the controversy
noon, December 16, 2021 – 07:55 am
The philosopher presses after the editorial by the editor of Errico
He will turn 90 in five days and, from the height of his authority, Biagio de Giovanni, philosopher and historical exponent of the Italian left, comments “The policy of insult“. Thus was the title of yesterday’s editorial by the director Enzo d’Errico on the latest statements by the president of the Region Vincenzo De Luca. One for all: “In Naples, culture is represented by a series of idiots who dirty the pages of local newspapers with unbearable examples of provincialism, municipalism, vulgarity and stupidity”.
Professor, the intellectuals, therefore, from “little characters” have become imbeciles.
«I read d’Errico’s article with great interest and I am amazed at how it is possible for a president, indeed a so-called governor, to allow himself the use of such” amazing “language. There are no other words for what is not lawful to do. Of course we have been witnessing a degradation of the words of politics for some time, but De Luca, whom I have known since he was a student, reaches a point that goes beyond the boundaries of the tolerable and, rightly, the synthesis that d’Errico makes of it is “insults”. In itself this is an era in which political language, made due differences in style and content, has reached limits that have never been crossed in relation to the “enemy” or friend who is no longer welcome. This rampant drift is then embodied in the various subjects responding to each individual temperament. De Luca is fiery from the south and from Salerno, therefore, in him the result is there for all to see. Remember the screams of Grillo? They were considered to be a comedian lent to politics, but his party got 33 percent at the polls ”.
In addition to the “insults” there is another theme, that of the centralization of powers. The councilor for culture? The governor replies like Flaubert for Madame Bovary: “C’est moi.” Why do you think?
«(He smiles, ed) It’s part of the character. The essence of De Luca is precisely in this lack of openness towards the other as such which is seen by him only as an adept, disciple, collaborator. The councilors have autonomy in the sectors they govern and this is a risk for the president. He exalts a problematic dimension of power that has different faces, even at the service of others. In his case, however, he is closed in the dimension of self-referentiality. As if I were speaking to de Giovanni da Biagio to be pacified and happy ».
The mayor Gaetano Manfredi for quite different reasons – culture is his core business having been rector and minister of the University – did not appoint a councilor but a “control room”. What do you think?
«Culture has always been Manfredi’s” profession “so his case is different. The “control room”, beyond the names of high and indisputable profile, does not excite me or see me against: I like that there is someone who decides, but in this case it is too early to judge. Certainly no one, much less a governor, can attack scholars with a curriculum like that of the eight members, people of undoubted quality ».
Another knot is silence: d’Errico writes that neither the mayor Manfredi nor the students of the cabin can be silent.
“He’s right: the mayor of Naples has the obligation to answer, not the choice to do so. Although he will remember the episode in which De Luca patting him on the shoulder said to him: you are fragile, but I am by your side. Thus he also claimed that the electoral success he had obtained was also due to his political support. Now the mayor must decide whether to let his personality prevail or the political opportunity. It is very interesting to follow the developments of this story. The insulted professors themselves could even sue if the lawsuit made sense. They certainly cannot be silent. I don’t want to do the lbolder of the time, but there was a time when politics posed the problem of intellectuals. Today it is withdrawn into itself, it has nothing more to do with the social, nor with intellectuality nor, alas, with culture ».
December 16, 2021 | 07:55
© Time.News