Pulling it Off

While most papers across the world are currently offering pull-out sections on the World Cup to entice readers, Il Foglio, owned by the Italian Prime Minister's wife, has adopted an unusual tack. The entirety of Wednesday's issue itself came as a supplement of a decidedly bizarre representation of Silvio Berlusconi, which constituted the day's cover for the newspaper. Indeed, as the paper's slavish adoration of the Prime Minister continues to ascend to white-hot intensity, Wednesday's cover presented a fusion of Berlusconi's face and Hans Holbein's painting of Erasmus of Rotterdam. The details of the fatuous parallel that the accompanying article charts is only available to Internet readers via pdf downloads, but anybody unwilling to invest in the time and effort that that involves need only know that it is typical Italian pseudo-intellectual journalese. The following extract from the opening paragraph should render the idea:

"E il Cavaliere zoppicava, eccome se zoppicava. Il ginocchio era immobile (come consequenza della deambulazione incerta), ma tutto il resto era mobilitato, perche il ginocchio, strumento della follia, assomma in se, in quanto strumento pratico della locomozione, tutte le venture del cammino della vita: genu (ginocchio, in ittita), genus, gens, gony (ginocchio, in greco), gignoskein (conoscere), gignesthai (divenire), Knie (ginocchio, in tedesco), kennen (conoscere)."

Which is all very nice, though the article might have added another part of the body, "coglione", which is what Berlusconi called a heckler after leaving a public meeting in Genoa on Wednesday. It is probably indicative of something that Berlusconi's prime ideological cheerleader must resort to this type of abstruse waggishness. The other main channel of Forza Italia propaganda, Il Giornale, will almost certainly maintain its relentless effort on the off chance that some hapless voter will take its title literally and buy the paper.
Though the pro-government papers would have been likely to adopt the aggressive line in any event, the fact that so much of the establishment media (namely, Corriere della Sera, La Stampa, and Sole 24 Ore) has openly favoured the opposition has sharpened the lines of division. Most notably, the editor of the Corriere della Sera, Paolo Mieli, wrote an editorial before the electoral campaign even began expressing his decision to vote for the centre-left coalition. Sure enough, as the election day approaches, tempers are beginning to fray, as Luciano Violante's outré reflections on Berlusconi's alleged vicinity to the mafia have given rise to vigorous counterattacks.
Il Foglio, therefore, is performing the function of shoring up support, instead of courting it. As the certainty of a centre-left victory becomes ever more evident, the Berlusconi camp appears to investing most of its effort in strengthening Forza Italia's future stake in parliament. Several articles have appeared in the press suggesting the existence of hairline fractures within the the Casa della Liberta' coalition, so eyes are inevitably being pointed towards post-electoral scenarios. So, can we expect another pull-off supplement from Il Foglio? If so, I would suggest that Erasmus is a hint too recherché. What you really need as a role model is an Italian with a well documented knack for communication. So as not strain the Photoshop programme, he should also be balding. Meanwhile, for ideological continuity, he should hate communists and take a vigorous position against media dissidents. I wonder...