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talkpoliticsIn the interest of not making this a 100% US politics community, I would like to turn your attention to Italy, home of the mafia, soccer, good wine and great food, and a womanizing prime minister. (No, Bill Clinton didn't get a job there, he's running the State Department back home. I think.)
Anyways, Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy and Her Gorgeous Leg, has long been a womanizer, and usually he got away with it. But not now. Apparently he's had a "relationship" with an 17-year old model, and when he gave her an expensive necklace at her 18th birthday, his wife said, "Dammit, Sil, I can't take it anymore. I'm divorcing you!" (Apparently he never went to his kids' 18th birthdays...) The move has caused rampant speculation, for once, compounded by the fact that the prime minister has blocked publication of photos taken at a party at his villa. Meanwhile, allies of the prime minister have made disparaging comments about his wife, no doubt in an effort to shift attention from Mr. Berlusconi and make it look like he's the victim. (And for another newslink, here is this story which goes into a lot of background about Mr. Berlusconi, and reveals him for the...well I don't what he is. You be the judge.)
To which I say: who the heck gives a damn?
I mean, why are the private lives of people being splashed all over the front page of Irish Times, Daily Mail, The Times, and La Repubblica? (Well, I hear the LR hates Silvio, so...) Why do we care so much about this? Why should we? (It should be noted that the age of consent in Italy is 16.) It's none of our business. We don't like the private lives of our families being exposed to the world, so why should we feel the opposite about politicians? Because they are politicians? Why? They're still people, just as dumb and prone to having erections as you and me.
It's the Clinton scandal all over again. Why are we so interested? Why do we care? Why are we perfectly willing to violate their privacy when we so cherish our own?
And now, to return you back to your regular scheduled programming, I hereby give you:
(It's as if they think it's a bad thing.)
Anyways, Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy and Her Gorgeous Leg, has long been a womanizer, and usually he got away with it. But not now. Apparently he's had a "relationship" with an 17-year old model, and when he gave her an expensive necklace at her 18th birthday, his wife said, "Dammit, Sil, I can't take it anymore. I'm divorcing you!" (Apparently he never went to his kids' 18th birthdays...) The move has caused rampant speculation, for once, compounded by the fact that the prime minister has blocked publication of photos taken at a party at his villa. Meanwhile, allies of the prime minister have made disparaging comments about his wife, no doubt in an effort to shift attention from Mr. Berlusconi and make it look like he's the victim. (And for another newslink, here is this story which goes into a lot of background about Mr. Berlusconi, and reveals him for the...well I don't what he is. You be the judge.)
To which I say: who the heck gives a damn?
I mean, why are the private lives of people being splashed all over the front page of Irish Times, Daily Mail, The Times, and La Repubblica? (Well, I hear the LR hates Silvio, so...) Why do we care so much about this? Why should we? (It should be noted that the age of consent in Italy is 16.) It's none of our business. We don't like the private lives of our families being exposed to the world, so why should we feel the opposite about politicians? Because they are politicians? Why? They're still people, just as dumb and prone to having erections as you and me.
It's the Clinton scandal all over again. Why are we so interested? Why do we care? Why are we perfectly willing to violate their privacy when we so cherish our own?
And now, to return you back to your regular scheduled programming, I hereby give you:
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 15:47 (UTC)HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
That's the same mag that produces stories about Llama's having human babies!
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 16:10 (UTC)But, really, (c) is the most important one.
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 18:15 (UTC)"(d) We expect politicians to be of high moral character" Maybe us Americans do — especially when it comes to pretending that politicians are asexual — but the Italians know better. la Repubblica seems to be the only Italian newspaper that gives a fuck, and they're an opposition paper.
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 18:29 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 23:27 (UTC)But why? After seeing what atrocities are committed by politicians (Hitler and Stalin were both politicians; Andrew Jackson was a politician, and arguably the bumbling stupidity of George W. Bush) why should we ascribe to them any higher moral character? They are human beings like the rest of us. Placing them on a pedestal doesn't make any sense.
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 00:45 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 14:48 (UTC)But they do that shit all the fucking time. So if we really require politicians to do this, then we're failing big time. Either that or our "high enough moral character" standard is actually not high at all.
So I still don't see why we put these people on a pedestal. They're idiots like the rest of us.
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 14:58 (UTC)I don't think that expecting them not to lie, cheat and steal is putting them on a pedestal. We're not really subjecting them to any different expectations than those we have for everyone else, we just pay closer attention to them when they break the rules.
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 16:14 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 03:34 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 16:22 (UTC)Obama's multi-sexual. Everyone wants him. Not surprising really!
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 13:25 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 14:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 14:35 (UTC)http://www.daylife.com/photo/00UPf1r86Ucmi
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 16:29 (UTC)He's a narcissist and says the most offensive things I've ever heard a politician say:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3041288.stm
"Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, appears to have made a serious verbal gaffe after telling a German TV station that the 17,000 people left homeless by the Abruzzo earthquake should consider themselves to be on a "camping weekend"."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6058369.ece
Touring camps set up for survivors of Monday’s disaster, in which at least 250 people were killed, Mr Berlusconi told a reporter from N-TV: “They have everything they need, they have medical care, hot food... Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. but they should see it like a weekend of camping."
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 17:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 03:38 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 05:45 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 17:16 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 17:48 (UTC)Obviously I don't agree that it's appropriate to scrutinise the private lives of politicians, but fuck if anybody cares about rationalism these days.
(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 20:51 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 21:42 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 21:42 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 23:29 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 03:42 (UTC)C8@
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 06:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 14:41 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 4/6/09 20:03 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2/6/09 10:31 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 13:19 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 1/6/09 23:47 (UTC)Berlusconi and the 16 words
Date: 1/6/09 23:58 (UTC)It's not on topic, but it is another aspect of the intersection of the horny boy with the general polity.
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/09 04:56 (UTC)