Friday, May 27, 2005
Quis Dives Salvetur?
This post has not much directly to do with the BD. Exception made
perhaps for the reference to the work of Clement of Alexandria
I mentioned in the title (English translation here).
At any rate, I just read the following (taken from "La Repubblica", or "La Stampa", or "Il Corriere della Sera"), an excerpt of a press conference given today by Mr Berlusconi and Mr Blair in Rome. Mr Berlusconi was trying to prove that the Economist was wrong when it recently depicted Italy's economy as severely declining, and with characteristic wittiness he said that
PS: Read Clement.
Update (June 23, 2005)
(*) Lest anybody thinks our Prime Minister boasted a feature he himself does not possess, when he used a collective 1st plural, saying "we are great playboys": at the opening of the European Food Safety Authority in Parma (June 21, 2005), he said
On the exegetical side, if you read Italian you'll certainly appreciate the powerful message behind statements like "Tutto e' andato bene anche grazie alle amorevoli cure rivolte alla presidentessa [finlandese]". (taken from this article)
At any rate, I just read the following (taken from "La Repubblica", or "La Stampa", or "Il Corriere della Sera"), an excerpt of a press conference given today by Mr Berlusconi and Mr Blair in Rome. Mr Berlusconi was trying to prove that the Economist was wrong when it recently depicted Italy's economy as severely declining, and with characteristic wittiness he said that
La ricchezza delle famiglie supera di otto volte il Pil annuo, abbiamo una percentuale altissima di telefonini, siamo dei grandi playboy (*), quindi tutti i nostri ragazzi mandano almeno dieci messaggi al giorno alle loro tante ragazzeFor those not reading Italian, here is a translation:
The wealth of our families surpasses the yearly GDP by eight times, we have an extremely high percentage of mobile phones, we are great playboys (*), therefore all our boys send at least ten SMS per day to their numerous girlfriends.Convincing, no? Well, it may have been an attempt at being witty, but I find it extremely sad, and I am embarassed (once again) at seeing my country represented in such a way. I hope "all our boys" and "their numerous girlfriends" will feel embarassed too.
PS: Read Clement.
Update (June 23, 2005)
(*) Lest anybody thinks our Prime Minister boasted a feature he himself does not possess, when he used a collective 1st plural, saying "we are great playboys": at the opening of the European Food Safety Authority in Parma (June 21, 2005), he said
I brushed up all my playboy skills, now from the distant past, and I used a series of tender pleas to the [Finnish] president [in order to have the European Food Safety Authority set up in Parma, Italy, rather than in Finland.]For inexplicable reasons, the Finns apparently did not like his remark and called in the Italian ambassador in Helsinki to express their disappointment. The BBC has the story here.
On the exegetical side, if you read Italian you'll certainly appreciate the powerful message behind statements like "Tutto e' andato bene anche grazie alle amorevoli cure rivolte alla presidentessa [finlandese]". (taken from this article)
