To
understand what is happening – and what is not happening – in Italy these days,
you have to start with the realization that what constitutes “public morality”
here and in the United States is quite different. Without going through the long history of Italy’s
city-states, the contempt citizens have for government at all levels, the
unworthy behavior of Italy’s political parties on left and right and everywhere
in between, suffice to say that politics and politicians are viewed no more
favorably than the Mafia here –
and with good reason, since they are often interchangeable.
Americans
have our share of lowlifes, of course:
Illinois, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Alaska provide recent
examples, though there are less-than-shining exemplars in every state. But in the US, there is an underlying
expectation that the political figures who represent us are – or ought to be –
holier than Caesar’s wife. We are
optimistic enough (Italians would say naïve enough) to hold our public figures
accountable for their behavior.
Italians
and Europeans in general, with the exception of the English, do not believe
that private behavior must necessarily be held accountable in public. Someone
is elected or appointed to public office for his – and far less frequently her
– capabilities in that office.
If those duties are well-executed, it doesn’t matter what the
politician’s home life is like.
It’s a little like having your home in Las Vegas: what happens there, stays there.
Call
it the Amadeus principle – if you are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and you create
sublime music, people are going to listen to your music and ask you to create
more, regardless of the sordid details of your private life. Tough luck for Salieri; his personal
conduct might have been impeccable but his music just wasn’t divine.
And
so we come to the current prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. Mozart he is not in that the results of
his several terms in office can’t be classified as divine by any but the most
slavish of his supporters. But
sordid, yes. Not the sordid
details of his divorce (see http://community.pinkmagazine.com/blogs/italy/archive/2009/05/10/political-divorce-italian-style.aspx)
but the seamy revelations about prostitutes coming and going at his villas in
Sardinia and elsewhere and the whispers that underage girls may have been among
them. Whatever their ages, they
were paid handsomely to amuse the middle-aged wheelers and dealers of
government and industry who were Berlusconi’s guests.
Granted,
this happens everywhere among the rich and powerful, not only in Italy. In Hollywood, it is standard operating
procedure, so banal, so accepted that you don’t have to own a villa; a rented
mansion will do. Since Berlusconi
made his billions in the world of television entertainment, it’s almost
understandable that he would continue his normal, highly effective business
practices in politics. In a
way, more power to him. He created
the television industry in Italy; he transformed it across Europe, he applied
the advertising techniques learned from television to transform Italy’s
political landscape. He
understands how business is conducted in Italy and has used that knowledge to
make himself very very rich, and to become prime minister three times.
But
wait a minute. Aren’t the rules of
conduct for a business tycoon and for a head of state different? Sex isn’t illegal, but the influence
peddling, bribery, collusion, and blackmail that can flourish in the hothouse
atmosphere of Villa Certosa ARE against the law, even in Italy.
Bribery
in business and bribery at the highest levels of government are both
prohibited, but they have different outcomes and affect different numbers of
people.
·
Shareholders
are often the victims of corruption in business; every taxpayer is affected by
corruption in government.
·
When
the head of a corporation behaves inappropriately, he may or may not be
censored by his board or brought to trial. (In fact, Berlusconi the businessman has been trailed by
hundreds of lawsuits over the years).
·
When a head of state transgresses laws
or societal norms, he is generally held accountable in the industrialized
world, if not by a court of law, then by media exposure. But Berlusconi the head of
government is remarkably untouchable. Since he controls almost all of Italian television and
most other media, his peccadilloes are ignored unless he decides otherwise, and then he
controls the spin.
When
foreign media, notably in the UK and Spain, take up the cudgel (sex sells newspapers,
after all), the prime minister threatens them with lawsuits and accuses them of
a “subversive plot" organized in collaboration with the Italian left. The accusation is laughable,
since the Italian left couldn’t organize its way out of a sacco di carta.
So
the media are cowed, and the political opposition is ineffectual. I keep waiting and waiting for the one
sleeping giant that could take on Berlusconi to bestir itself -- Italian women. They are the majority of the
population. They are the majority
of potential voters. They are the
majority of college students these days.
They are educated, articulate, attractive . . . and completely apathetic. I scratch my head and wonder, “Don’t
they realize that Berlusclowny’s antics are making Italy the laughingstock of
Europe? Don’t they see that his
cavalier treatment of women is setting back the cause of gender equality by
decades in this country? Do they
really aspire to be a whore at Villa Certosa rather than a professor or member
of Parliament or corporate executive?’
Then
I am reminded that some former members of Silvio’s “harem” have become members
of Parliament and corporate executives and television stars. They
have careers, cash in hand, diamond broaches and expensive watches. They are indifferent to “public
morality” to be sure, but is “apathetic” the most appropriate word for them?
Maybe they have the last laugh living in this land of love.
###
Based in Italy, Claudia Flisi writes about business and culture
for the
International Herald Tribune and many other publications, and for
corporate clients ranging from Apple (computers) to Zegna (clothing). She can
be reached through her website at flisi.net. Her thoughts about European women and beauty are found
here: http://frenchfacelift.blogspot.com/
Posted
Sep 21 2009, 09:10 AM
by
Claudia Flisi