What will happen when we get rid of Him...

Speaking about sycophants... the phenomenon is not confined to Italy, of course. But Italians, historically, have demonstrated a peculiar attitude that is quite similar to licking the current ruler's - whatever ruler - ass. To put it nicely, you call it "political adaptability". Bluntly speaking, it's switching sides so quickly and with an apparent clean conscience, so much so that you can probably deny your past and believe yourself when you do it.

After Mussolini was hanged in Piazzale Loreto, we say, suddenly nobody was a fascist anymore. Fascism was outlawed, confined to the past, but somehow we didn't come to terms with it. There was no Nuremberg-style trial, no public shame. "At least, under Mussolini trains were on time" is still a popular saying among people who lived under Fascism, without experience direct violence from it. Italians felt somewhat relieved that Mussolini was no Hitler, and the world demonization of the latter allowed us to forget that we had elected, supported, cheered a dictator for over twenty years.

Fast forward to year 2010... feels like a déjà-vu? It does to me. Berlusconi tapped into this nostalgia for "the strong man". And, although some people despair we'll never get rid of him, one day we will - unless he really proves immortal. Some months later, you'll tell me how many fasc... er, Berlusconiani you see around.

P.S. Joseph Heller's masterpiece, Catch-22, contains a great dialogue between an American soldier and an old Italian in a brothel (the novel is set in Italy during World War 2). Surreal, as the rest of the book. But spot-on, even 50 years later. Check it out:

Capt. Nately: Don't you have any principles?
Old man in whorehouse: Of course not!
Capt. Nately: No morality?
Old man in whorehouse: I'm a very moral man, and Italy is a very moral country. That's why we will certainly come out on top again if we succeed in being defeated.
Capt. Nately: You talk like a madman.
Old man in whorehouse: But I live like a sane one. I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top. Now that he has been deposed, I am anti-fascist. When the Germans were here, I was fanatically pro-German. Now I'm fanatically pro-American. You'll find no more loyal partisan in all of Italy than myself.
Capt. Nately: You're a shameful opportunist! What you don't understand is that it's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
Old man in whorehouse: You have it backwards. It's better to live on your feet than to die on your knees. I know.
Capt. Nately: How do you know?
Old man in whorehouse: Because I am 107-years-old. How old are you?
Capt. Nately: I'll be 20 in January.
Old man in whorehouse: If you live.