Homegrown progressivism

A brief reflection on progressives in Italy. First of all, the name. I call them that for lack of a better term: "left", just like "right", now makes anyone who pronounces them sound pathetic.
Their problem, because it is evident that for some years now they have had a problem, is partly one of identity and partly of approach.
In a world where the old proletarian and working class no longer exists, by their very nature they have had to identify new battles, new vulnerable people whose rights must be defended.
This is the source of the first problem, because these groups whose defense they have taken up are heterogeneous, with demands that are often in opposition to one another (for example, gender minorities and immigrants coming from places with an extremely traditionalist and often bigoted cultural background), opposed even by their historical voters.
Actually, I even agree with some of their positions. First of all because they are often anti-populist, and that in itself is a merit.
Instead, I disagree with the method they adopt. And this is where the second of the problems I mentioned comes into play.
You cannot force visions onto society that, however right they may be, are nonetheless revolutionary compared to ancient and deeply rooted ways of thinking. People must be guided toward modernity with humility, understanding, and easy-to-grasp explanations. They must not be insulted, despised, looked down upon, and made to feel backward just because they are hesitant in the face of change. Even where change is necessary or even inevitable.
I read some reactions from prominent Venetian intellectuals and artists to the victory of the "right-wing" mayoral candidate. Arrogant rants, contempt for the rabble, lack of interest in the problems of ordinary people by those who do not realize they do not have the same problems as those people, not because they have a better view of the world, but simply because they are privileged, and believe that privilege will last forever.
This won't do. If this is their communication style, or rather their very code of conduct, they will end up becoming increasingly detached from an electorate that struggles to understand what they are talking about. Even when they are actually trying to get a fair message across.

This post was machine-translated from Italian.

Tradition

• Tradition is the result of a long sequence of improvements. And it is itself susceptible to future enhancements.
• Tradition is like a bookmark: it serves to remind us how far we have come, it does not signal the end of the story.
• The tradition you adore as an immutable fetish has been handed down to you by an unbroken series of generations, through various passages. If at any of these levels someone had thought they had reached the finish line, something more primitive would have been entrusted to you. You have a duty, as well as a responsibility, toward your descendants to leave the doors open to change, just as they were left open by those to whom you owe what has been handed down to you as a gift from the past.
• Tradition is a lot, of course, but it is not everything.
• The traditions of different cultures should never be pitted against one another: they are all complex, articulate, and sophisticated chains of adaptation to specific realities, anchored by their first link to the same hook, of which every further addition is a piece added to a unique mosaic.
• Tradition can act as a brake on the present or an accelerator for the future: it all depends on which pedal you decide to press.
  

  This post was machine-translated from Italian.

The legendary Suzhou's wind - China

Motherly instinct: her kid can as well burn in hell as long as her princess skin is screened from the sun light

It's hot in Suzhou, a demotivating kind of hot. As a result I've decided to suspend my daily jogging sessions. Who would have thought that I would suffer it like this after all those years spent training at the tropics? Fortunately on our side we have the proverbial Suzhou's wind, as my friend L likes to call it. Besides cooling your skin the gusts can also knock down your parked bicycle, throw a handful of dust in your eyes and uncover a curvy girl's thigh or boob, in case you are lucky and she's not. The best part of it, though, is spotting one of those affected city ladies nervously grasping the handle of her closed parasol, forced to let the sun scorching her skin like a simple mainland farmer girl. Asian girls actually tend to look quite good when they are tan: I find them more sensual, feline and spicy. Far Eastern people in general though, especially the wealthier ones, consider a dark complexion a loss of status, a stain that must be washed away with expensive beauty treatments or crappy whitening creams, which turn out to be mere sunscreen products in disguise.