[extropy-chat] Italian comedies and tragedies: Beppe Grillo's grass-roots efforts

[Amara Graps]

During the time I've lived in Italy, the country has given me a lot of
laughs on top of disappointments and a drained bank account. The
comedies and tragedies in the culture are mixed down to the deepest
level. It seems, therefore, appropriate that the most vocal political
criticism about the Italian government and businesses come from a
stand-up comedian.

His name is Beppe Grillo. Some people have drawn parallels between him
and Michael Moore:

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=257396&rel_no=1

However, Grillo is much more 'grass-roots' than Moore, taking his
criticism of the trashy methods with which the government and businesses
conduct their work to communities all over Italy. Perhaps it was the
only method left to him, after he was banned from national television in
1987. Whatever the reason, his grass-roots style has worked well; he
uses the meetup.com community to bring people together in physical space
for discussions (and more stand-up comedy...):

http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/meetup.php

And the Beppe-Grillo-style political commentary is spreading to
orkut.com and other electronic discussion boards as well.

So take a look, I suspect that you will laugh while you cry and it will
give you a keener understanding (with more sympathy) of the people
living in this particular landspace. You won't agree with some of his
perspectives, but I think you'll agree that he is making a remarkable
effort, and it is one that might actually work.

http://www.beppegrillo.it/english.php - Grillo's Website (In English)
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beppe_Grillo - More on Beppe Grillo

Some Examples

* About my favorite company (not!) Telekom Italia  scroll to May 29
http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/technologyinternet/

* About the proposed construction of an incinerator in Ferarra, and
Grillo's money collection to buy a scanning electron microscope for a
couple of scientists whose instrument was confiscated after they
published data of the hazards of the nano-sized combustion products

http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/2006/05/   scroll to May 31
http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/2006/03/research_gagged.html

* A steady commentary about the ex-convicts in the Italian Parliament, a
hope dashed for Borsellino to refresh Sicily and other stories:

http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/politics/



The world needs more stand-up comedians!


Amara

-- 

Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Roma, ITALIA
Associate Research Scientist, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson