (about 18,000 dollars) cause against him; journalist Mino Carta won a 35,000 reais (about 20,000 dollars) cause.
His writing style is pamphletary, heavyhanded, and inflammatory:
How that? Who gave such attorney the right to attempt to incriminate me through a calumny spread to a blog? Who she thinks she is? That's fascism. (...) I know how to deal with internet bums. I also know that when they smear filth in the Federal Police and the Public Ministry, it is necessary to react. I'm here, reacting.
He is currently a member of a Sunday night cable TV panel show called Manhattan Connection, broadcast by the GNT channel, a part of Globosat.
Mainardi maintains a podcast available on the Veja website. He is married and has two sons. The older one, Tito, suffers from cerebral palsy.
He regularly cites noted Brazilian intellectuals Paulo Francis and Ivan Lessa as his mentors.
[edit] Quotes
"I don't feel the responsibility to construct, only to destroy".
"The role of the press is to chase, hunt and knock down the politicians in power- someone's gotta control those people".
"Lula is my Xbox. He's my Nintendo".
"There is only one kind [of people] worse than leftists with no principles - the leftists with principles." [2]
[edit] References
- ^ MAINARDI, Diogo. Lula É Minha Anta. São Paulo: Editora Record, 1ª edição 2007, ISBN 9788501080707
- ^ Mainardi, Diogo. Padre Julio Lancellotti, Frei Betto e os bandidos. Revista Veja. October 23, 2007. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
