Fake news and the seven sins of capital: a metaphorical analysis of vices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. / As fake news e os sete pecados do capital: uma análise metafórica de vícios no contexto pandêmico da COVID-19.

Health crises spawn "sins" and moral deformities in society that are evident when they emerge but had seemed to be dormant to collective awareness before. Through the metaphor of the seven capital sins, the article analyzes the phenomenon of fake news in the social media and in the scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic: the lust of sensationalism through the seduction and exploitation of vulnerabilities associated with fear of death; gluttony for confirmatory contents that spread untruths in the attempt to turn versions into facts; the catechism of denialism, fueling wrath or hate in restrictive epistemic environments; the greed of new technologies in the attention economy through engagement as a new commodity; competition for the spotlights of media visibility and derived gains that incite pride and envy in researchers that confuse public meaning with fake research, in a cycle that feeds sensationalism, gluttony, hate, and greed in attention capitalism. Finally, sloth is portrayed as the capital sin of opting for communicative inaction. In the comfort of bubbles, people renounce dialogue out of aversion to dissent, settling for positions of epistemic comfort. In short, the fake news phenomenon in the COVID-19 pandemic is portrayed here as the convergence of various vices that materialize as misinformation, in the communicative vacuity of the moments in which we are obliged to address each other to share our worldviews.

As crises sanitárias fazem surgir "pecados" e deformidades morais da sociedade que, embora evidentes quando despontam, pareciam antes dormentes à percepção coletiva. Por meio da metáfora dos sete pecados capitais, o texto analisa o fenômeno das fake news nas mídias sociais e no cenário da pandemia da COVID-19. A luxúria do sensacionalismo, que é viciosa pela sedução e exploração de vulnerabilidades ligadas ao medo da morte; a gula, por conteúdos de confirmação que disseminam inverdades no empenho de converter versões em fatos; a catequese do negacionismo gerando o ódio em ambientes epistêmicos restritivos; a ganância das novas tecnologias da economia da atenção pelo engajamento como nova commodity; a competição pelos holofotes da visibilidade midiática e ganhos derivados que incitam a soberba e a inveja dos pesquisadores que confundem o senso público com as fake researches - o que, em ciclo, nutrirão o sensacionalismo, gula, ódios e as ganâncias do capitalismo da atenção. Por fim, a preguiça é retratada como o vício capital dos que optam pela inação comunicativa. No conforto das bolhas renunciam ao diálogo por aversão ao dissenso, acomodando-se em posições de conforto epistêmico. Em síntese, o fenômeno das fake news na pandemia da COVID-19 é aqui retratado como a confluência de diversos vícios que se materializam como desinformação, na vacuidade comunicativa dos momentos nos quais somos obrigados a nos dirigir uns aos outros para partilhar nossas visões do mundo.

Las crisis sanitarias sacan a la luz "pecados" y deformidades morales de la sociedad que, aunque son evidentes cuando emergen, antes parecían latentes a la percepción colectiva. A través de la metáfora de los siete pecados capitales, el texto analiza el fenómeno de las fake news en las redes sociales y en el escenario de la pandemia del COVID-19. La lujuria del sensacionalismo que se ensaña con la seducción y la explotación de las vulnerabilidades ligadas al miedo a la muerte; la gula por los contenidos de confirmación que difunden las falsedades en el afán de convertir las versiones en hechos; el catecismo del negacionismo que genera el odio en entornos epistémicos restrictivos; la avaricia de las nuevas tecnologías de la economía de la atención por el compromiso como nueva commodity; la competencia por los focos de la visibilidad mediática y las ganancias derivadas que incitan a la soberbia, y la envidia de los investigadores que confunden el sentido público con falsas investigaciones -que, en ciclo, alimentarán el sensacionalismo, la gula, el odio y la avaricia del capitalismo de la atención. Por último, la pereza se presenta como el vicio capital de quienes optan por la inacción comunicativa. En la comodidad de sus burbujas renuncian al diálogo por aversión al disenso, instalándose en posiciones de comodidad epistémica. En resumen, el fenómeno de las fake news en la pandemia del COVID-19 se retrata aquí como la confluencia de varios vicios que se materializan como desinformación en la vacuidad comunicativa de momentos en los que nos vemos obligados a dirigirnos unos a otros para compartir nuestras visiones del mundo.

[Panaceas disseminated over the Internet and vulnerable patients: how to check a market of illusions?]. / Panacéias disseminadas pela Internet e pacientes vulneráveis: como conter um mercado de ilusões?

This article discusses the proliferation of medical quackery and fraud appearing and disappearing daily on the Internet. The customers of these scams, made vulnerable by disease or the prospect of death, use the Internet to buy products that would probably be ignored in other contexts. This vulnerability is linked to strenuous physical demands that compromise the ability to make decisions. The attempt to control the phenomenon of fraud as strictly rational, without taking into account the vulnerability of consumers who have little to lose and not considering their demands for comprehensive care, can lead to disappointing results, since these nostrums seem to be filling the gaps left by health care structures that have been insensitive to the immaterial nature of human fears.

[Essay on Pandementia: when the characters and microbes of science fiction jump off the screen and invade the planet]. / Ensayo sobre la pandemencia: cuando los personajes y microbios de la ciencia ficción salen de la película.

This essay intends to carry out an ethical and philosophical reflection on the effects of the emergency contingencies of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a focus on Brazil, it seeks to understand, critique, and attribute meaning to references to the pandemic, in particularly dramatic moments brought about by the synergy produced between the serious disease affecting the country and the world and a government that stands out for its remarkable unwillingness and inability to deal with this calamity. This text was written during the Brazilian "quarantine," which lasted from mid-March to late April, 2020. During this period, we were bombarded by facts that never ceased to haunt us, and lived each day under the terrible dominion of the pandemic. Therefore, this text was written in the midst of a social context marked by control efforts, with great attention directed at the health of those affected, despite the complex political framework and serious economic difficulties facing the country.

Este ensayo crítico acerca de las declaraciones sobre la técnica y la vida en el planeta COVID-19 propone una reflexión ético-filosófica de los efectos de la pandemia. Trata de entender, atribuir significados y criticar las referencias a la pandemia, especialmente en Brasil, en momentos especialmente dramáticos, debido a la sinergia entre la grave enfermedad que afecta al país y al planeta, y un gobierno que se destaca por su gigantesca incapacidad para hacer frente a la calamidad. Este texto fue escrito en el periodo de "cuarentena" brasileña, desde mediados de marzo hasta fines de abril de 2020. Es un momento en el que los hechos nos golpean y no dejan de atormentarnos, y se vive a diario bajo el terrible dominio de esta pandemia. Así, este texto se caracteriza por estar elaborado en medio de un contexto social marcado por los esfuerzos de control y atención de la salud de los afectados, a pesar del complejo marco político actual y de las profundas dificultades económicas del país.

COVID-19, fake news, and the sleep of communicative reason producing monsters: the narrative of risks and the risks of narratives. / COVID-19, as fake news e o sono da razão comunicativa gerando monstros: a narrativa dos riscos e os riscos das narrativas.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the world has witnessed growing tension from the pandemic dimension of a disease with severe epidemiological impacts and wide-reaching sociocultural and political spinoffs. In ideal conditions of public communication, the authorities would be aligned with a totally transparent system supplying abundant information and ease of understanding to generate credibility, confidence, and partnership with the media. In the hiatuses of acceptable versions and in the midst of indeterminations, individuals become their own experts, consuming fake news and reproducing fallacious risk narratives with disastrous consequences. The article discusses various aspects of fake news and the use of communicative reason by public authorities, citing the case of Iran and drawing parallels with the antivaccination movement and its consequences. The authors address the challenge of coordinated orientation of society with information, competing with pseudo-scientific pastiches that proliferate at breakneck speed in the absence of official data. All this raises the following question: which communication models should back the official narrative to create the conditions for collaboration and partnership with the media? What impacts would such models have on the proliferation of misleading narratives that citizens turn to during crises of appropriate orientation? The authors conclude that it is also the government's role to use its broad visibility to create references of safety under the primacy of communicative reason, sensitive to society's genuine questions and concerns. In short, government should produce responsible references on a monumental scale, oriented by the ethics of accountability in line with the common good.

[Does Jesus have metal-free teeth in a country of the toothless?: dentistry of vanities and desires]. / Jesus tem dentes metal-free no país dos banguelas?: odontologia dos desejos e das vaidades.

This paper describes how dentistry in Brazil currently participates in the transformations of the object of its activity into commodities with which consumers can indulge their aesthetic desires. It explores the construction of the dental object of desires and its relationship with the dentist and the patient-consumer in the contemporary world. The paper makes explicit the role of the mega-dental congresses, which provide a biotechnological self-service that allure and seduce, creating uniform consumer values eager for the new offerings from dental surgeons. Also analyzes the role of the media in dental practices. It concludes that the individuation of the dental surgeon has generated a petrified ontology and fragmented epistemology. The paper presents some pressing tasks for the academic and professional sectors and society as a whole, such as the development of strategies and discussion about communication related to oral health.

[Between fetishism and survival: are scientific articles a form of academic merchandise?]. / Entre fetichismo e sobrevivência: o artigo científico é uma mercadoria acadêmica?

This article discusses the possible meanings of the intense prevailing concern in academic circles over the notion of research productivity, as reflected in an excess number of articles published in various scientific journals. The numerical accounting of articles published by researchers in scientific journals with renowned academic status serves to legitimize academics in their fields of work, in various ways. In this sense, we suggest that scientific articles take on aspects of merchandise-as-fetish, according to Marx's theory of use-value and exchange-value and Benjamin's exposure value. Meanwhile, the biological notions of selection and evolution are used as metaphorical elements in "bibliographic Darwinism". There are references as to the possibility many of the prevailing bibliometric concerns serve as instruments for econometric analysis, especially to orient and enhance cost-effectiveness analysis in research investments of various orders and types, from the point of view of their economic return.

[Persecutory health]. / La salud persecutoria.

A critical approach from the standpoint of social philosophy is taken aiming at analyzing aspects of current production of knowledge and technologies in health promotion. Its capacity of generating perplexities, dilemmas and dissatisfactions is also evaluated, despite its strength and effectiveness in many levels. The analysis is based on Ivan Illich's "social iatrogenesis," Peter Skrabanek's "coercive healthism," and Giorgio Agamben's theoretical approach of "homo sacer"--a man whose life is worthless. The limits and dilemmas of the idea of personal responsibility are discussed as a persuasion strategy in health promotion discourses and practices. All these proposals produce "persecutory health" as a side effect.

As fake news e os sete pecados do capital: uma análise metafórica de vícios no contexto pandêmico da COVID-19 / Las fake news y los siete pecados del capital: un análisis metafórico de las adicciones en el contexto de la pandemia del COVID-19 / Fake news and the seven sins of capital: a metaphorical analysis of vices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

As crises sanitárias fazem surgir "pecados" e deformidades morais da sociedade que, embora evidentes quando despontam, pareciam antes dormentes à percepção coletiva. Por meio da metáfora dos sete pecados capitais, o texto analisa o fenômeno das fake news nas mídias sociais e no cenário da pandemia da COVID-19. A luxúria do sensacionalismo, que é viciosa pela sedução e exploração de vulnerabilidades ligadas ao medo da morte; a gula, por conteúdos de confirmação que disseminam inverdades no empenho de converter versões em fatos; a catequese do negacionismo gerando o ódio em ambientes epistêmicos restritivos; a ganância das novas tecnologias da economia da atenção pelo engajamento como nova commodity; a competição pelos holofotes da visibilidade midiática e ganhos derivados que incitam a soberba e a inveja dos pesquisadores que confundem o senso público com as fake researches - o que, em ciclo, nutrirão o sensacionalismo, gula, ódios e as ganâncias do capitalismo da atenção. Por fim, a preguiça é retratada como o vício capital dos que optam pela inação comunicativa. No conforto das bolhas renunciam ao diálogo por aversão ao dissenso, acomodando-se em posições de conforto epistêmico. Em síntese, o fenômeno das fake news na pandemia da COVID-19 é aqui retratado como a confluência de diversos vícios que se materializam como desinformação, na vacuidade comunicativa dos momentos nos quais somos obrigados a nos dirigir uns aos outros para partilhar nossas visões do mundo.

Las crisis sanitarias sacan a la luz "pecados" y deformidades morales de la sociedad que, aunque son evidentes cuando emergen, antes parecían latentes a la percepción colectiva. A través de la metáfora de los siete pecados capitales, el texto analiza el fenómeno de las fake news en las redes sociales y en el escenario de la pandemia del COVID-19. La lujuria del sensacionalismo que se ensaña con la seducción y la explotación de las vulnerabilidades ligadas al miedo a la muerte; la gula por los contenidos de confirmación que difunden las falsedades en el afán de convertir las versiones en hechos; el catecismo del negacionismo que genera el odio en entornos epistémicos restrictivos; la avaricia de las nuevas tecnologías de la economía de la atención por el compromiso como nueva commodity; la competencia por los focos de la visibilidad mediática y las ganancias derivadas que incitan a la soberbia, y la envidia de los investigadores que confunden el sentido público con falsas investigaciones -que, en ciclo, alimentarán el sensacionalismo, la gula, el odio y la avaricia del capitalismo de la atención. Por último, la pereza se presenta como el vicio capital de quienes optan por la inacción comunicativa. En la comodidad de sus burbujas renuncian al diálogo por aversión al disenso, instalándose en posiciones de comodidad epistémica. En resumen, el fenómeno de las fake news en la pandemia del COVID-19 se retrata aquí como la confluencia de varios vicios que se materializan como desinformación en la vacuidad comunicativa de momentos en los que nos vemos obligados a dirigirnos unos a otros para compartir nuestras visiones del mundo.

Health crises spawn "sins" and moral deformities in society that are evident when they emerge but had seemed to be dormant to collective awareness before. Through the metaphor of the seven capital sins, the article analyzes the phenomenon of fake news in the social media and in the scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic: the lust of sensationalism through the seduction and exploitation of vulnerabilities associated with fear of death; gluttony for confirmatory contents that spread untruths in the attempt to turn versions into facts; the catechism of denialism, fueling wrath or hate in restrictive epistemic environments; the greed of new technologies in the attention economy through engagement as a new commodity; competition for the spotlights of media visibility and derived gains that incite pride and envy in researchers that confuse public meaning with fake research, in a cycle that feeds sensationalism, gluttony, hate, and greed in attention capitalism. Finally, sloth is portrayed as the capital sin of opting for communicative inaction. In the comfort of bubbles, people renounce dialogue out of aversion to dissent, settling for positions of epistemic comfort. In short, the fake news phenomenon in the COVID-19 pandemic is portrayed here as the convergence of various vices that materialize as misinformation, in the communicative vacuity of the moments in which we are obliged to address each other to share our worldviews.

[Micro-death and life of Severina? Preemptive risk communication]. / Micromortevida Severina? A comunicação preemptiva dos riscos.

This essay problematizes the dominant approach to health risk communication. It thus consults and analyzes authors that present themselves as experts in risk communication and passages from mainstream audiovisual media broadcasts. While risk communication appears as an area of mediation between experts and the lay public, with the potential to generate technological innovation and potentially consumable merchandise, health risk communication occupies a biopolitical place that reinforces blaming individuals and individualizing risk avoidance proposals. The effacement of the contexts in which risk exposures occur feeds and is fed by the current neoliberal context. In addition to attempts at mediation that are often problematic, the rational and individual risk management perspective, no matter how fully equipped with innovative technologies, fails to ameliorate the contextual precariousness in which health risks are produced. Paradoxically, the belief in risk management (the dominant approach in health risk communication) ends up producing moralization, anxiety, and malaise.

[Anomalisa and teaching clinical communication in medical practice]. / Anomalisa e o ensino da comunicação clínica na prática médica.

Based on reflections on the film Anomalisa and Foucault's concept of biopower, this essay discusses the limits of teaching clinical communication skills in medical training. Communication with patients is not related to the use (or lack thereof) of certain phrases or a given conversational style, but involves the search for a way of interacting with the other in the midst of the world's disorder, the overwhelming wave of suffering, and the frightening lapse of time between life and death. In this scenario featuring biotechnoscience and the reign of scientific evidence, beyond protocols or standardized ways of practicing medicine, the proposal here is for a debate on teaching communication with an emphasis on the production of subjectivities, in order to issue a call for reflection on desirable values for action in the health field.

Patterns of cancer-related internet searches: reactiveness; risks; the role of affect.

The popularization of ICTs and the availability of information have not influenced the habits of prevention - cancers are lately diagnosed, as before in the scarcity of information era. This paper analyzes patterns of accesses to the National Cancer Institute website (already described in previous articles) as well as contradictions between the purposes and results of cancer prevention campaigns. We identified a reactive pattern of queries which was indifferent to information on prevention, but interested in treatment technologies and news about celebrity's diseases. These findings contrast with the paradigm of the best data for decision making, based in the heteronomy of "banking education", its means and efficacy. We discussthe symbolic power of campaigns under the theoretical framework of emotional heuristic models - analytical tools rarely employed in studies of risks, but here considered essential elements to the comprehention of public perception of health. Ambiguities are portrayed and as well as its pendulum between certainties and uncertainties in the midst on which they are formed. It is discussed the risk tripartition - as perception, analysis and policy, the latest posed as a public clash between the first concerning the major risks aligned to their historical circumstances.

[Proliferation of paradigmatic ruptures: the case of evidence-based medicine]. / Proliferação das rupturas paradigmáticas: o caso da medicina baseada em evidências.

The present study describes the phenomenon of paradigmatic ruptures proliferation in the biomedical literature. The current distortion is discussed, which has conferred in the last decades an opposite meaning to the term originally proposed by Thomas Khun. In most part, it is realized that pseudo-ruptures refer to technical details associated to specific contexts. It is pointed out the case of evidence- based medicine (EBM), proclaimed as one of these paradigmatic ruptures, but which essentially corroborates old concepts. Some conceptual errors are stressed as well as attempts to apply EBM assumptions to phenomena associated to subjectivity and social dynamics and other particular study subjects of social sciences. Twelve inconclusive meta-analyses are described to exemplify the paradoxes emerging from this approach. The criticism to some EBM features is summarized through the effects of epistemological bafflement, producing conceptual inaccuracies of the term; the defensive effect to which other disciplines are induced for not being adequate to such rationality; and the tendency of universal understanding of phenomena through the perspective of randomized double-blind studies.

Ensayo sobre la pandemencia: cuando los personajes y microbios de la ciencia ficción salen de la película / Essay on Pandementia: when the characters and microbes of science fiction jump off the screen and invade the planet

RESUMEN Este ensayo crítico acerca de las declaraciones sobre la técnica y la vida en el planeta COVID-19 propone una reflexión ético-filosófica de los efectos de la pandemia. Trata de entender, atribuir significados y criticar las referencias a la pandemia, especialmente en Brasil, en momentos especialmente dramáticos, debido a la sinergia entre la grave enfermedad que afecta al país y al planeta, y un gobierno que se destaca por su gigantesca incapacidad para hacer frente a la calamidad. Este texto fue escrito en el periodo de "cuarentena" brasileña, desde mediados de marzo hasta fines de abril de 2020. Es un momento en el que los hechos nos golpean y no dejan de atormentarnos, y se vive a diario bajo el terrible dominio de esta pandemia. Así, este texto se caracteriza por estar elaborado en medio de un contexto social marcado por los esfuerzos de control y atención de la salud de los afectados, a pesar del complejo marco político actual y de las profundas dificultades económicas del país.

ABSTRACT This essay intends to carry out an ethical and philosophical reflection on the effects of the emergency contingencies of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a focus on Brazil, it seeks to understand, critique, and attribute meaning to references to the pandemic, in particularly dramatic moments brought about by the synergy produced between the serious disease affecting the country and the world and a government that stands out for its remarkable unwillingness and inability to deal with this calamity. This text was written during the Brazilian "quarantine," which lasted from mid-March to late April, 2020. During this period, we were bombarded by facts that never ceased to haunt us, and lived each day under the terrible dominion of the pandemic. Therefore, this text was written in the midst of a social context marked by control efforts, with great attention directed at the health of those affected, despite the complex political framework and serious economic difficulties facing the country.

COVID-19, as fake news e o sono da razão comunicativa gerando monstros: a narrativa dos riscos e os riscos das narrativas / COVID-19, las fake news y el sueño de la razón comunicativa generando monstruos: el relato de los riesgos y los riesgos de los relatos / COVID-19, fake news, and the sleep of communicative reason producing monsters: the narrative of risks and the risks of narratives

Resumo: Desde o início do surto da COVID-19, percebe-se uma crescente tensão provocada pela dimensão pandêmica de uma doença que trouxe severos impactos epidemiológicos e desdobramentos socioculturais e políticos. Em condições ideais de comunicação pública as autoridades deveriam alinhar-se a um regime de total transparência com informações abundantes e de compreensão facilitada para gerar credibilidade, confiança e parceria com as mídias. Nos hiatos de versões aceitáveis e em meio a indeterminações, os indivíduos tornam-se experts de si mesmos, consumindo fake news e reproduzindo narrativas de risco falaciosas com consequências desastrosas. Discutem-se diversos aspectos ligados às fake news e ao uso da razão comunicativa por autoridades públicas, citando o caso do Irã e estabelecendo paralelos com o fenômeno da antivacinação e suas consequências. Descreve-se o desafio do direcionamento coordenado da sociedade por meio de informações, competindo com pastiches pseudo-científicos que proliferam em ritmo frenético na vacuidade de dados oficiais. Levanta-se, assim, a seguinte questão: quais modelos comunicativos deveriam pautar a narrativa oficial para gerar condições de colaboração e parceria com as mídias? Que impactos tais modelos teriam na proliferação das narrativas enganosas às quais recorrem os cidadãos em crise de orientações pertinentes? Conclui-se que é também papel do governo lançar mão de sua ampla visibilidade para gerar referências de segurança sob o primado da razão comunicativa sensível às genuínas interrogações da sociedade. Em síntese, produzir em escala monumental referenciais responsáveis, norteados por elementos de ética da responsabilidade alinhados ao bem comum.

Resumen: Desde el inicio del brote de la COVID-19, se percibe una creciente tensión provocada por la dimensión pandémica de una enfermedad que ha traído consigo severos impactos epidemiológicos y despliegues socioculturales y políticos. En condiciones ideales de comunicación pública, las autoridades deberían estar alineadas a un régimen de total transparencia con información abundante y de comprensión fácil para generar credibilidad, confianza y un clima de colaboración con los medios de comunicación. Ante la carencia de versiones aceptables e imbuidos por indeterminaciones, los individuos se convierten en expertos de sí mismos, consumiendo fake news y reproduciendo relatos de riesgo falaces con consecuencias desastrosas. Se discuten diversos aspectos vinculados a las fake news y al uso de la razón comunicativa por parte de las autoridades públicas, citando el caso da Irán, y estableciendo paralelismos con el fenómeno antivacunas y sus consecuencias. Se describe el desafío para orientar coordinadamente a la sociedad mediante información, compitiendo con pastiches pseudo-científicos, que proliferan con un ritmo frenético ante la vacuidad de los datos oficiales. De esta forma, se plantea la siguiente pregunta: ¿qué modelos comunicativos deberían pautar el relato oficial, con el fin de generar condiciones de colaboración y alianza con los medios de comunicación? ¿Qué impactos tendrían tales modelos en la proliferación de relatos engañosos a los que recurren los ciudadanos que no disponen de información pertinente? Se concluye que es también papel del gobierno utilizar su amplia visibilidad para generar referentes seguros con la ayuda de la primacía de la razón comunicativa, sensible a los genuinos interrogantes de la sociedad. En resumen, generar a gran escala referentes responsables, orientados por elementos de la ética de la responsabilidad alineados con el bien común.

Abstract: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the world has witnessed growing tension from the pandemic dimension of a disease with severe epidemiological impacts and wide-reaching sociocultural and political spinoffs. In ideal conditions of public communication, the authorities would be aligned with a totally transparent system supplying abundant information and ease of understanding to generate credibility, confidence, and partnership with the media. In the hiatuses of acceptable versions and in the midst of indeterminations, individuals become their own experts, consuming fake news and reproducing fallacious risk narratives with disastrous consequences. The article discusses various aspects of fake news and the use of communicative reason by public authorities, citing the case of Iran and drawing parallels with the antivaccination movement and its consequences. The authors address the challenge of coordinated orientation of society with information, competing with pseudo-scientific pastiches that proliferate at breakneck speed in the absence of official data. All this raises the following question: which communication models should back the official narrative to create the conditions for collaboration and partnership with the media? What impacts would such models have on the proliferation of misleading narratives that citizens turn to during crises of appropriate orientation? The authors conclude that it is also the government's role to use its broad visibility to create references of safety under the primacy of communicative reason, sensitive to society's genuine questions and concerns. In short, government should produce responsible references on a monumental scale, oriented by the ethics of accountability in line with the common good.

The media-driven risk society, the anti-vaccination movement and risk of autismo.

Marked changes have been seen in the epidemiological profile of infectious diseases among middle-class families in industrialized countries due to beliefs related to the risks of vaccination. These beliefs are proliferating globally due to internet sites, blogs and the influence of celebrities in the mass communication media. Due to the complexity of a cultural phenomenon of this nature, contemporary concepts aligned to the idea of reflexivity in the risk society are analyzed. The concept of a receptive media-driven society in which the announcement of danger and protection in mutual reference and contradiction are also assessed. The frequent emergence of tensions derived from cycles of utterances and baseless comments construed as symbolic "biovalues" are discussed. The persistent effect of threatening biotechnological and fraudulent utterances has influenced virtual networks for almost three decades, supporting the debate about the connection between autism and vaccines. The conclusion reached is that the processes of production of significance interconnect at various levels in which representations circulate that support communication and group identity based on historical and cultural references.

["No" for stacked young bodybuilders, "yes" for manthers: the biomedical discourse on anabolic steroids and health]. / "Não" para jovens bombados, "sim" para velhos empinados: o discurso sobre anabolizantes e saúde em artigos da área biomédica.

The article addresses the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), synthetic drugs whose abuse has been characterized as a public health problem, operated in the opposition between "medical" and "non-medical" uses. A qualitative approach was used to analyze the text in 76 biomedical articles published from 2002 to 2012. The discourse shows a persistent ban on non-medically regulated use of AAS by young people, while the limits on clinically qualified use appear to expand among older people, even given the contradictions straining the argument on the prevention of health risks. Moralizing biopolitical stances appear, based on gender distinctions or under the aegis of criminalizing drug use.

[Collective health, the new genetics, and market eugenics]. / Saúde coletiva, nova genética e a eugenia de mercado.

Due to constant advances in genetic manipulation, the field of public health is faced with the possible emergence of a reductionist genomic emphasis, beyond socio-cultural influences. Under such circumstances, the main focus of public health interventions would shift towards a genomic approach to "individuals" and their "families", to the detriment of their consecrated object - "populations", thereby moving away from the current central priority of efforts (and resources) aimed at reducing ill-health due to socioeconomic inequalities. Even admitting the benefits of genetic knowledge, a new eugenic practice may emerge from the availability of genetic tests on the marketplace aimed at individuals that can afford to consume them.

[Instrumental, directive, and affective communication in hospital leaflets]. / Comunicação instrumental, diretiva e afetiva em impressos hospitalares.

This study focuses on the typical semantic systems extracted from hospital staff communicative resources which attempt to validate information as an "object" to be transferred to patients. We describe the models of textual communication in 58 patient information leaflets from five hospital units in Brazil, gathered from 1996 to 2002. Three categories were identified, based on the theory of speech acts (Austin, Searle, and Habermas): 1) cognitive-instrumental utterances: descriptions by means of technical terms validated by self-referred, incomplete, or inaccessible argumentation, with an implicit educational function; 2) technical-directive utterances: self-referred (to the context of the source domains), with a shifting of everyday acts to a technical terrain with a disciplinary function and impersonal features; and 3) expressive modulations: need for inter-subjective connections to strengthen bonds of trust and a tendency to use childish arguments. We conclude that the three categories displayed: fragmentary sources; assumption of univocal messages and invariable use of information (idealized motivations and interests, apart from individualized perspectives); and assumption of universal interests as generators of knowledge.

[Health promotion and the epistemological sensitivity of 'community' as a category]. / Promoção de saúde e a sensibilidade epistemológica da categoria 'comunidade'

A discussion on the scope of "community" as a category in health promotion by means of its "epistemological sensitivity"--a reasoning tool based upon the epidemiological concept of "sensitivity", adjusted to the epistemological field--was carried out. A brief review of promotional health topics and a short description of the sociological usage of "community" according to Tönnies were performed. Issues regarding difficulties of defining contemporary communities are considered. Health promotion's leading approaches do not pay enough attention to crucial sociological concerns and philosophical standpoints. As a result, these approaches suffer from deep theoretical strain that weaken their premises and make corresponding interventions' results rather unsatisfactory.