Matthew Yglesias » Europe Update

Nov 9th, 2008 at 4:56 am

Europe Update

All Italy’s in a tizzy about a idiotic joke from Silvio Berlusconi. I’m not sure it’s racist per se to quip that Barack Obama has “all the qualities” you need for success, namely being “young, handsome and suntanned” but it is pretty dumb.

Comments
35

Filed under: Berlusconi, Italy,

35 Responses to “Europe Update”

Julian Elson Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 5:04 am
My impression is that this kind of thing is a key aspect of Berlusconi’s cachet. By “this kind of thing,” I mean “saying stupid stuff.”
matt Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 5:22 am
This is a weak candidate for the most offensive thing that wil ever be said of Obama.

The relevant question has already been answered.
Meh Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 5:40 am
If Jesse Helms said something like this – I suspect a lot of reasonable people would feel he meant it in a racist manner, due to his past behaviour and associations.

Those of us in Europe who pay attention to Berlusconi’s previous racially charged statements and his alliance with racist elements in the Lega Nord hence likewise see this comment as quite representative of his underlying attitudes.
Steve Sailer Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Isn’t Berlusconi perpetually tanned like an old saddle? That’s part of his vain billionaire shtick — he’s out tanning on his yacht all the time. So, Berlusconi calling Obama “suntanned” is Berlusconi’s self-mocking way of complimenting Obama for being like Berlusconi.

Googling on “Berlusconi perma-tanned” brings up 865 hits, so, yes, that’s what this was all about.

But it’s much more fun to get the vapors over it like a Victorian spinster.
novakant Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 6:56 am
He isn’t Sicilian, but I’m tempted to send Berlusconi a copy of the Dennis Hopper speech inTrue Romance (warning, not PC at all).

Or, more benignly, quote the great speech on the mixing of peoples and cultures from “The Devil’s General” by Carl Zuckmayer:

“just imagine your line of ancestry, from the birth of Christ on. There was a Roman commander, a dark type, brown like a ripe olive, he had taught a blond girl Latin. And then a Jewish spice dealer came into the family, he was a serious person, who became a Christian before his marriage and founded the house’s Catholic tradition. – And then came a Greek doctor, or a Celtic legionary, a Grisonian landsknecht, a Swedish horseman, a Napoleonic soldier, a deserted Cossack, a Black Forest miner, a wandering miller’s boy from the Alsace, a fat mariner from Holland, a Magyar, a pandour, a Viennese officer, a French actor, a Bohemian musician – all lived on the Rhine, brawled, boozed, and sang and begot children there – and – Goethe, he was from the same pot, and Beethoven, and Gutenberg, and Mathias Grünewald, and – oh, whatever – just look in the encyclopaedia. They were the best, my dear! The world’s best! And why? Because that’s where the peoples intermixed. Intermixed – like the waters from sources, streams and rivers, so, that they run together to a great, living torrent.”
Ovid Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Berlusconi’s comment was idiotic, but when it comes to European reactions to Obama, this is worse:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,589035,00.html

Mind you, Austria’s pretty politically backward so it’s not that much of a surprise, unfortunately.
joejoejoe Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 7:56 am
If you want to read a great blog about Italian politics, shoe shopping, and soccer (not necessarily in that order) check out Spangly Princess, written by a history prof teaching in Italy.
French uncle Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 8:07 am
It has effectively stirred the Italian opinion the last days. I was also interested in the American take of the thing…
MY and some commenters are mildly offended, lacking information about background of Berlusconi in the matter.
I think it doesn´t speak well of Berluconi, just my 2 cents of comments:
Italy is a bit of an outlier on the racist front. The colonial history was short, and the interactions – “Faccetta Nera” and the stuff- were obliterated by the quarantine over fascism.
Then the Italian turned on themselves: someone from Berlusconi´s origin and generation will have likely despised the south Italian Immigrant to the industrial north Italy, aka “Terroni”. Such sentiments heavily contributed to give birth to the Lega Nord in the 80´s.
But since the 90´s, Italy got finally some dark furreiners in significant numbers, and like in all in Europe if with some delay developed some reactions to it, inclusive racism and xenophobic politicians.
However it stays overlaid by the south -north antagonism, and was deformed in anti-muslim rethoric for the xenophobic bunch, under the umbrella of the post 9/11 propaganda.
The problem of the reaction of Berlusconi as I see it is that instead of such gaffe to be made by a Le Pen and inducing an outcry of the media followed by healthy reaction and debate, it is quipped by the media overlord and as a consequence is either downplayed by his lackeys or the indignation is discarded as a hypocrite partisan maneuver of the opposition.
It opens the door to the racism creeping in the public discourse, and a statesman should know better.
But we already know Berlusconi is not a statesman.
MattF Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 8:12 am
That Austrian story is pretty astonishing. And I’m sure the man’s colleagues– who had been working with him for 20 to 30 years– had no idea. Reminds me of my favorite line about Kurt Waldheim: he didn’t need a backbone because he had an exoskeleton.
French uncle Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I forgot to mention the other reaction you don´t have heard in the US, from Gasparri, the defense minister:
Bin laden will have rejoiced after Obama´s win.

As one can´t see any factual basis for that affirmation, on the contrary, you have to ascribe it to Gasparri´s personal views, i.e. his past as far-right post-fascit militant, see the “faccetta nera” stuff above.

Again, the fact that such stupidity is pronounced by an exponent of the majority party and therefor defended by the Berlusconi´s media with the usual Orwellian tactics poisons the well of public discourse.
4degreesnorth Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Should you have any doubt, all you need to know is that suntanned is a very definite codeword in Latin countries.
Acorvid Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Talk about a tempest in a teapot! This kind of silliness from Berlusconi AND the fevered overreaction in various quarters will both roll off Obama’s back like the tiniest drops of rain off a duck’s feathers. As he has said, in another context, he’s been called worse things on a basketball court. You can bet he’s going to keep looking for a cutter or a lane to the hoop!
Angry Sam Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Anybody else find it ironic that folks from a country with a history like Austria’s are deciding who is and is not “politically civilized?”
Ovid Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am
@ Angry Sam: Oh, yes. Part of the explanation lies in the post-war settlement. Austria got classed as one of the victim countries, so didn’t have to come to terms with its record in the same way that Germany did (not that some Germans weren’t saying similar things in private).
hlem Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Might want to remember this sort of thing next time some condescending Teuton lectures me about the terrible racism of America.
Warren Terra Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
You might think that in a thread about racist sentiments Steve Sailer might be smart enough not to pop up and say that despite the obvious racist and condescending nature of Berlusconi’s remarks that they meant something completely different and innocuous, especially since Sailer is himself far more enthusiastically and overtly racist and so didn’t actually need to pretend there was no racism there, but if you thought so then you would be wrong.
Tom Parmenter Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Back in the 40s and 50s, tan was a popular self-designation among Negroes, for example, Tan was a popular digest magazine (Bronze was another)and <a href=”http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139634/” Tall, Tan, and Terrific was a gangster film starring Mantan Moreland.
Tom Parmenter Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 11:17 am
You need a preview function.
Don Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 11:22 am
This comment has made the news even in Japan. But the one place where people seem to care the least about it? Here in America, where the reaction seems to be (as much as anyone is even aware of it): “The Italian PM said something dumb? So?”
DJ Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Berlusconi was the same guy who said Arabs weren’t smart enough to have planned something as coordinated as the Madrid bombings. I remember having a vastly increased respect for George W Bush after that – noone could imagine him saying anything remotely as stupid or offensive.
Sam S. Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
What time do you wake up?? 4:56am on Sunday?? You know it’s not election season anymore
Jeet Heer Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Well, if Steve Sailer thinks Berlusconi is not a racist, that’s good enough for me…
Chuck Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I don’t know about anybody else, but I took away from the Spanish basketball team mini-scandal the idea that “racial humor” doesn’t carry the same baggage in Southern Europe as it does in the U.S. I don’t know much about how a remark like that would be perceived in Italy, but my tendency, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, would be to follow Hanlon’s Law here.
jonas Says:
November 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Normally, I think comments like Berlusconi’s would have been dismissed as those of a European gentleman of a certain age who could be excused for not mastering the subtle idiom of US race relations, but Italy’s really been on edge this year over a number of racist attacks against black African immigrants. Berlusconi runs in the right wing circles that have been stirring up a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment lately, so his comments were taken without the grain of salt they might have been normally.
Cyrus Says:
November 10th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Please forgive me for agreeing with Steve Sailer, I’ve rarely if ever done it, but this doesn’t seem that bad. I never knew that “tan” and “suntanned” were codewords or self-descriptions of blacks in the past, and that might change things. But Berlusconi is complimenting Obama. Given that all three traits he’s complimenting Obama on are superficial, does it matter what the third is, as long as it’s not a blatant insult?

Wasn’t there some mini-scandal during the campaign when some Republican dismissed Obama as “John Kerry with a tan”? That, I agree, was offensive. It seemed maybe a racist statement in and of itself and definitely demonstrated a close-minded attitude (being unwilling or unable to look beyond skin color and notice the individual’s personality, policies, etc.). For some reason, this case feels different. Maybe there’s context I’m missing, like the slang meanings of “tan”, or maybe I’m just feeling more generous towards Republicans now that they got spanked.
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