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Dottoré!

A Very Neapolitan Hatred For Summer

Volcanic outburst about heatwaves and impossibility to cool off.

Photo of the Vesuvius volcano overlooking the Bay of Naples

"I’ll hit them so hard they'll end up in the sea in Mergellina"

domy_photo00 via Instagram / Worldcrunch
Mariateresa Fichele

Such awful heat that you can’t even be naked, mosquitoes that eat you alive, sweat that sticks to your skin, the kids that want to go to the beach and the money you spend sending them there, the craziness that grows inside your head and not even a cool shower can help you cool it off …


Really, Dottoré, those people who say, "Summer is so beautiful," I wish something bad would happen to them. The first person who says I’m wrong, I’ll hit them so hard they'll end up in the sea in Mergellina, with all their teeth knocked out … And I’d like to see them try to find a dentist in August!

In a word: I hate summer.

Transcript of a one-act play uttered all in one breath — in Neapolitan. Subtitles for Italian speakers available in my medical records.

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Geopolitics

U.S., France, Israel: How Three Model Democracies Are Coming Unglued

France, Israel, United States: these three democracies all face their own distinct problems. But these problems are revealing disturbing cracks in society that pose a real danger to hard-earned progress that won't be easily regained.

Image of a crowd of protestors holding Israeli flags and a woman speaking into a megaphone

Israeli anti-government protesters take to the streets in Tel-Aviv, after Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defence Minister Yoav Galant.

Dominique Moïsi

"I'd rather be a Russian than a Democrat," reads the t-shirt of a Republican Party supporter in the U.S.

"We need to bring the French economy to its knees," announces the leader of the French union Confédération Générale du Travail.

"Let's end the power of the Supreme Court filled with leftist and pro-Palestinian Ashkenazis," say Israeli government cabinet ministers pushing extreme judicial reforms

The United States, France, Israel: three countries, three continents, three situations that have nothing to do with each other. But each country appears to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown of what seemed like solid democracies.

How can we explain these political excesses, irrational proclamations, even suicidal tendencies?

The answer seems simple: in the United States, in France, in Israel — far from an exhaustive list — democracy is facing the challenge of society's ever-greater polarization. We can manage the competition of ideas and opposing interests. But how to respond to rage, even hatred, borne of a sense of injustice and humiliation?

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