Friday saw a post to NYRBlog that was as entertaining as it
was informative. The title was “A
Roman Cat Fight;” and the author was listed as Massimo Gatto. This was
clearly a pseudonym; and, if I were a betting man, I would probably put my
money on Tim Parks.
The story has to do with an effort by Roman politicians to
shut down a sanctuary for cats on the grounds of Largo di Torre Argentina,
presumably to satisfy more commercial interests behind city planning. One comes
away with the impression that this is another instance of what we have come to
call “vulture capitalism,” championed in Italy by former Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi. However, when the vultures take aim at historical artifacts,
usually destroying them in the process, it turns out, according to this post,
that they are maintaining a historical legacy. Thus, the post is framed in such
a way as to leave the impression that Berlusconi and those of his ilk are
simply continuing a long a path previously trod by both Benito Mussolini and
Saddam Hussein (both of whose names appear explicitly in the post).
That makes for some pretty powerful rhetoric. If Wilfred
Owen stated, during the First World War, that all a poet could do was warn;
this post demonstrates that a blogger can do more. If the blogger has the right
gifts, (s)he can shake the world with a shattering miaou de cœur.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
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