Thursday, September 11, 2008

Italy, You're Doing It Wrong

So apparently in Italy it's a crime - punishable by five years in jail - to insult the Pope. Granted, the insult was pretty harsh (provided anyone knows what a "poofter" devil is), but still. Didn't know Benny-boy was so brittle.

Anyway, when I read this article I thought of my kid. She's starting to learn to crawl, but right now she launches herself along the floor with both legs, and she flops down on her belly a lot and the whole thing is just really cute. Italy's actions with regards to free speech kind of make me feel that way about them. Here you have a cute little toddler democracy trying so hard to have freedom of speech, but just falling down on its face a lot. This story would make me angry if it were in America. As it is, this just makes me want to pick Italy up, hug it, say "it's okay, you can get this free speech thing," and put it back on its feet again.

1 comment:

Matthew B. Novak said...

I dunno, saying the Pope's going to hell, and that'll lead to sex with gay devils? That doesn't sound like that original of an insult... kind of a cross between Dante and South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut.

It's funny, because Italy is so old, and yet, they're so young.