Ah good old Italian pessimism. I was sure that I had done my very best to purge you from my system, but alas a sliver of you seems always to lurk in my subconscience. Yes, I defend Italy a whole Hell of a lot, far far more than my fellow citizens do, and yet that ItalianPessimismTM still caused me to entirely miss the point of this rather good article about gender inequality around the world, and how it is not related to the presence or absence of a democracy.
It details a very interesting study, and goes on to make some inferences relating to war and global violence based on those studies, but all I saw what this graphic representation of the physical security of women worldwide.
Wait, WHAT?! Can you spot what made my eyes pop out of my head? Italy is amongst the highest scoring countries in the world? Really? REALLY?! I went back to the article, and it seems as though they also included things like women's political participation. Once again, WHAT? ITALY? Are you serious?! (One of?) The only country(ies?) in Europe that has never had a female President or Prime Minister? Where boys clubs are everywhere from politics to medicine to physics to, well, everywhere? Italy scored better than the US? Canada? Ireland? Fucking Finland??!! Where the whole "maybe you shouldn't have dressed like a slut" is a counter-argument to rape that I hear often? Where I constantly hear that rape is underreported because that other boys club, the cops, are notorious for ridiculing vitctims? Really?! ITALY is one of the safest countries on the planet for women??!! Seriously, I have gone back to that graph ten times already, absolutely sure that I must have read it wrong.
Wow. Yet instead of being impressed, that makes me extremely depressed for the rest of the world. If what we got is some kind of golden standard, how bad is it elsewhere? And not only in countries scoring in the dark green, I am fully aware it is terrible in places like Saudi Arabia, Uganda and India. But Canada, Australia, Germany, what gives?!
So you tell me, is it that Italian Pessimism that doesn't allow me to feel good about how safe women are in my country with respect to the world? Or is it really that, if this is the best there is, the global situation is far, far more dire than I could have imagined?
I've written before about one aspect in which the Italian culture is significantly at odds, almost the direct opposite of US culture, and today I realized that there is another aspect that I had not fully formulated in my mind, though I have been aware of it all my life. It still falls squarely into that good old Italian pessimism that I have written about before (although not very recently), but it is an interesting parallel manifestation of it. I am talking about the ways that both regard ambition. Ambition is something that is greatly admired in the United States, and something that I noticed very much when I was applying for college. Apart from the obvious historical cultural background: pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and defeating all the odds, taking huge risks to become immensely successful even when you were working multiple dead-end jobs to get there, there is an incredible focus put on ambition in your career. I didn't want to go to the United States for college for financial reasons as well, beginning my working life with a huge debt on my shoulders seemed ridiculous to me if I could avoid it (and I didn't even know what kind of a nosedive the global economy was about to take as I entered the workforce either), but primarily I had personal reasons for not wanting to move there. The US is just so far away from the rest of the world, so isolating, so monocultural in so many ways that I much prefered the idea of staying in Europe. When I left Ireland also for personal reasons despite the fact that I was trading an excellent chance of getting a PhD for a very small one, the reaction of my American family was largely the same. I was perhaps not ridiculed, but very nearly, for putting personal reasons anywhere near my career on my list of priorities. The idea was that, unless I wanted to be a sucker, career had to become a very distant first on my list, who cares where I lived or if the weather was miserable or whatever else. You do what you have to do to succeed and become the best. Of course, Italy is the complete opposite. While every Italian completely understood my reasons for leaving Dublin (and even expressed shock that I even stayed to finish my degree), they are the least ambitious and most pessimistic bunch I have ever known. All of them told my family "tell her not to come back to this shithole! She'll never get a PhD here! There's no point in even trying if she doesn't have Italian professors as friends, don't you know how it works here?!" The fact that I was offered a PhD in all three places I applied doesn't sway them one little bit: "Oh she got in? Wow, she must be some kind of super genius or really really lucky, because that never happens". Well no shit it never happens if you sit on your ass and don't even bother applying! I'm not saying that this is the golden land of opportunity, very far from it, but the mentality is irritating beyond measure. And for the record no, I'm not a super genius, far from it actually, but I showed enthusiasm for my work and that I really wanted to be here, and that made a huge difference.
This also goes for anyone who shows the slightest bit of ambition regarding their future plans. I've had people look at me with a raised eyebrow, saying "what, you think you're getting into academia? Pfft please, no one makes it that far (the fact that the very exisitence of professors contradicts this argument eludes them completely). Or, if they're talking about their own plans: "I don't want to sound ambitious or anything, you know, but I was thinking about...." I get immensely frustrated, what the fuck is wrong with being ambitious?! It's not like I'm saying that I KNOW I'm going to be immensely successful, but I'm not going to lie down and die for fear of failing. If I wind up being a waitress for the rest of my life at least I know I gave my dream a shot, even though it didn't pan out, and I wont have to die with that regret on my conscience. However, for some reason, in Italy ambition is in some ways related to not being modest, being arrogant, which is the main reaction you get if you express the slightest bit of ambition. As usual, I think both approaches are flawed, as they represent both extreme sides. On the one hand I am a human being, not a robot. If I'm not happy in the place that I'm living, or my partner is not happy, my life will suffer in a way that earning a bit more is not going to make up for. Happiness comes in many froms, not just how high you climb up a career ladder or how much money you make. I could give a damn if others think that I could be doing more or earning more, I made my decision based on what was best for me, not best for my career. Some people don't distinguish the two and validate themselves entirely based on their career and that's OK too, but I'm not one of them and most people are not. On the other hand you have an attitude that is very much akin to living in fear. Although its a resignation more than a fear that leads Italians to talk and behave in this way, the results are largely the same: their full potential is not being realized, and the best people for positions are either leaving the country or not bothering to try. The result? Only people who think they have a better shot, because of connections and not necessarily the most qualified, even bother showing up to the job interviews. While it does occasionally happen that interviews are set up as a formality to officially give the job to your pet, not bothering to show up for any because you automatically assume they're all the same only exacerbates the problem. My conclusions are always the same in these little rants: borrow a little from each other and find a middle ground, there's no need to be so damned apocalyptic about everything all the time!
So generalizing has a pretty bad reputation, one that may not be entirely undeserved but one that is getting worse and worse as our society becomes ever more PC. I mean generalizing is just one step up from stereotyping, and from there it's a straight shot to racism! Slippery slope and all that. So it will come as no surprise that, when in a conversation with a friend of mine the other day I happened to make a comment about people in Dublin based on my personal experience after living there for five years, my friend jumped down my throat. You can't generalize! I know loads of people that are not like that! Just because you met people that were like that doesn't mean that they all are! I want to take a moment to defend generalizing, because I'm getting very very sick of having to repeat "yes, I know not everyone is the exact same person".
At this point another little insight into the Italian mentality that I have often described before: I only get verbally smacked if I generalize about other countries or cultures. In the same breath, my friend went on a tirade on how shitty Italians are. They're cheap! They're rude! They never pay you back if they borrow money! They're obsessed with looks! All the girls are anorexic! Why? Because there's this one girl in my gym that is there from morning till night! You know a generous Italian? It must mean that they want favors from you later on. I know Irish people that are generous, that means that they're not cheap at all, at least not as cheap as Italians! You get the idea. Putting this amusing hypocrisy in demonizing generalizing aside, on to my defense.
Life is variable. This is the first lesson of science and statistical analysis and it is just as applicable to people and cultures and customs. Of course if you make a comment like "Irish people are boozers" it does not mean that they all are. It does not mean that they all get hammered every weekend to the point of getting in trouble and/or forgetting where they were and what they did and/or waking up in a strange place with their shoes on the wrong feet. It does not even mean that all Irish people approve of such behavior or would ever allow themselves to get sloppy when they have a drink with friends, if they even drink at all. It is not about thinking that all Irish people are the same, and it certainly is not about meeting an Irish person and automatically assuming that he or she is an unreliable alcoholic - that is where you fall into the trap of stereotyping and down the slippery slope towards racism. However, I submit that it is still in the spirit of discussion of commenting on or comparing cultures that you are allowed to make such a statement, not in the spirit of prejudging someone, but in comparing what is socially acceptable.
I know extremely sloppy drunks that are Irish and I know some that are Italian. I also know people from both countries that don't drink. However, I feel more justified in my previous statement based on what is socially acceptable in either country and what is not. Take these two examples from my life there:
1. I was sitting in a pub with about 10 of my classmates having a beer. A friend walked in and sighed over how desperately she needed a drink. She then went on to say "lads, I haven't had a drink in a week." The table gasped. Why the hell not? Were you sick? Not a single drink?! You poor soul, let me buy you one!
2. I had been up all night writing my thesis and I was exhausted. I was in the common room with a classmate and I mentioned that I was so tired that I could have easily laid down on one of the desks in the common room and fallen asleep. She said "well go ahead, don't worry, if anyone comes in they'll just think you're drunk". I was perplexed. I asked: "are you telling me that it is more socially acceptable to sleep on a desk in a common room because I'm drunk than it is socially acceptable for me to be sleeping there because I was working all night?" Apparently, the answer is yes.
I know that both of those examples come from college and therefore my generalization might only apply to Irish students, but enough drunken nights with my friends' parents tell me that it can extend to the older generation as well. Anyway, my point is that in Italy, getting so drunk that you fall asleep in public in the middle of the day is NOT socially acceptable. In college a friend might laugh about it, but you will be teased incessantly and may people will lose respect for you. If you get sloppy one night you usually spend the next day apologizing profusely to everyone you were with, not proud of how much crap you got up to. Getting hammered with your parents is almost unheard of. It's not that no Italian has ever done any of this, it is that culturally speaking this behavior is outside of the norm, it is the exception, whereas in Ireland getting drunk with your parents is nothing to be surprised about.
And now in typical Italian fashion I have to follow up with a pejorative generalization about Italians, lest I be deemed a naive sucker. One thing that Italians are is jealous. Not necessarily in the boyfriend-girlfriend sense (although there is plenty of that as well), but in the jealous of each other sense. Example: I recently got back from Brazil (which I'm sure you're all sick of hearing about), but I went during a period in which most people don't take a vacation. I also came back with a bit of a tan, it being a tropical country. One day I forgot to moisturize and I was peeling a bit on one arm, and one of my friends said to me "I hope you peel and completely lose all the tan you got over these two weeks!" In other countries that would be considered a terrible thing to say, hateful at worst, rude at best. Here, on the other hand, such a comment is perfectly normal and what I expected her to say, because Italians are jealous people. Sure she was half joking and didn't really mean it, but it would have been inconceivable for me to get offended by such a comment. It is a culturally acceptable comment to make, which is why I feel justified in saying that "Italians are a jealous people", even though my friend was probably not all that jealous in this case - demonstrated by the fact that she made the comment, it's the ones that say nothing and look at you funny that you want to watch out for.
So that's my two cents on the potential value of generalizing. What do you think? Are you also a generalizer of sorts in the fashion that I described, or do you think that it has absolutely no place in a discussion on cultural differences?
Look, I am all for the indignatos and occupy movements, which have kind of fused together in Italy to create what you see now. I get it, things are shit and you don't trust people in power not to screw you over when they try to patch the holes in the dam with your money instead of tearing it down and rebuilding the thing. However people please, take a load off for once,
The new government hasn't even done anything yet!!!
Let me break it down for you a little bit. Mario Monti: who is he? Well, he's an economist, an ex European Comissioner, he's a lot of things. But one thing that he is not: a politician
The new Italian "emergency government" is made up of college professors, experts in their relative fields, but not people who have ever been part of a political party.
Am I the only one that thinks that was brilliant? Not only are you not giving the power to a bunch of corrupt bums (I'm not just making a pessimist comment here, Italy actually has a huge government corruption problem), but it also puts aside all the partisan bullshit that we really don't need right now in order to fix this crisis.
Maybe the US Super Committee should have been made up of professors and economists instead of congressmen..... just saying
Anyway, not only that, but Mario Monti has already spoken about what he's planning to do. He's actually brought up the issue of social disparity, organized crime involvement, tax evasion of the wealthy and growth stimulation, he's not just proposing sweeping austerity measures as if cutting social services is the answer to all economic problems.
I know they're just words right now and I'm not so naive as to think that he's bound by what he says, or that just being in the presence of politicians can't corrupt the crap out of him, but words are all we have to judge him on right now. And based on his words I don't get why anyone is protesting. OK so you don't believe he's going to stick to it and you want to let him know that you wont be having any funny business. Great. Message received, now can we actually see what happens before huffing about him already?
Also remember, this temporary emergency government can be dissolved at any time before the elections in 2013, he is not protected by the fact that he was voted in by the people and has a term to serve out, so he has to deliver. I don't actually know almost anything about him, but I'm allowing myself to be curious to see how it plays out before declaring that I KNOW nothing is going to change and that no difference will ever be made.
Wow. What an asshat.
After finally leaving office on Saturday, November 12th at 9:53pm, Berlusconi issued a video statement explaining..... I'm not sure what exactly. It makes me have a similar reaction to when I watch people like Bill O'Reilly, you dont really believe this shit do you? I mean, are you just an idiot, are you so delusional that you've convinced yourself of what you're saying, or are you flat out baldfaced lying?! Also I just want to punch your face.
OK, so let's break it down
It's in italian of course, so I'll translate wherever I need to.
He starts by saying that Italy has to be united to face the problems that are ahead. And that the first and last thing that I agree with him on.
He then says "solo mettendo da parte l'invidia". which means "only putting aside jealosy".... what the fuck does jealosy have to do with anything?! You think that you got kicked out of office because people are jealous of you? I was unaware that Berlusconi was a fifteen year old girl.
After reminding us all that his last act in office was to pass a law containing 50% of the reform measures the EU asked of Italy, he explains why he then immediately resigned:
L'ho fatto per senso di responsabilità . Per senso dello Stato. L'ho fatto per evitare all'Italia un nuovo attacco dalla speculazione finanziaria. L'ho fatto senza essere mai stato sfiduciato dal Parlamento. Anzi, avendo ottenuto più volte della Camera e del Senato dove possiamo contate tutt'ora sulla maggioranza assoluta. E' stato, consentito dirlo, triste, vedere che un gesto responsabile, e se permettete generoso, come le dimissioni, sia stato accolto con fischi e con insulti.
Translation: I did it for the sense of responsability. For a sense of the State. I did it to avoid a new attack from financial speculation for Italy. I did it without ever losing support from Parliment. On the contrary, having obtained in multiple times from the House and the Senate, where we can still count on the absolute majority. It was, if I may say, sad, to see that a responsible gesture, and if I may a generous one, like a resignation, was met with whistles (the italian version of booing) and with insults.
Oh. My. God. The nerve of this man. The outright lies.
First of all, it's bullshit that he has the confidence and the support of Parliament. He has been hammered in the polls, and the people are fed up with his shit, politicians included. It is so reminiscent of his friend Ghaddafi: Revolution? What revolution? What are you talking about? My people love me!
Secondly, where the HELL does he get off saying that it was a generous act? Silvio, what was generous was that all you got was whistles and insults, or are you unaware of what happened to our last dictator?
But oh, he continues:
Ringrazio comunque gli Italiani. Grazie per l'affetto, per la forza che ci avete trasmesso e che ci hanno permesso di raggiungere molti degli obbiettivi che ci erano prefissi fin dal 1994 nel giorno in cui annunciai la mia discesa in campo. Quel giorno ha cambiato la storia dell'Italia. Al credo politico che pronunciai allora non sono mai mai venuto meno. Fu, rimane, una dichiarazione d'amore per l'Italia. Dissi l'Italia e' un paese che amo (...) Non cambio una virgola di quelle parole.
Translation: Anyway I thank the Italians. Thank you for your affection, for the strength that you have emitted that has permitted us to reach many of the goals that were put in place since 1994 the day I announced my candidacy. That day Italy's history changes. At the oath I took then I have never, never come up short. It was and it remains a declaration of love for Italy. I said :Italy is a country I love" (...) I don't change a comma of those words.
Real translation: thank you for allowing me to amass more money and power than any other politician in Europe, which is exactly what I set out to do in the first place. As for loving Italy, you're really going to say that to us with a straight face after you were caught red handed saying you thought this country is a piece of shit?
He then goes on to talk about how important the majority is and a united Parliament will help solve our problems etc. But then he has the gall to say this:
Dobbiamo uniti far fronte a una crisi che non e' nata in Italia, che non e' nata sul nostro debito, che non e' nata sulle nostre banche, che non e' nata neppure in Europa, e' una crisi che e' diventata una crisi della nostra moneta comune dell'euro che non ha il sostegno che ogni deve avere.
Translation: We must united confront a crisis that was not born in Italy, was not born on our debt. that was not born in our banks, that was not even born in Europe, it's a crisisthat has become a crisis of our common currency the euro that does not have the support that each (currency) should have.
Sure. Blame it on the States and the euro. That isn't to say that the economic crisis in the US didn't precipitate this mess, but why has Italy been hit so hard and why is it going to be so hard, if at all possible, to bounce back? Because Berlusconi destroyed this country and has left the people to pick up the pieces.
He then goes on to say that he wants "redouble his efforts to fix this country" as if he has any power left. The big problem is that Berlusconi owns this country, he can financially ruin a politician who does not do what he wants them to, but let's hope his shaming will give more people the courage to stand up to this slimy bully. It would be as if a Koch brother got elected President of the US, disaster.
And an update from the lab: no one mentioned that he's gone. I think everyone is in a slight state of shock so they reverted to the good old fashioned pessimism: until they see something actually change, they wont believe it.
In the meantime, let's hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and do what we can to push change is the right direction.
So it turns out that Italy holds the world record in 2011 for most solar panels installed, beating Germany, which was the world leader in solar panels for ten years, 3:1. Looks like she's finally going green, ah bless. Considering that Italy was one of the last countries in the developed world to get rid of leaded gas, I found this to be very surprising indeed.
See what I did there? It is genetically impossible for an Italian person to say something good about their country without immediately following it up with a pegorative comment. If anyone does have a mutation which allows them to complement this country unchecked, they are immediately labeled as naive suckers, the poor dears.
As I explained in my first ever post, I have a double nationality, with one foot firmly in Italy, and one (well, perhaps a toe at the moment) in the US of A. This has given me a unique perspective, one that can view both countries in both a subjective and objective way. Something that has always struck me about the accepted cultural mentality with regards to these countries (speaking in generalizations of course, there are always people who are more objective with regards to their own country) are polar opposites, and yet I see both as being straight roads to failure. Let me explain further.
I have always been floored by the patriotism that is commonplace in the USA. The reverence for the flag, the pledge of allegiance, the national anthem played at every baseball game, all of it baffled me. But even if you forget about all of that, there is still a prevalent mentality, sometimes a subconscious one, that the USA is the best country in the world, and every other country wants to be like US. When I used to visit during my college years, I had numerous people, and I mean liberal, freethinking and well-travelled people, ask me why on earth hadn't I chosen the US when I was deciding on a college. In order to keep the answer short and away from "starting my working life under a pile of debt just didnt seem all that appealing to me" I gave them my second reason for not doing so, because the US is just too far away from the rest of the world. They all looked at me baffled, thought for a moment, and all of them, I shit you not, gave me the exact same answer:
"Huh. That's interesting. I never thought of that. See for us, America is the world"
The lack of internationality also aside, the patriotism in the US runs extremely deep. Americans do believe, unconsciously or not, that they are a model for the rest of the world, that everyone wants to move there and live there, that they have the best quality of life of the developed world, despite the stark evidence to the contrary. If I picked any old bar in the US, stood up, raised my glass and yelled "A toast to the USA! The greatest country in the world!" I would probably be met with a variation of nodding to outright applause (if any of you USAers want to give this a shot for me and share your stories, I'd love to hear them!)
Now lets contrast that with the prevalent Italian mentality.
In Italy, all you ever hear is "this is the worst fucking country in the entire world". When I tell people that Im here doing my PhD at the moment, all they can say to me is "What? Why the hell did you come back here? You speak English, leave this god forsaken country! Don't you know that this country has gone to the dogs?! If I were young, I'd leave this place and never look back! Well you finish your PhD, but then get out as fast as you possibly can! Here, we might as well be living in the Congo the way things are going nowadays. You'll see, we're desitined for a ruin the likes of which Haiti hasn't even seen. We're the laughing stock of the EU let me tell you!" And on and on and on. Good old Italian optimism. If I picked any old bar in Italy, stood up and raised a glass and yelled "A toast to Italy! The greatest country in the whole world!" I'd be met with laughter, jeers, and at the door the men in white coats would be waiting to bring me to a special place.
That isn't to say that Italy doesn't have its problems. I am the first to ackowlegde that there is a lot of work to do to get this country back on its feet. But Italians fail to recognize that there are other countries that have it much, much worse. They take what they have for granted, that if Italy has it, that means everyone does (like a very inclusive universal health care system), and everything else is just garbage and attests to the fact that Italy is unsavable, shameful and embarassing.
And now these two polar opposite countries are both facing some extremely tough times ahead. Both need sweeping reform and really new ideas. Yet what struck me most was how these two extremely opposing views seem to come to the same conclusion: hampering this change that is sorely needed.
On the one side you have the American view. What this can come to often is "yes, we have some problems, but we're still Number 1. We're still the best. We may need to change some things, but what we're doing works, we're number 1 after all, so theres no need to rock the boat all that much"
Compare that to the Italian view: "It doesn't matter what we do. All politicians are corrupt bums. I don't even vote anymore. Why should I? they're all the exact same and will the steal the exact same amount. Nothing is going to change. Ever. No point in getting our hopes up or expecting anything that's never going to happen".
See how these opposite extremes come down to the same thing? In order to have real change we have to put all of these personal biases aside. The idea that "change is impossible" or "we're too perfect to change" is ludicrous. People need to start looking at things objectively. America, don't be afraid to copy something that is working wonders in Norway because you think they're "socialist" or because you're subconsciously afraid that by taking a page from someone elses book you will diminish your status as alpha male and ackowledge an inferiority on your part. Italy, don't be afraid to really and truly reach for the stars, to identify what problems there are and do your part to eradicate them to create a better future for your children. Change is not bad, its inevitable, the important thing is to make sure that you change for the better, and you change enough to really make a difference.
