Ordering Progress ... and a Side of Fries

For some in Brazil, the national motto "Order and Progress" could be
 "Order some Fries...That's Progress!" 

In an era of increasingly rapid global connections, the diffusion of innovations can be both more rapid and more thorough than in the past. I was reminded of this by the recent story of the cyber-shaming of Bela Gil.

First of all, cyber-shaming itself is an export of which my country should not be proud. The incredible power of computing and communicating is too often employed to give thousands of people the opportunity to behave as sand-lot bullies, picking on people over minor flaws, real or imagined.

Second, the particular reason that the Brazilian food writer Bela Gil is being harassed is that many of her fellow Brazilians have mistaken processed food for economic progress. Gil's flaw? Packing a healthy lunch for her daughter. Really.