Shreds of a bizarre world

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Shreds of a bizarre world is not a diary you have to swallow newest-first. It’s an archive of scenes, satire, and arguments. Start where you’re interested:

Scenes from the world — things seen in the street
The country we deserve — Italy watched from outside and from inside
Keeping a clear head — how not to get eaten by polarization
Counter-catechism — against inherited doctrines, without swapping in new ones
Living on my own terms — work, age, pleasure, personal freedom

All posts by date are still below. Better to enter through a door, though.

The history books of the future

March 23, 2026

And here we go again: for the umpteenth time our political class is calling us to the polls to do for free the job they should be doing themselves, on their fat salaries.

Another question for constitutional scholars, addressed to the voters. In other words, the very heart of the machinery of state tossed to a crew of laypeople, some of whom even suffer from an acute form of functional illiteracy and can't make sense of a newspaper headline longer than five words (which, by the way, is at least partly the politicians' fault too).
Meanwhile, they keep us well clear of the ethical or practical issues on which even some guy with a fifth-grade education, who lives for the ballgame and the corner bar, could form a competent opinion, be it "Yes" or "No": euthanasia, same-sex marriage, decriminalizing cannabis, bringing in services like Uber, and you name it.

An ideal referendum question should aim as much as possible at the voter's "political instinct," not at their supposed expertise in jurisprudence or quantum mechanics, and the answer should come almost instantly. If I ask a passerby in the town square: "Assisted suicide: Yes or No?", "Same-sex marriage: Yes or No?", "Decriminalizing cannabis: Yes or No?", that person will almost certainly be able to give me an answer on the spot, without spending weeks pretending to get ready for a question they can't answer with full knowledge of the facts anyway.

A political class (honestly, I don't even feel like making too many distinctions between the parties) that no longer feels any shame in putting its incompetence, its inadequacy, its caste privileges, and even a touch of cowardice on public display when faced with the most important decisions for the country.
I sincerely hope the history books of the future condemn them harshly, as they deserve. And that our descendants know them for what they were, the way the worst emperors, popes, and tyrants of the past are presented to us.
Personally, I'd feel ready to curse them from the bottom of my soul, except I'm not superstitious and I don't think it would work. If you are, do it for me too.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.

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