Covering Up Roman Nudes For Rouhani, A Question Of Respect

Italian museum officials covered up prized ancient statues for the visit of Iranian President Rouhani. But what do we lose with such overly eager attention to Muslim sensibilities? And what about our own?

Rome's Capitoline Venus and an Iranian woman in a burqa

Rome's Capitoline Venus and an Iranian woman in a burqa

Capitoline museums/Roshan Norouzi-ZUMA/Worldcrunch collage

Massimo Gramellini

-Essay-

TURIN — Those ingenious Roman officials who covered up four nude statues in the Capitoline Museum fearing that visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would have fainted at the sight, and tore up new business contracts with our companies, are worthy heirs of a certain way of being Italian: without dignity.

It is that special way that we treat any guest as if he was our landlord, to behave like a German with Germans, an Iranian with Iranians and an Eskimo with Eskimos. To consider it a sign of "respect" to so eagerly slide into servility before those who frighten, who may somehow cheat you.

This centuries-old tradition — daughter of a thousand invasions and lost battles, also battles of the conscience — joins the very current theme of the asymmetric behavior displayed in relations with Muslim states. If an Italian woman goes to Iran, she covers her head properly. If an Iranian comes to Italy, we unfairly cover up the nude statues. In one direction or another, we are always the ones doing the covering. And the sensibilities not to be offended are always theirs. But what if the presence of women covered from head to toe on an avenue in Tehran or Baghdad hurts my sensibility? I don't think that the Ayatollahs would allow them to wear a miniskirt out of respect for me.

I wonder how to interpret the alternating perceptions of Signor Rouhani: The marble tits upset him, but gays sentenced to death in his country do not. I also wonder what my grandmother would think about this latest in a long series of Italian pantomimes: When I was a child, she taught me that the first way to respect others is to respect yourself.

La Stampa ("The Press") is a top Italian daily founded in 1867 under the name Gazzetta Piemontese. Based in Turin, La Stampa is owned by the Fiat Group and distributed in many other European countries.

View article in original language

English edition • Worldcrunch

Covering Up Roman Nudes For Rouhani, A Question Of Respect

Italian museum officials covered up prized ancient statues for the visit of Iranian President Rouhani. But what do we lose with such overly eager attention to Muslim sensibilities? And what about our own?

Rome's Capitoline Venus and an Iranian woman in a burqa

Rome's Capitoline Venus and an Iranian woman in a burqa

Capitoline museums/Roshan Norouzi-ZUMA/Worldcrunch collage

Massimo Gramellini

-Essay-

TURIN — Those ingenious Roman officials who covered up four nude statues in the Capitoline Museum fearing that visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would have fainted at the sight, and tore up new business contracts with our companies, are worthy heirs of a certain way of being Italian: without dignity.

It is that special way that we treat any guest as if he was our landlord, to behave like a German with Germans, an Iranian with Iranians and an Eskimo with Eskimos. To consider it a sign of "respect" to so eagerly slide into servility before those who frighten, who may somehow cheat you.

This centuries-old tradition — daughter of a thousand invasions and lost battles, also battles of the conscience — joins the very current theme of the asymmetric behavior displayed in relations with Muslim states. If an Italian woman goes to Iran, she covers her head properly. If an Iranian comes to Italy, we unfairly cover up the nude statues. In one direction or another, we are always the ones doing the covering. And the sensibilities not to be offended are always theirs. But what if the presence of women covered from head to toe on an avenue in Tehran or Baghdad hurts my sensibility? I don't think that the Ayatollahs would allow them to wear a miniskirt out of respect for me.

I wonder how to interpret the alternating perceptions of Signor Rouhani: The marble tits upset him, but gays sentenced to death in his country do not. I also wonder what my grandmother would think about this latest in a long series of Italian pantomimes: When I was a child, she taught me that the first way to respect others is to respect yourself.

La Stampa ("The Press") is a top Italian daily founded in 1867 under the name Gazzetta Piemontese. Based in Turin, La Stampa is owned by the Fiat Group and distributed in many other European countries.

View article in original language

English edition • Worldcrunch

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

Keep reading...Show less

View article in original language

English edition • Worldcrunch

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest

Why Is Homophobia In Africa So Widespread?