https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpC9pz7eQhQ 170 ---- 251 ----- 252 Let's give this a little historical perspective. The French since the Renaissance have been TAKING THE CREDIT for Italian cuisine + fashion. Since Dante TOOK OUT ALL THE SERIOUSNESS OUT OF THE ITALIAN PSCHE with his La Divina Commedia (The name of his "divinely inspired" play, A WORK OF unexplained PERFECTION, given by Boccaccio.) Consequently, THEY'RE LAID BACK by nature. La famiglia. Food. VINO. LA DOLCE VITA. These things define THE ITALIAN PEOPLE. WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT they did NOT buy into capitalism (which is non-government in the business sector called "neo-liberalism"). THE GOV'T HELPS TO "ANCHOR" THE BUSINESS SECTOR. You can thank THE ITALIAN GENIUS for that. NO BODY IS SAYING IT: but it is ITALY WHO IS THE POWERHOUSE OF EUROPE; NOT France NOR Italy. AMONG ALL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES - in my view - THE MOST COMPETENT IS ITALIA. THEY HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, THE RIGHT RELAXED APPROACH. What hurts them including all other anti-immigrant European countries is IMMIGRATION; that is where THEY CHOKE. THE IRONY in all this is that ITALIANS MIGRATED around Europe TO GERMANY, SPAIN, ... "prior" to the EU. THE MAJORITY OF EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS have been "gli italiani". Therefore, "gli italiani" should be MORE SYMPATHETIC, MORE UNDERSTANDING towards immigrants who historically in the South-East have been Greek and in the South Arabs who have marked Italian music + cuisine in the region especially Sicily. UNLIKE THE BRITISH + THE GERMANS, they've NEVER BEEN A RACIST CULTURE: where they Italians went abroad, Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia, they were loved by the people who have fond memories of the Italians to this very day. They "even" see Italy as HOME. It's anti-immigration policy is "parochial" in its desire to KEEP THINGS THE SAME. YOU CAN'T: YOU HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD. SO I SAY to "gli italiani": AVANTI! AVANTI! :D VIVA ITALIA! Ken, Toronto, CANADA