Posted on 12/26/2007 1:56:13 AM PST by bruinbirdman
It seems that The Times has put the cat among the piccioni by suggesting that Italy’s best days are behind it.
Our report on Saturday about the country’s descent into pessimism and despondency drew an angry response from political leaders, and even the Prime Minister of Italy was moved to remonstrate against our assertion that “the dolce vita has become bitter”.
Romano Prodi hinted at a conspiracy, suggesting that the report was timed to distract the British from new figures showing that Italy had overtaken Britain in the volume of exports.
What is beyond doubt is that The Times has provoked a fierce debate in Italy, with many ordinary Italians appearing to agree that the country is hamstrung by bureaucracy, lack of innovation and an aged, ineffectual, self-absorbed political establishment.
In an online poll of readers of a consortium of regional daily newspapers, 83.65 per cent answered “yes” to the question “has Italy really become a sad, depressed country?” Just 14.26 per cent voted “no”, with 2.1 per cent “don’t knows”. A poll on the website of Corriere Della Sera, the national newspaper, indicated that 80.8 per cent of Italians were cutting back this Christmas because of economic hardship.
Professor Franco Ferrarotti, the doyen of Italian sociology, told The Timesthat this split between the political establishment and the rest of Italy was, in itself, one of Italy’s most serious problems. “It is very unfortunate that nobody in the Government agrees, at least in part, with the analyses of The Times,” he said. “More than ever before, since Italy became a democracy in 1945, the world of politics is detached from the rest of Italy. The politicians are self-enclosed, they talk among themselves, they talk to themselves. They do not listen.
“Italy is the only European country in which the term classe politica(political class) is generally used as a term to describe a certain clearly defined and isolated sector of the population.
“Below this, there is a ‘real’ Italy, which is potentially extremely lively and ingenious. This is positive, but can also be negative when this ingenuity produces organised crime.
“So I would say that the prevailing emotion in today’s Italy is not so much sadness or bitterness, but a general frustration that the politicians are incapable of putting through radical and substantial reforms, often appear blithely unaware that these reforms are urgently needed, and in many cases seem not overly concerned.”
Giuliano Amato, the Italian Interior Minister, reacted to an article along similar lines in The New York Times with a letter of protest to the US daily. “An image of Italy that does not correspond to reality but is only a parody,” he complained.
Italian stereotypes & jokes in 3...2...1
Is this not also true - Albeit in varying degree - Of American politician and media "elites"? They are so busy hectoring us with their insufferably arrogant "I know best" attitudes they don't have time to do any listening.
The elites believe their main job is to figure out how to coerce/trick the majority of Americans into accepting THEIR view of the world (With them at the top of the heap, naturally, the divine right of enlightened elitist "kings" being what it is) and they will do and say whatever they think will sell their message while denigrating what the average citizen might believe, at every opportunity.
The story is told that when God created the world, in order that humankind prosper appropriately, he decided to concede two distinctive virtues to each of the nations to come. And so he decided that..
The Swiss would be orderly and law-abiding.
The English persevering and studious.
The Japanese industrious and patient.
The French elegant and refined.
The Spaniards cheerful and welcoming.
When he reached the Italians, he turned to the angel who was taking notes and said:
“The Italians will be intelligent, honest and Communist.”
When the Act of Creation was completed, the recording angel then reminded God of this specification:
“Lord, you have given each nation two virtues, but the Italians have three. That means they will be able to dominate all the others.”
“Dammit! That’s right… But divine virtues once granted cannot be taken away. Let Italy have its three then! But no single individual can have more than two at the same time.”
And so it was:
The Italian who is both honest and a Communist cannot be intelligent.
He who is intelligent and a Communist cannot be honest.
And whoever is both intelligent and honest cannot be a Communist.
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