One of the major contentions of Alexander Stille's excellent The Sack of Rome is that Silvio Berlusconi, through his control of the country's most popular television networks, created an electorate which would happily vote for someone like him. Berlusconi was aided immeasurably by the massive corruption of both the left and the right, but it was only through his channels' steady diet of crappy American nightime soaps like Dallas and game shows featuring scantily clad young women that Berlusconi was able to coarsen the culture to the extent that a ridiculous figure such as himself could be viewed as a plausible candidate for high office.
So it is difficult to see how a campaign by public intellectuals such as Umberto Eco and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo in response to the premier's attempt to silence his critics in the press will have much effect on Berlusconi's actions or popularity. More damaging is the recent conflict with the Catholic Church; Berlusconi allies are so concerned about it that they are attempting to negotiate directly with the Vatican to repair relations. Perhaps the combination of religious pressure and intellectual disgust might help to bring the man down, but in a country where "recent research demonstrated that the most popular ambition among female teenagers is to become a velina" (a scantily-clad game show jiggler), it's going to be something of a struggle.
No doubt it will work, just like Noam Chomsky's disapproval of the Bush administration limited its dominance to a mere eight years.
"... and those Berlin cabarets that did so much to halt the rise of Hitler and the Nazis".
Satire and intellectual disapproval both function as safety-valves don't they - acting to ensure that opposition stays within civilised limits? Beppe Grillo and Sabina Guzzanti have been making hay with Berlusconi's image for years with predictable results.
Not sure why you think the Church's disapproval will be anything other than therapeutic, Balk.
My sense is that the part of the population that is disinclined to read La Repubblica will only hear bad news about Berlusconi from church newspapers, since none of his media properties will cover it. If the Church is pissed off at Berlusconi they could make this a much bigger story to the average Italian than it has been so far.
"Brezhnev never told us!"
Serbians love to ascribe Milosevic's popularity to his total control of RTS, in spite of B92, the World Service, Deutsche Welle and all the rest.
Every Italian knows the news about Berlusconi.
The Economist's campaign was supposed to get at Berlusconi through a business elite embarassed to be represented by him. I can't see a Church thing being any more successful. Do people really think he'd be a goner "if only Mama knew"?
Alone, tormented, and infirm, Bob Guccione wishes he could do it over again.
Now remember, this is the part of the world which gave us "O tempora o mores" and "panem et circuses".
This is the latest iteration of the Italian love of spectacle.
Not sure if Berlusconi, or Italians, will repent...but I'm ready. Normally given to giggling in the comments at these accounts, which have never failed to call to mind a real or imagined Siffredi plot line, I think I'm done. Not that there wasn't ample material here: the gagging of the press, SB's enormous powers of persuasion, the ideas of conservatives dying hard, the center-left packing pol Romano Prodi (if not from, at least close to prodigare: yielding abundantly; or prode: marked by outstanding strength and vigor), and an Op-Ed call to arms penned by journalist Chiara Volpato (perhaps from volpe, meaning fox; also clever.) But a second or two into a stupid grin at the title, The Sack of Rome (=way too long), the gravity of the situation hit me in the face. And not in the good way.
Had lots of laughs over the last weeks at Berlusconi's sexy-time antics, which are almost too audacious to believe. But these hyperlinked articles in particular, and Balk's dogged commitment to laying out the problem (this "guy's guy" owns the three leading private television networks! And the leading book/mag publishing company, plus a movie company, and a major sports team!) have joined forze on the field that is this thick skull, uniting to make it all, finally, sink in. Berlusconi (can't they shorten it, like Sarko?) will probably always be perversely fascinating, but today he's been elevated to his rightful place, which is to say alongside those other media titans: Ceausecu, Hitler, Hussein, Stalin et al. Also Rajapska of Sri Lanka.
A predilection for titillation and facile celebration of the libertine (what an ass I am. And not in the good way.) blinded me to the despot in the midst. Like the Italian electorate, but all the more appalling, given my ability--yet failure-- to read all about him over here. How sad for me.