About collapsing bridges, campaigns and governments. (A part of “collapsology”)
Note: I am interested in “collapsology”. I don’t see why it should be restricted as a term to mere “survival” attitude and research of a possible end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it. Saying that such an end might be a creeping, slow process, what I guess it might very well be, one has to consider also intellectual, moral and spritiual collapses as well. Part of this “END OF PROGRESS and the penultimate man” (see my larger project on this. Coming.) indeed are examples where human beings are just mere “content” for postings to fuel excitment and in consequence “visibility” and “reach” /”coverage” of the content providers or networks. The a-social networks have no moral at all. Now, read on…
First week of February, 2020, I am travelling back from Italy. Reading national newspapers featuring the incident of Benetton art-director-photographer Oliviero Toscani at Un giorno da pecora radio program. Toscani is snoringly audible on a telephone connection, often interrupted or overvoiced by the journalist. The conversation is about a photo depicting activists from “le Sardine” who are a political anti-Salvini group, Luciano Benetton, and Toscani in front of a cultural center sponsored by Benetton. Will Benetton be going to sponsor financially the “Sardine” group? Then the conversation moves on about Benettons financial engagement, not only the mentioned cultural center, but his share in the Italian highway company which is responsible for not maintaining the Genova bridge (Viadotto Polcevera, built 1967) of architect Morandi, which eventually collapsed on August 14, 2018, killing 48 people. This tragedy was widely broadcasted and discussed.
In my personal view, the following Toscani MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO SAY (but didn’t in this way, which caused the meltdown of his whole career!):
Is a shareholder of a motorway-managing-agency to be held responsible for the neglect of maintaining?
Not easy a question. A shareholder is
not “interested” in the collapse of a bridge, as she is only interested in here dividends. Right?
I am not talking about morality here, which might have go come in at some point. But: This isn’t so obvious at all.
What Toscani really said was: “Ma a chi interessa se casca un ponte?”
Corriere della Sera (Fr., 7 Feb 2020, p.23)
The whole sentence is barely audible, while the radio speaker interrupts on top of Toscanis voics.
Corriere del Veneto (Fr., 7 Feb 2020, p.5) which is a sub-page of Corriere della Sera writes: “Ma a chi volete che interessi se casca un ponte?”
Maybe other citations are around in the medias.
Whatever the true words were, as I said before, Toscani created in my view an “ellipse”. What he might has left out was
“But who [at the shareholders] are interested if a bridge collapses [as long as they get their share]”
Easily a stupid argument of Toscani could change into an accusation of immoral attitude of shareholders, not caring about they companies they have a share in.
Toscani was fired immideatly after his remark. He confirmed to be devastated about his remark himself when he apologized for it. No way back.
Curiously I was just reading Walter Michel’s “The Marshmallow Test” at the same time, when I hit the chapter: “Why do smart people act stupidly?”
I thought this Toscani-incident might have been an example for Michel’s findings. Now I don’t think it is. On one hand a sort of “set-up” by the radio journalist to drive Toscani in that path, on the other hand a simple, barely audible remark, even misunderstood, runs like an atomic bomb through all medias, ruining this iconic figure of Italian photography’s career.
Maybe Toscani was astonishingly too naive in his attitude to behave like a Trump who fucks around with his malformed Tweets and stupid, inappropriate remarks and behavior – without any consequences so far. Anyone else besides crazy dictators including the president of the USA is shot down im-media-tly, so to say. Blame the media. Yes. Maybe blame people who have “good intentions”. (They are the worst, I guess.) Combine those two, you get the mess we are in now.
Trump is another story, obviously, and the downfall of democracy in the USA and its downfall morally, politically, and in other hinsights too.
Regarding the “Marshmallow Test” maybe there is more to find in the even more recent incident about Benjamin Griveau and an alledged “Sex Tape” on the net, spilled by Russian “artist” P.
What ever truth lies behind these media-shit-story isn’t very clear (appearantly the video doesn’t prove Griveau’s presence), besides the fact that it bombed the REM candidate to Paris major Griveau out of space.
And then, remember the DSK New York incidents. Many questions never answered.
And, of course, above many others, the “IBIZA” video with Austrian ex-vice-chancellor H.C. Strache. The Austrian government collapsed at that time.
Sources: You might want to search the net yourself using the mentioned keywords.
The original sound is heard here:
2020-02-15 td