Autor: danielbatista

If you think phrases like God, Homeland and Family are just dusty memories from history books, think again. This slogan, born in twentieth-century European fascism, has come back with force in several countries – and today it shows up in hashtags, memes, and digital chain messages. In Brazil, it found new life in the Nazifascismbolsonarist regime, showing how old words can be recycled and turned into modern political weapons.

But why are these slogans so powerful?
Because they work like political prayers. Short, direct, easy to memorise, they trigger deep emotions and create a sense of unity: whoever repeats them feels part of a group…

– In Italian fascism, Dio, Patria, Famiglia was taught in schools and civic rituals like a daily catechism.
– In Vichy France, Travail, Famille, Patrie replaced the French Revolution’s motto – Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.
– In Nazi Germany, Gott mit uns gave war a divine seal.
– And in the United States, In God We Trust.

And in the twenty-first century? The logic is the same, only in digital form. Today, slogans are not confined to rallies and posters: they become hashtags, memes, and even WhatsApp chain messages. To share is the new praying; to go viral is to congregate.

The secret of this force is also in our body and brain. Research shows that words like “god”, “homeland”, and “family” activate universal moral foundations linked to loyalty, purity, and authority. That’s why, even without fully grasping the politics behind them, many people feel a “warmth in the chest” when they hear these words.

The problem is that this emotional energy can be hijacked to sustain authoritarian projects. The so-called fa(ith)ke news – fake news disguised as faith – work like modern myths: they don’t need to be true, they just need to be believed and ritually repeated. Believers feel they belong; doubters are expelled.

In the end, God, Homeland and Family is not just an old slogan – it is a global formula of authoritarianism that adapts to each era. Before, it appeared in marches, flags, and schoolbooks; today, it circulates in memes, chain messages, and emotional TikTok videos.

The challenge is to disarm this ritual power. To recognise that authoritarian slogans are not innocent but tools that colonise minds. And above all, to build new narratives that protect democracy and future generations from being captured by imaginaries of exclusion.

Download or Read more here:
BATISTA, D. J. (2025). God, Homeland and Family: An Analysis of Fa(ith)ke news and the Cult of Transnational Authoritarian Aesthetics. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16893837

BATISTA, D. J. (2025). Deus, Pátria e Família: Análise da fé-ke news e do culto à estética autoritária transnacional. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16893775

Have you ever heard someone ask: “What’s the mistura today?”
If you grew up in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, or many other regions of Brazil, that phrase probably sounds familiar. Mistura is how millions of families refer to the protein part of the meal that goes with rice and beans: meat, egg, chicken, fish… it doesn’t matter which one.

But is this word just a popular custom, or does it carry something deeper?

Continuar a ler “What’s the mistura today?”

Have you noticed how many religions work just like games?
There are levels (from ordinary believer to pastor, bishop, or guru), missions (prayers, fasts, pilgrimages), invisible scoring (good deeds, tithes, hours in worship), and even epic rewards: healing, prosperity, salvation, enlightenment.

Sound familiar? It’s almost like an online game.

Continuar a ler “Refusing to Play With God Transforms Believers into NPCs”

A few years ago, I had a dream that changed my life.
In the dream, I was inside my mother’s womb. I felt the warmth of the water, soft colors floating around me, and sounds that touched my whole body. But suddenly, the scene shifted: a weight, a pain, a violence. The feeling was so strong that, when I told my psychologist, I could only say:
“It was as if I were being violated through her.”

Continuar a ler “Fetal Memory”

Have you ever had that “Eureka!” moment, when suddenly everything makes sense? Maybe the answer to a problem, a forgotten memory, or even a creative idea that seemed to appear out of nowhere. What happens there isn’t magic – it’s a natural brain process I call puzzlefication.

Continuar a ler “Puzzlefication: How the Brain Creates New Ideas”

Have you ever stopped to think about the name LIBRAS? Many people repeat it without question: “Língua Brasileira de Sinais” (Brazilian Sign Language). It sounds simple, but behind this acronym lies a history of linguistic, political, and cultural violence. Look at this:

a) LISBRA: in Brazilian Portuguese – Língua de Sinais Brasileira
in English: Brazilian Sign Language;

b) LIBRAS: in Brazilian Portuguese – Língua Brasileira de Sinais
in English it would be something like
Sign Brazilian Language.

Continuar a ler “American Sign Language or Sign American Language?”

What if the most widely read book in the world could be told in a different way?
What if, instead of a rigid and distant narrative, the story of creation were retold with the colors, rhythms, and symbols of the Orishas?

That was the question that gave birth to The Bible Inspired by the Orishas. A project born out of listening to a deep pain: that of a young Deaf boy who longed to read the Word without depending on interpreters, without mediators, in his own language. He wanted to feel close to god directly, without filters. His words struck me like lightning: “I don’t want to be a slave to interpreters. I want to know what god really said.”

Continuar a ler “The Bible Inspired by the Orishas”

When we hear the word Goetia, many people immediately think of fear, mystery, or even something forbidden. But… what if we could look at it differently?

Goetia Kids was born with exactly this intention: to transform a tradition often surrounded by taboo into something creative, poetic, and accessible for children and families. Instead of reinforcing horror stories, the project reimagines the classical characters of the Goetia in dialogue with figures from mythologies, legends, and folk traditions from around the world. In this way, they appear as curious, unique beings – always welcomed with care and kindness.

Continuar a ler “Goetia Kids: Spiritual Diversity in Childhood”

What if all of this were about pleasure, power, and control over the body?

Boys wear blue. Girls wear pink.
Boys get joysticks. Girls get dolls.

It may seem like a silly stereotype – and it is. But it’s also a deep reflection of a much older symbolic logic. A logic that, for centuries, has dictated who gets to control, who gets to care, who gets to desire.

This text is not about toys. It’s about what toys teach us about the body, pleasure, power, and affection. It’s about the subtle (yet powerful) ways technology, consumption, and culture have been shaping human desire for millennia – a phenomenon I’ve come to call affective-erotic substitution.

Continuar a ler “Boys get joysticks. Girls get dolls”

Why Do We Love Who (or What) Doesn’t Exist?

Have you ever found yourself falling in love with a movie, series, or video game character? Have you felt affection for a virtual pet, like the old Tamagotchi? Have you ever covered your walls with posters and daydreamed about people you’ll never meet?
If so, you’re not alone – and this says a lot about all of us.

Long before today’s technologies, humans have created symbolic ways to love, desire, and connect. Cave paintings, fertility statues, gods with human features, and stories of platonic love are just a few examples of how we project our feelings onto idealised figures. Technology has only made this more visible – and perhaps easier.

And this is all connected to what we call affective-erotic substituition…

Continuar a ler “Affective-Erotic Substitution”