Igor Sacramento 262 SUS11, to have the right to try to be saved via Chloroquine12.” A few weeks later, in a post shared on June 8, when broadcasting the news that WHO had apologized for hydroxychloroquine and concluded that asymptomatic patients have no potential to in- fect others, Bolsonaro declared: “Millions were locked in their homes, lost their jobs, and negatively affected the economy13.” In this logic, ideological differences andmoral values as parts of the system of beliefs and representations of the subjects to whom the utterances are addressed and constitute themselves as legitimizing arguments that go beyond the credential elements in the order of ethos, that is, the rhetoric that the president circulates on digital networks “remains in line with what is dear to the society it intends to conquer” (DITTRICH, 2009, p. 68) However, as Dittrich (2009) argues, the success of an argument does not always come from technical reasonableness. After all, “knowledge and rhetorical exploration of the so- cial and cultural factors involved can therefore assume greater importance than a solid scientific basis” (ibid., 2009, p.74). As a product of contemporary culture, which contests the insuffi- ciency of the external observer and affirms the body of the wit- ness as an epistemological instance that produces knowledge, the Bolsonarist rhetoric in defense of the use of hydroxychloro- quine in the treatment of COVID-19 makes use of a third form of ethic argument. Although the privileged position of power that the president occupies and the worldview that legitimizes his rhetoric produce real effects, Bolsonaro resorts to experiential arguments – his personal experiences, as well as the testimonies of doctors who recommend the drug and some cured patients of COVID-19 – as a means of producing evidence that the scientific method does not provide. On the same day that he gave an interview announcing the positive diagnosis for the new coronavirus, on July 7, Bolso- naro posted a 45-second video on his Facebook page with the following caption: “I took hydroxychloroquine, and I am feeling 11 SUS - Unified Health System is the Brazilian public health system created by the Federal Constitution of 1988. 12 Available at https://bit.ly/2RAMST3. Accessed on September, 2020. 13 Available at https://bit.ly/3knTHnI. Accessed on September, 2020.
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