Turisti Per Sempre

John Gray's book is not an easy one. Or better, the prose is fairly straight forward and unassuming but contents are quite harsh and often, a little bit too negative for anyone to enjoy. For what matters, I did enjoy it. But that perhaps is because I am free of religious beliefs and prejudices and have no problems in contemplating the idea that maybe, after all, we are limited and meaningless creatures. Gray's bottom line is: humans are like any other animal on this planet. They spend their lives searching for food, looking for a partner and fighting for their own territory. There is nothing philosophical about us – what is this book about then? The ideas that Grey puts forward are very challenging in their total nihilism. Having said so, Gray's pessimism, in places, is lugubriously laughable as he fails to acknowledge any human value and ultimately, refuses point blank to see any motivation for getting out of bed. Read it. But remember, it takes an open minded person to a

Here is my letter to this year's Cape Farewell voyagers: Dear everyone, I have been following your adventures since day one (and before) mainly because I know my good friend Francesca (ciao Fra!) was going to be part of it. I must admit I find it very entertaining and interesting and I am genuinely very jealous of you all! No many people in this world have had and will have the chance to see what you are seeing right now, also because for its very nature, the Artic is a ever-changing environment. As a distant follower of your expedition, I would like to bring my contribution to the climate change debate and maybe trigger some further interesting discussions on board and on this blog. The reason why I am writing this is because I feel quite pessimistic about this project and about climate change in general. In my opinion, the mistake many scientists (and most humanists) seem to make when it comes to discussing global warming is to consider mankind as the ultimate master of its own d

E’ un momentaccio. L’America è una nave che affonda, l'Europa (come sempre) è a bordo senza scialuppa di salvataggio, i ghiacciai in Groenlandia recedono di 38m al giorno, la speculazione impazza, i prezzi delle case precipitano, la disoccupazione aumenta, l'Alitalia non ha né più ali né tanto meno l'Italia, l’Inter di Mourinho non vince e Berlusconi ha il mal di schiena. Robe da far fregare le mani a Nostradamus. Gli italiani sono sempre italiani: insensiti (per troppa propaganda), imbambolati (per troppa tv) pessimisti (per vocazione), creduloni (per comodità) ed ignoranti (per convenienza). Il mondo affonda ma la gente preferisce guardare l'Isola dei Famosi (dove la gente naufraga ma non affoga). A volte mi dico che ci sarà pure un motivo se attivisti, ribelli e rivoluzionari non ne siano mai nati molti in questo Paese. L'Italia ha sempre e solo prodotto santi o criminali - spesso le figure coincidono. Persino i poeti ed i navigatori hanno tirato i remi in barca.