Skip to main content

Berlusconi Defeats Sarkozy

The recent revelations and controversy surrounding Mr. Berlusconi's exploits involving young females certainly proves that the Italian PM can defeat the French Prez. and do so convincingly.
The media frenzy surrounding Sarkozy's wedding to Carla Bruni must have a rather frustrating experience for the billionaire PM and media tycoon. After all, what has Sarkozy got that Berlusconi doesn't have? The French President might retire to a modest home somewhere in France while the Italian PM can afford to retire to the fanciest villa/chateau anywhere in Europe — or, indeed, he can buy the most fabulous place to stay in the South of France which would be beyond the modest incomes of Sarkozy.
So, the PM decided to out-do the Prez. at his own game — if the Prez. could boast of a famous model as his wife, the PM could persuade a bevy of models to be his guests . . .
I wonder when Indian politicians will be able to compete with global politicians on this particular index . . . not that Indian politicians do not possess colorful private lives, but usually these aspects tend to stay hidden.
The media in India is still somewhat hesitant when it comes to covering the 'exploits' of politicians in this arena . . . and there's also an innate tendency among the people of India to provide extra leeway when it comes to 'powerful' people — certainly, politicians belong in that group of selected few along with businesspersons and powerful criminals.
Then, there's the long history of monarchs in India — not the least being the Mughals — who had multiple wives either overtly or covertly . . . indeed, one remembers the royals of mythologies like the Ramayana who had multiple wives and it was considered 'okay' . . . apparently.
Indians tend to apply different yardsticks to judge the rulers and the ruled . . . which is undemocratic, but then democracy is certainly not an Indian invention.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Longforms and 'Best of 2017' Lists and Favorite Books by Ashutosh Joglekar and Scott Aaronson

Ashutosh Joglekar's books list. http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2018/03/30-favorite-books.html Scott Aaronson' list https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3679 https://www.wired.com/story/most-read-wired-magazine-stories-2017/ https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/12/the-best-books-we-read-in-2017/548912/ https://longreads.com/2017/12/21/longreads-best-of-2017-essays/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/21/world/asia/how-the-rohingya-escaped.html https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-journalists-covered-rise-mussolini-hitler-180961407/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/artificial-intelligence-future-scenarios-180968403/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/01/20/citizen-kay https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/where-we-are-hunt-cancer-vaccine-180968391/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/dna-based-attack-against-cancer-may-work-180968407/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/22/dona...

Why Do We Have A Name?

Humans across religious, cultural and national differences all have names. At least all modern humans have this. I wonder if the lost tribes in the Amazon jungle or the tribes who live in the Nicobar Islands cut off from civilization since the last many thousands of years have a similar naming convention as the rest of us humans do. And we humans often choose to have system of naming that consists of a first name and a last name. the last name often indicates a person’s or a family’s occupation and remains the same from generation to generation. All the offspring of one family get the same last name as the parents — usually the last name of the father. In some cultures, the first names can be the same as that of the father too. In some cultures, the name of the village, and other names too get added to the child’s name and it grows rather long. But consider for a moment how it all would have started and taken hold among humans in deep antiquity. Humans would have acquired...

Ayn Rand Was Right

Do we exalt the John Galts and Howard Roarks among us or despise them? Do we admire the ultimate, self-centered and selfish capitalists or the selfless, self-sacrificing altruists? Oh sure there are the Martin Luther King, Jr.s and Mahatma Gandhis and Nelson Mandelas and Aung Sun Suu Kyis we like to point to as icons and worthy role models for our children. But look deeply and we find that we are obsessed with the wealthy. And who are the wealthy? Why do we let the Robert Rubins, Sandy Weills, Jakc Welchs, Jamie Dimons and their Wall St. brethren keep their millions? Because we consider that right and their right. Let alone the hedge fund people whose entire purpose is to become billionaires. How many people explicitly make life choices that will lead to a life of service -> not be a charlatan like Mother Teresa but just helping the underprivileged without trying to 'achieve' greatness by so doing. So Lance Armstrong and Greg Mortensen and the Evangelical Christ...