By TADEU ALENCAR ARRAIS*

There are several ways to interpret homicides committed by drivers of Porsche vehicles.

“Good engine, mine, went from zero to one hundred kilometers in nine seconds”
(Rubem Fonseca, Night tour, part I, p. 397).

“If you’re black like me, you already know what it is \ Invoice, ID, police at your feet.”
(Racionais MC's. Which lie will I believe).

Rubem Fonseca was one of the most talented Brazilian writers. His personal taste for his literature lies in the fact that the writer from Minas Gerais translated, even in the shortest texts, the contradictions of a country marked by intense social inequality and early urbanization that concentrated socially produced surpluses in the hands of a few. In his texts we do not find data, statistics or even euphemisms to disguise the cruelty that seems to emerge from urban society. Only, and only, the naked and raw urban violence translated into words. This model of urbanization, which concentrates surpluses, promotes those explosive encounters narrated by Rubem Fonseca. Good men, irreproachable family men, successful businessmen, from one moment to the next, remove their masks and reveal their indifference, cruelty and, above all, their belief in impunity. There is no moral suggestion that prevents them from exercising sadism, in the anonymity of night walks. This is exactly how I interpret it, almost half a century after the publication of the stories Night Tour I and II, the recurring events involving, on the one hand, drivers of luxury cars and, on the other hand, precarious workers. The Jaguar used to kill, in fiction, two people, has the same DNA as the Porsche that has frequently chased and murdered precarious workers on urban nights.

Data	Victim		Murderer		Location
	Age	Profession	Age	Profession
22/03/2024	39	Delivery by Application	33	Businessman	Campo Grande, MS)
31/03/2024	52	Driver by Application	24	Businessman	East Zone of São Paulo (SP)
29/07/2024	21	Deliveryman	27	Businessman	South Zone of São Paulo (SP)
01/08/2024	47	Rural worker	24	Influencer	Teresópolis (RJ)

There are several ways to interpret homicides committed by drivers of Porsche vehicles. These are cases, certainly, limited to the criminal field. However, it is still interesting to reflect on the recurrence of these events and the profile of the drivers. It is not difficult to imagine these profiles. The price of a Porsche, according to a specialized magazine, can vary from R$490,000,00 to R$1.920,000,00. The price, however, is not an insurmountable barrier for the wealthier fraction of the Brazilian population. According to information from UOL-Motor (2023), the Porche 911, in 2023, had more registrations than the Honda Civic. Finding a Porsche selecting its prey in urban nights is not necessarily new. That's right. The Porsche, like a predator, waits, stalks, chooses, pursues and annihilates its victims. This is exactly how the corporate press has often interpreted homicides. It's so true that Porsche itself, at the beginning of August, rushed to release this unsuccessful note:

It is with deep regret that Porsche regrets the accident that killed Pedro Kaique Figueiredo. We extend our sincerest condolences to his family and friends. Porsche Brasil reaffirms its commitment to road safety and respect for the standards established in the National Traffic Code. The company has no connection with the driver involved in the accident. We invest extensively in driving training programs as a way of increasing safety when using cars. We also offer a broad portfolio of opportunities for using vehicles in safe and controlled environments. May the memory of this and other tragic events inspire reflection and the promotion of safer and more responsible conduct. (O Globo, 02/08/2024)

The note of condolence has the same effect as a hypothetical retroactive statement from Chrysler apologizing for the deviation in character of its Plymouth Fury (1958), the film's protagonist vehicle. Christine the killer car, horror classic inspired by Stephen King. Porsche insists on classifying the homicide as an accident because it cannot tarnish its brand, after all, “luxury and performance go together” (Porsche, 2024). It is impossible, however, given the speed of information that travels on social networks, to protect its different consumers. The profile of these consumers is no coincidence. They are invariably presented by the corporate press as young successful businesspeople busy enjoying the alcoholic pleasures of urban nights. This same press almost never publishes the achievements that justify the noun entrepreneur. In Brazil, wealth, as they want us to believe, never comes from birth. Just choose, as stated in the brilliant lyrics of Racionais MC's, in Which lie will I believe. 

On the other side of the windshield, after chases, rear and side collisions, remains, viscera, blood, of individuals who only had in common night work and the misfortune of finding a Porsche on their way. It is the precarious people who populate the streets, avenues and alleys, overcoming signs and a variety of harassment to transport food. They are the once-heroes of the Covid-19 Pandemic. If pedaling or accelerating on low-displacement motorcycles, it doesn't matter, the objective is to get as many races as possible to increase the score and, consequently, the low remuneration. They rarely exceed the value of R$1 per kilometer driven. They are, in the opinion of these homicidal drivers, disposable. Their mothers and fathers, awake in the peripheral dawn with bad news, do not carry habeas corpus preventatives or even telephone numbers of prestigious law firms to defend your offspring. Her children, young, also black, were recognized, as Elsa Soares sang, in The meat, under the plastic.

Finally, if the murders had been committed by Pereba, a character in the short story Happy New Year, while he was driving the pulled Opala, certainly the corporate media, the judiciary and the families of those who are well-versed in Old Testament justice would have already condemned him to death. They would say, as always, that it is a birth defect. But what we cannot fail to emphasize is that Pereba despised the ladies and the playboys. Therefore, motivated by a genuine class feeling, Pereba would never murder a precarious peripheral person who was trying to bring home bread. Careful! There are more Perebas than Porsches in Brazil. That should mean something.

* Tadeu Alencar Arrais He is a professor at the Department of Geography at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG).

References

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Christine, the killer car. In: https://www.netflix.com/br/.

Fonseca, Rubem. Night walk. Part I. In: FONSENCA, Rubem. Collected Tales. São Paulo, Cia das Letras, 1994.

Fonseca, Rubem. Night walk. Part II. In: FONSENCA, Rubem. Collected Tales. São Paulo, Cia das Letras, 1994.

Fonseca, Rubem. Happy New Year. In: FONSENCA, Rubem. Collected Tales. São Paulo, Cia das Letras, 1994.

Repeat owner bar... In: https://www.campograndenews.com.br/cidades/capital/reincidente-dono-de-bar-que-dirigia-porsche-alega-que-nao-notou-atropelamento.

Driver of yellow Porsche cries… In: https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2024/08/03/video-motorista-de-porsche-amarelo-chora-em-audiencia-na-justica-que-manteve-prisao-por-atropelar-e-matar-motociclista.ghtml.

Porsche owner who killed farmer… In: https://oglobo.globo.com/rio/noticia/2024/08/05/dono-de-porsche-que-matou-lavrador-no-rio-segue-foragido-saiba-quem-eo-influenciador- involved-in-fatal-accident.ghtml.

Home page. In: https://www.porsche.com/brazil/pt/  

See which model is the cheapest… In: https://motorshow.com.br/porsche-veja-qual-e-o-modelo-mais-barato-e-o-mais-caro-vendido-no-brasil/.

Porsche mourns yet another death… In: https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/sao-paulo/noticia/2024/08/02/porsche-lamenta-mais-uma-morte-em-acidente-e-pede-por-conduta-responsavel- ao-volante.ghtml.

Porsche grows 61% in Brazil; 911 has more license plates than the Honda Civic. In: https://motor1.uol.com.br/news/704713/vendas-porsche-brasil-mundo-numeros/.

Racionais MC's. Which lie will I believe? In: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NNYP67AKpM.

Soares, Elza. The meat. In: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yktrUMoc1Xw.

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