Berlusconi Attack: Blame Facebook, and Ban it

Yes, that’s right.  The incident in which Silvio Berlusconi was clobbered with a statuette in the middle of his heartland, Milan, the other day has nothing to do with perceptions that he has been creating laws for himself, or with rumors that he is in the mafia.

Oh no.  It’s all to do with Facebook, that dastardly social networking site which Italians have taken to in droves.  Within this free service Italians have been able, possibly for the first time in Italy’s history, to say what they wanted.

Many did do just that, and a few went over the top in setting up ‘Kill Silvio’ pages within Facebook.   Italians though, are not averse to ‘going over the top’.   One Italian in particular held a rather ‘over the top’ party in Sardinia, I seem to remember.

Facebook Freedom of Speech in Italy

While we are at it, there is Twitter too.  Twitter is even more insidious than Facebook as it permits mass communication in the blink of an eye – I know, I use it.  Very difficult to control such instantaneous communication.

Such freedom of communication is unheard of to Italians who have had to lap up what manipulated news channels have force fed them for many years.  For some reason Italians seem to use the television as a primary news source.

With the introduction of the internet, the establishment in Italy is terrified by the control it has lost, and will continue to lose -if something is not done, and as soon as possible.  An attempt has already been made and Facebook was contacted over the various pages set up by people lauding Berlusconi’s attacker’s action.

Facebook has removed offending Facebook pages, and another fake page which gave the impression that around 400,000 people had signed up in support of Berlusconi – when in actual fact they had not, was removed too.  Some clever type had renamed an older Facebook group which already had lots of members.  I wrote about this the other day here:  Fake Silvio Berlusconi Facebook Page

But Facebook refuses to commit itself to actions which it feels may undermine human rights and freedom of speech.  Such a stance is a big problem for Italy’s politicians who are used to controlling most of the media in Italy.

So, what will Berlusconi’s supporters try to do about Facebook and Twitter?

Read more

Bad Wine in Tuscany

There is a scandal rustling the vines lining the charming vineyards of Tuscany -and what is a mere breeze at present may become a storm once more people discover that around 10 million litres of Tuscan wine have been adulterated.

Wines which have been adulterated are the Chianti, Toscana IGT, Brunello di Montalcino, and Rosso di Montalcino varieties.

In other words, Italian wine customers are not getting what they pay for.  The net result is that the image of Italian wine the world over will be damaged – perhaps irreparably.  Sales will fall.

What a huge shame. Read more

Fake Silvio Berlusconi Facebook Page

After the attack on Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday, a number of Facebook pages sprang into life.  Some Facebook pages praised the actions of Tartaglia, Berlusconi’s assailant, whereas others supported Berlusconi, and one seems to be fake.

I became curious when I noticed the names of a few people I knew listed as Berlusconi ‘fans’ on Facebook.  Odd, I thought.  As far as I knew, the people listed were not huge fans of Italy’s tanned supremo, to say the least.

In actual fact, the Sosteniamo SILVIO BERLUSCONI contro i FAN di massimo tartaglia page on Facebook- which has over 380,000 fans, is a re-hash of an existing page, or so I have been advised by one ‘fan’ who isn’t.

Upon hearing this, I asked some more questions – ironically, via the Facebook messaging system. Read more

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