[Buddha-l] Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)Petition

[Alberto Todeschini]

Joanna wrote:

> Fancy Berlusconi, with his millions--has he endowed one single
> cultural institution???

Νοt as far as I know. His media empire has for decades dumbed down and 
sexed up the unsuspecting Italian population. Off the top of my head the 
highest cultural achievement I associate with Berlusconi is the 
never-ending display of scantly-clad young women permanently seen on his 
televisions.

Richard wrote:

>> I follow Italian affairs closely, though I've been living outside of 
>> Italy for 15 years and though Italian affairs are a perennial source of 
>> embarrassment, especially when the fake-tanned, 
>> plastic-surgery-and-hair-transplant junkie, lecherous, law-bending 
>> Berlusconi is prime minister.
> 
> Sounds like a vast improvement over anything the United States has had
> as a president (or presidential candidate) for the past six decades.
> Does Berlusconi have any negative qualities we should know about? 

Well, he's a megalomaniac, and this can be very dangerous and certainly 
has already led him to a number of idiotic choices. There are only two 
reasons why I'm not panicking yet: Italy doesn't have an army worth 
mentioning, and we are part of the EU, hence the government is somewhat 
restricted in its actions.

As for the mandatory Buddhist content, it would indeed be sad if IsIAO 
closed down. It has strong ties to the study of Buddhism, and already 
now a large number of Italian scholars of Buddhism (and of just about 
everything else) has left the country.

Best,

Alberto Todeschini