Mediatization, polarization, and intolerance (between environments, media, and circulation)

Trajectories of coronavirus and interpenetrations of social discourses 211 gence with WHO, a dialogue between them is made public by the media. “You will be responsible for the consequences, for the deaths,” said the minister. The president replied: “I won’t, the governors are the ones who will.” And, commenting on the profile of his substitute, the resigning minister, declared: “[...] he should organize a team that can build another view and may it be done also based on science” (EM, 16/04/2020). A week later, asked by a journalist about the increase in the number of death cases, the president defended himself and adopted another type of denial, when he said, sarcastically: “Oh, man, who talks about ... me? I’m not a gravedigger, okay? I am not a gravedigger” (TERRA, 20/04/2020). The same reac- tion is repeated and, when asked by a journalist about the rising cases of death, he made fun of his name, mocking the misfortune and fate of the dead: “So what? I am sorry. What do you want me to do? I am Messiah, but I do not perform miracles” (TERRA, 04/28/2020). Appearing higher conformity with the rates of increase in cases, he gave a speech that naturalized and, at the same time, popularized the epidemic: “This is a reality, the virus is there. We’re going to have to face it but face it like a f ucking man. Not like a kid. Let’s face the virus with reality. It is life, we will all die one day ” (GLOBO/G1, 04/20/). He justified the resignation of his first minister of health, calling himself a spokesman for the people: “My view is a little different from Minister Mandetta, who is focused on his ministry. My vision has to be broader, of the biggest risks. I have to decide, I cannot omit myself, I have to look for what the people who believed in me want” (VALOR ECONÔMICO, 04/17/2020). However, the dismissed minister, when saying goodbye to his colleagues in the Ministry, reiterated the defense of the theses of cooperative knowledge and whose emphasis he imposed on policies against the spread of the virus: “This problem of dis- missal is insignificant. Nothing has a meaning other than the de- fense of life, SUS, and science. Stay [when reporting to his help- ers] on these three pillars that you will conquer everything with them. Science is light, it is enlightenment. Bet all your energies in science. Don’t have a single vision and don’t even think inside a box” (FSP, 04/16/2020).