Changing face of Manchester: Oxford rd, St Peter's square

The demolition of the Odeon Cinema on Oxford rd was expected for several years. Nevertheless when I passed in front of it last week I felt the view of the disembowelled cinema against the new building was really sad and brutal. 

Odeon cinema demolition
https://www.flickr.com/photos/afortiorama/35482516246

I'm in favour of progress but I'm also in favour of preserving certain things. While Elisabeth house was a really depressing building, the cinema was a piece of history and many people spent memorable hours in, including me. Seeing it like a big wounded animal is poignant. Here is a reminder of how it used to be

Odeon Cinema and Elisabeth house
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jazzketeer/5109667911

And how it will be

Building that will replace the Odeon cinema

Elisabeth house from another angle

Elisabeth house 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jazzketeer/5109663643

Replaced by One St Peter's square

 

https://www.careyglass.com/projects/one-st-peters-square/

Rock the Casbah

Today for no reason other than I passed in front of it, I went into a lego shop. After browsing some of the packages I arrived to a stall where people could build their own lego figures. Since I had time to waste I spent several minutes choosing pieces for my figure.... amusingly I wasn't alone, five other adults were doing the same two young women and three young men.  No children in sight. The figure above was my creation, I was satisfied enough to buy it.

Sequoia project: day 110

Number 1,2,3&4

Following from this post a couple of months ago. I've transplanted the seedlings a while ago because they were too crowded in the kit container. They are growing nicely. They all have branches now. I used normal garden compost, even though some bonsai purists seemed pretty against it. It worked well. N2 (second from the left) which in the kit used to be the biggest, is now the smallest because it was the last to be transplanted in its pot. Trick is really, like for all plants, to give the the right amount of water and light. I put them in my mini bow window where they get plenty of light and some direct sun in the late afternoon and evening. I also spray them with water every couple of days (which is even more important if one lives in a dry climate). They do bend heavily towards the light so I rotate  them every few days to make them grow straight. I've now put also some tooth picks to keep them straight because some of the branches are quite heavy for the size of the plant. N4 (last on the right) was particularly unbalanced by that big branch also visible in the picture.

The sequoia project

I went to visit the Muir woods, the Giant Redwood woods near San Francisco.

While I was going there I was chatting to my sister who jokingly challenged me to bring back one tree. I answered that the trunk of one of those would occupy my entire back garden. I then thought about bonsai trees and that I could grow a bonsai if I could find any seed. Of course I couldn't find any seed under trees because it was spotless under wood with no cones and tourists have to walk on paths anyway, also I didn't know at the time but, as giant as the trees are, the seeds are instead really small. Luckily the shop in the park sells redwood growing kits, so i could fulfill my promise to bring back if not a tree at least the seeds.

I finally planted the seeds a couple of months ago. They suggest to leave the seeds in the fridge for few weeks, which I did and, while they guarantuee the germination of at least one seed, it's really lucky to get more because the redwood germination rate is quite low. I was really lucky and I got four seedlings.

First born

Four seedlings

I'm really happy. I was already thrilled when I had one, but now if they survive my clumsiness I can give it a go to make a little bonsai wood or at any rate I have more chances to grow properly at least one. ☺️

Timeline:

* 27 January planted seeds
* 16 February Taken out of the fridge
* 3-17 March germination
* 27 March transplanted 3 in pots

Garden Ramblings

I think my neighbour mountain ash tree (that with elongated dented leaves and clusters of orange berries) has reproduced in my garden. It's not the first time I gain a new plant like this but I'm surprised that I manage to recognise the potential of a seedling not to be a weed and I'm pretty sure that if I did plant them willingly I would be frustrated. There are other 3 different type of seedlings that look interesting 2 are now big enough to look like 2 type of ivy and I'm waiting to see what the third will become. Now the decision I have to take is if to transplant them before the winter. I think I'll wait for spring.

Hard work and patience. This spider has rebuilt his web already twice, once from scratch, plus several small repairs. Since I never see it in the morning I wonder if it has other webs to attend to like a real landlord. It's bigger than usual so I assume it is a rich well fed spider. :)

Life of a cherry tree

It is remarkable and even surprising that my cherry is still alive and thriving. I used to make posts on flickr, with a summary of the struggle and here on this blog about it being really slow at growing and its very asymmetrical growth taking pictures every year and being happy for every new flower or every new cherry it produced, but I never realised how much dead wood it had to overcome to grow. It is surprising it is still alive at all. I have other examples of plants suddenly regrowing from little and not so little pieces in my garden, the most remarkable of which was the deepest roots of a fuchia I eradicated years before because I thought it was dead, sprouting once again from under the rose that took its place (sprouts have been carefully moved to a vase now and are happily producing more and more branches) or the buddleia buzz midnight eradicated by the wind this year that didn't die, but the cherry is for me the most impressive. I've always found it a good metaphor of how I feel about myself and when I'm a bit low on morals I go to look at it and I feel reassured, even more now in the knowledge that even if there was dead wood slowing everything down it will crumble away and disappear at some point. I'm happy I kept it and didn't go to buy another specimen. If it ain't completely dead life will take over. Next update next year.

Dreaming of circuits

Pantheon, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Tanto tempo fa - circa 20 anni - quando ho ricevuto il mio primo computer serio ho fatto un sogno: Il mio sistema operativo aveva dei bachi seri e l'unico modo per mantenere la macchina attiva anche se a potenza ridotta era quello di spegnere una parte delle funzionalita'. Il sogno e' talmente lapalissiano che non c'e' bisogno di spiegarlo. Nel corso degli anni sono passata ad altri sogni in cui il sistema operativo veniva aggiornato correggendo alcuni bachi e diventando piu' potente fino a che, un giorno, non ho cominciato e sognare che l'hardware era troppo vecchio per ulteriori aggiornamenti e che bisognava cominciare a cambiare i pezzi. A questo e' seguito un altro periodo di sogni in cui tonnellate di cavi vecchi, che sicuramente non potevano portare bene i segnali elettronici, venivano rimossi. L'altra notte per la prima volta ho sognato che non c'erano piu' cavi da rimuovere e che qualcuno stava mettendo dei circuiti integrati. Mi son svegliata pensando che tra qualche anno mi metteranno Voyager bio-neural gel packs and then I'll almost be human. :D

The Cherry Story Continues...

The Cherry Story Continues..., originally uploaded by afortiorama.

The cherry with only one developed branch has produced also some cherries this year. Not as many that they cannot be counted but enough to be notice if some are missing - I suspect it might have produced a couple last year two but they were gone before they could be noticed. Primary suspect is The Squirrel. My guess is that next year there will be either many cherries or a very fat squirrel. Hopefully also a second branch to balance the current one or secondary trunk from the twigs I've left grow this year at the base. I don't know why those cherries make me so happy. The apple has grown almost 4 times it's original size and produced many decorative apples and I'm happy about it but not as thrilled. Perhaps it is the struggle this cherry tree has to produce something that endears it so much to me and keeps me glued every year to see what happens. Maybe I feel an affinity. My brother the cherry tree. :)

Previous pictures.

Cleaning considerations

62/365 Washing time!, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

I have to admit I don't clean that much. My aproach to cleaning is the epic fight against the evil that happens once a year. The only rooms I keep moderately clean are the kitchen and the bathroom.  The epic fight might stretch over few weeks and when I finish I start to obsess over small stains I left and I go around with a mop in my hand for several days and then everything starts more or less degrading until the next epic fight. This brought me to some existential considerations on the meaning of life, house cleaning and I reached some conclusions:

a) cleaning is a never ending job I mean you clean and even if you don't move after a while you need to clean again. I live alone and can limit the damage but if there were more people in the house the potential for mucking grows exponentially.

b) if it is really clean you can spot a stain from much further away and feel the compulsion to clean it. That's the reason I have this mopping reaction after the big clean. And I can see how that might look like obsessing over cleaning.

c) I cannot even imagine if I had a family after spending time cleaning if someone soiled it again immediately. The cat does it already but it's a cat and the worst she does is leaving footprints in the kitchen if it is raining.

d) I need to reduce the epic fights, increase the skirmishes and change weapons. So I bought 10L of vinegar and 1kg of baking soda. Will see how it goes.

Morning Glory (3): Tapestry

Morning Glory (3): Tapestry, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

At the tender age of almost 44 I feel I finally will not be paying for the shortcomings of others anymore. It has been my damnation and it took me years to become adept at seeing the early signs of bullshit, to identify a provocation as an action to trigger a behaviour that is not in my interest, and to know when to answer and not to answer a provocation - silence is a powerful weapon if used shrewdly. I can now start building instead of patching up situations created by others. And just thinking about the energies that got freed and the possibilities I have in front of me I feel awashed with well being.

On a lighter note I think my little kitchen window is my first step towards creativity rather than plain reproduction. I find so beautiful how light can change dramatically what you see or perceive.

I'm starting to hate my UWA

Nave, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

No, not true. I'll end up loving it but at the moment I haven't cracked it yet. It allows me to do many things like thaking a whole church nave, but it is extremely difficult to keep it straight. Even the tiniest movement when one clicks results in massive inclination in the picture. It might also account for why one often gets prominent softness in a single corner rather than all around the edges. I read many reviews that had problems with one corner and the problem is, in my view, the angle of the lens with the plane of the scene. For me, who like symmetries it's unnerving not getting that bloody angle flat.

I'm So Cool

I'm So Cool, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

It's a boring and irritating experience spending time on a flickr portrait group where 80% of the pictures represents women trying desperately to be sexy. I always.... well, flick through desperately trying to find an interesting face, a natural pose, some variety of emotions.

After one of those experiences when I thought I'm going to puke if I see another woman in a sexy unnatural pose a friend circulated this video: That doesn't make you a model.


I'm So Sexy.

You Sexy Thing.

La liberta' delle donne

Stavo cercando di capire se il libro di Valeria Ottonelli vale la pena di essere letto ma qualunque recensione leggo mi lascia perplessa perche' l'unico punto che viene messo in evidenza e' l'antagonismo con il cosidetto movimento femminista moralista che attaccherebbe una specie protetta: le belle donne. Sopratutto le belle donne che vanno in televisione a mostrare i propri corpi discinti o che si prostituiscono - un segno d'emancipazione epocale.  Questo articolo apparso su Gli Altri che mi e' capitato di leggere mentre cercavo recensioni su google ne e' un esempio.

Queste donne, per quello che ne so io, non hanno bisogno di essere difese, non sono una specie protetta e sanno benissimo come farsi strada nel mondo. Quindi rimango un po' perplessa da questa improvvisa difesa. Il femminismo moralista ha vinto, non perche' le altre, che fra l'altro sono molte di piu', si sentono tutte sante ma perche' non sono mai rappresentate. Infatti le uniche rappresentate dai mezzi di comunicazione sono quelle come la Belen. Personalmente io sono stufa di vedere donne che ridono ad essere marchiate come prosciutti, essere messe sotto i tavoli, essere smanacciate e avere come fuoco fisso della telecamera le tette.

Voglio vedere donne che fanno qualcosa d’altro, che esibiscono delle qualita’ che non siano quelle di madre o puttana od ultimamente schiava silenziosa e pezzo di carne da marchiare. Questa non e’ liberta’ se poi quando entro in una riunione tutto il lavoro che faccio io viene automaticamente ignorato in confronto a quello che fa il mio collega nonostante  lui sia meno produttivo.

Le femministe moraliste alle quali io mi associo sono contro questo modello unico che e’ stato ribattezzato MUT (Modello Unico Televisivo) anche se il televisivo dovrebbe essere esteso anche ad altri mezzi di informazione. Quando La Stampa mette la foto di una donna sdraiata sul tavolo di una cucina in posa sbarazzina ed equivoca con un laptop davanti ad illustrare una conferenza di business women alla quale hanno partcipato la CEO della pepsi ed altre donne di simile calibro fa disinformazione e un disservizio a tutte le donne, per esempio, perche’ la percezione della donna in business o accademia diventa quella di una donna poco credibile. Immaginate un’articolo su una qualche importante conferenza illustrata da un uomo sdraiato su un tavolo in cucina mentre fa lo spiritoso. Perche’ questo deve essere accettabile per una donna ma non per un uomo?

Vorrei concludere con un altra farfallina cosi’ siamo tutti piu’ contenti che la Belen non e’ l’unica

On The Ambition Gap

Anastasia, Drusilla and The Sleeping Beauty, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Below is an exchange I had with various women on the FB Guardian Comment is Free article entitled: The five most pathetic female film characters of all time. Most comments and likes following my post are an example of the lack of ambition most women suffer of. I know the vast majority will agree that Mulan is the best because she didn't go back to pour tea in practical terms (please read the exchange below to understand), but from where I stand that's exactly what she virtually did. She had the possibility of being the Emperor adviser and she didn't catch it. To do what? To go back home and teach little girls how to be strong and get married. Because that's the final ending of any Disney story! Wherever you come from, however badass you might be in a Disney movie you can only end up married. Those who want to and have the capability of being a great warrior/Emperor adviser/business enterpreneur/ for the rest of their lives and do it for themselves not for family&friends are NEVER represented.

Even intelligent women don't see it and don't have any problem when watching Mulan with

a) the future husband accepting a promotion - while Mulan goes back to the village
b) with coping with an incompetent man adviser for the whole film - while Mulan is not considered competent enough for the job despite displaying superhuman qualities in intelligence and leadership for most of the film
c) with proudly stating that it wasn't her ambition to become captain (note: she has been automatically downgraded from emperor adviser to captain without even thinking) and she only did things for her family not for herself - as if doing things for herself and not for someone else was a sin. (They haven't even watched the film carefully on this one because she does it for herself: to be someone to be proud of when she looks in the mirror).
d) with stating that she'd like to go home to her family love and "have a nap"! The epitome of "Look at me! How cute am I? Having a nap like a little kitty after all this fuss!".
e) with considering ambitious teaching two little girls back in the village how to be strong - when she could have opened schools all over the country as an adviser.

I think these women answers are where women problem lays. It is the ambition gap Sheril Sandberg keeps on pointing out. This lack of ambition is so ingrained that they can't even recognize it or it is considered so negative particularly if it is personal ambition and not to help someone else that it must be rejected - another ingrained concept.

I'm not for forcing women to be ambitious if they don't want to but perhaps we should start thinking that the main problem women face to get out of predefined gender roles is themselves.

Note: I left the names because they were comments under a public article not a private exchange.
=================================================================
Alessandra Forti
Emily Watson in breaking the waves in this horrendous story of degradation; any Disney princess even Mulan who rejects the place offered her by the emperor to go back home and be a good girl; Keira Nightley in pirates of the Caribbean 3 when she throws everything away in the last 5 minutes to live on an island to see a man once a year for eternity.

Robyn Frances Shepherd · Durham, Durham
Actually Tiana in Princess And The Frog is pretty kick ass for her race and gender considering when it's supposed to be set.

Rebecca Bishop · University Campus Suffolk
Aww, come on, what more do you want from Mulan? She freakin' dressed as a man and fought in a war even though she would be executed if discovered, didn't give up even after she was found to be a woman and saved an entire freakin' country, receiving huge honors from the Emperor. So what if she didn't want a poxy job where all she'd get to do would be follow the Emeperor around and take notes? xD I'd just want to go back home after fighting in a war, too!

Alessandra Forti
Rebecca Bishop Given that Mulan is better than the sleeping beauty or Cinderella up to when she refuses the job. For me showing that one could be the best and then not reaping the benefits is a bit futile and typical of women who do all the work and then leave the honors and the carriers to the men. We have different views of the world. I wouldn't go home. I'd take the job.

Marina Lacoste
Totally agree about Keira Knighley, I was sooo angry in the last five minutes, i mean, what the hell? I didn't think her character was heading that way.

Nikki Atwood · College of the Canyons
Alessandra Forti ~ Mulan achieved all of her goals though. She saved her father from the war and death on the battlefield, she restored honor to her family and her own name, and she showed her true value as a person and a warrior. She didn't need the job, she accomplished all that she had set out to do. To not take the job showed a form of humbleness, she didn't need a high ranking job to be happy. Her family was proud of her, and she was most comfortable with what she has. At the end of the movie, the emperor and China's subjects bowed to her accomplishments and she was praised. She was acknowledged as a woman of power, I don't think any of the men in the movie took any of that away.

Alessandra Forti
Nikki Atwood she indeed showed humbleness and that's why I don't like it. She did it for love with complete lack of ambition which makes acceptable for her being a temporary warrior. Translated as real life experience it's like doing all the research work for a big presentation and then stepping back and let a man present it. Who do you think will stride in the carrier? The man or the woman?

Maggie Sheen · University of Technology, Sydney
Alessandra Forti So humility isn't a strong characteristic? Frankly, I would prefer any daughters I may have to see the ending of Mulan as it is, with Mulan humbly turning down the offer of a job for which she has no qualifications and set out with no desire to obtain. And I hardly think Mulan can be accused of lacking ambition when there's an entire montage devoted to her ambition to overcome her own physical and mental weaknesses. Just because she doesn't want to become empress, or adviser to the emperor, does not mean she lacks ambition. Furthermore, the notion that women should behave in a cut-throat, love-less manner to obtain what they want is antithetical to feminism, which denotes that women should be able to express themselves as individuals as opposed to caricatures defined by gender stereotypes.

Alessandra Forti
Maggie Sheen having ambition doesn't mean to be cut throat and heartless. It is a myth that ambition and care are mutually exclusive. That she is not qualified for the job also might be questionable at the beginning of the film she wasn't qualified to be a wife (just because she couldn't serve tea) either and definitely not to be a soldier. If she was a bit more ambitious she could carry her qualities into the job and be a star. And that's what I'd teach to my daughter she can be a star if she wants to, she doesn't have to chose to go home to resolve an internal conflict that doesn't really exist.

Maggie Sheen · University of Technology, Sydney
Alessandra Forti But the point is Mulan already is a star - the entirety of China bows to her; can't that be enough? And I would hardly say that Mulan is qualified for the position of chief political adviser to the Emperor - she's a small-town girl who spent time in the army. Yes, with perseverance, she could accumulate the required experience for the position, but ambition isn't limited to wanting the best job available. Mulan doesn't want the job, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'd hardly want my children to pursue a career they didn't want only because they felt obligated due to its prestige. Additionally, as I recall, you stated that you detested the fact that Mulan "did it for love without ambition", implying that love has no place in ambition.

Alex Morrison Durden Plattner · Paris, France
Maggie Sheen i totally agre with that

Alessandra Forti
Maggie Sheen I did say that. The film like many others instills the perception that a woman cannot be ambitious without being a bitch and that she can do super human things only and exclusively out love and generosity (otherwise she is a bitch) which is absolutely not true. She can be both and teaching otherwise means limiting women choice. A woman realization cannot be limited only to the affective sphere. I find this extremely restrictive and suffocating. And if we want to talk about competence she most certainly would be a better adviser than the slimy character that is the Emperor adviser during the film. :)

Rebecca Bishop · University Campus Suffolk
And also, Mulan didn't just go back home to be a good girl - in Mulan 2 she's shown teaching the little girls of the village how to be strong and then she's personally chosen by the Emperor to guard his daughters on the way to their arranged marriages, something which Mulan challenges and the princesses ultimately end up rejecting their arranged marriages and choose their own futures. Obviously it's not a great film but as Disney sequels go I've seen far worse (lol), and she didn't just go back home and start pouring tea again, she's a highly respected warrior. Although both films are very different from the original legend of Mulan where she fights in the army for years without being discovered and retires back home in total obscurity.
But anyway, I don't quite get what you're saying about the job thing. Why should a woman have to take a job she doesn't want just to prove a point? In my opinion that's just as bad as a woman being forced into any other role she doesn't want. Mulan had her own mind and made her own choices, which frankly, is what I thought feminism was all about, not doing something you don't actually want to do just to go "lol, in your face men!"

Alessandra Forti
Rebecca Bishop who said anything about being forced. I just said that for once I'd like to see a woman in one of these films making a different choice than going back home and getting married. There is nothing wrong with that of course but there is absolutely nothing wrong with accepting the top job offered her by the Emperor either. Instead of going back to teach little girls in her village she could open schools in the whole country to make an example of the difference. I've never seen the sequel but reading the synopsis it seems to me that her future husband didn't have any qualms to accept a promotion and become a general.

Rachel Azevedo
mulan's ambition wasn't to run off and become captain of the guard. she wanted honor. for her family, not just herself. she didn't go home to be a good girl, she went home because she had accomplished what she set out to do.

Anna Sophia May
Alessandra Forti I'd go home. I nearly died, I did some big things, I saved the country, nearly died again.. I don't care how big and strong I am, I want to go home and be with the family I love. And nap.

Alessandra Forti 
Anna Sophia May go home.... I take the job.

Anna Sophia May  
Alessandra Forti Ok! I'd hate working in politics.

It's Christmas!

Xmassy, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

This morning I woke up with a Christmas feeling. I hope I will not waste it. I haven't really touched my camera in a while aside a brief flickr meet to the Christmas markets where I took this I haven't seriously thought about it in a month and a half. I'm upset by this lack of interest I'm showing for anything other than my computer lately. I can't stand it anymore (Velvet Undergroung, 1969).

Freedom Of Exchange

Freedom Of Exchange, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

The only sentence I keep on thinking looking at this picture is "Thank god I live in a civilized country". It has many defects but it tries and every now and then you see these gems of tolerance at the point that the freedom of exchange is possible. That's when I love most the UK.

Police Woman

Police Woman, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Piccadilly, Manchester. Mounted police were there is force for the EDL rally.

As much as I am in favour of multiculturalism and respect for cultural differences women status is clearly one of the heavy clashing points between the Muslim world and the Western one that bugs me. Our own society has still a long way to go and some subtle barriers to equality are still there, but it cannot be denied that western women are in a far better position than Muslim women and new generations of men and women are showing radical changes in mentality so some of the problems that are still persisting today might not exist in 10 years.

And I love horses.

I DON'T CARE...

I DON'T CARE..., originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Piccadilly, Manchester. An eloquent young speaker at the EDL counter rally. He was very passionate and here he was saying: "I DON'T CARE what holy book you read. Get a grip! We are 6 billions on this planet."

We are indeed almost 7 billions. And despite some people blame it on religious doctrines the problem is not only the doctrines (although I'd kick the pope every time he opens his mouth). The country in Europe with the highest natality is France which is also the most secular. Everybody in the west hypocritically shot China down for their 1 son policy as barbaric but I don't know where we would be if they hadn't done that. And now India is offering a car to everyone who get sterilized but nobody is saying anything about that. Apparently selling one's own fertility in exchange of a car is more acceptable in our capitalistic morals than being told "we are too many and this cannot be sustained".

Overpopulation, together with resources and food wasting, is the root cause of the damaging we are doing to the environment and ultimately to the sustainability of the human population.

Peveril Of The Peak

Peveril Of The Peak, originally uploaded by afortiorama.

Someone started a thread in the Manchester,UK group asking "What have you learnt over the last year that improved your photography the most?". It's a very interesting question. And after going through my stream I think my photography hasn't improved much I took good and bad pictures independently from the gear and although each camera allowed me more space what I really learned to do is to take the same pictures with a different camera. So what is missing or what have I learned?

From the technical point of view I probably learned many things that go from screen calibration to using RAW files instead of JPG to the use of the AV mode of when to use manual vs continuous vs auto focus or the use of a remote for self portraits and so on. So why my photography hasn't improved? Here are some of my excuses

*) I don't shoot enough
*) I don't think long enough before shooting
*) I'm not critical enough of my pictures
*) .....

But I think that most importantly most of the time I'm not having fun with my camera. I'm just spending time with it. I'm not into what I'm doing really. The gear is important yes. There is no denying that some cameras have far better capabilities than others and that lenses are critical both in their quality and type. Changing gear has improved only the fact that the new camera allows me to take pictures in more situations, but my pictures haven't changed that dramatically. I'm not bold enough with the attempting new strategies and I haven't learned to have fun with the small details that make the difference between a great picture and a good one. Or perhaps I'm just lazy and hope others will not notice. I think that now I'm and have been at stage two of the acquiring a competence process and I've been so for a long time.

To conclude last year what I learned was "know your camera" I guess this year is "have fun with it". But there's the sea between saying and doing.

Il country del cavaliere nano

"Fai la cacca in una mano e poi datti una sberla." Quando ho sentito la canzoncina la prima volta ho pianto dal ridere per mezz'ora e alla fine mi facevano male gli addominali. Ho continuato a sghignazzare per il resto del giorno.

C'e' una valanga di benpensanti perbenisti che si sono scandalizzati. Non solo non so veramente perche' ma mi sembra anche ipocrita. Le obiezioni piu' comuni sono:

1) Il linguaggio e' scurrile: i bambini di quell'eta' le parolacce le dicono gia' e le imparano in casa dove i genitori prima gli dicono di non dirle ma poi le usano di fronte a loro. Se anche hanno genitori veramente santi che di parolacce non ne dicono TV, internet e giornali per non parlare di quando sti bambini escono di casa sono pieni di parolacce. Due esempi: Sgarbi e' una cloaca ogni volta che apre la bocca e l'hanno fatto presidente della commissione cultura; Bossi e' arrivato al governo dicendo 'Ce l'abbiamo duro!'. Nessuno dei due ha senso dell'umorismo quindi assumo che i loro supporter apprezzino la seria volgarita' di questi due.

2) Non si mischiano i bambini con la politica: i bambini sentono parlare di politica in casa e alla televisione. Gli stessi genitori magari portano i figli ai vari festival di partito, ai comizi ed in manifestazione. Quella non e' politica? Quelli che portano i bambini a farli baciare dal presidente non fanno politica? E poi da quando la politica e' una cosa sporca? Forse non e' la politica in se', e' che la politica e' stata rimpiazzata da scandali sessuali e giudiziari dell'uomo piu' votato d'Italia da 18-20 anni a questa parte. Anche li che ipocrisia tollerare, se non votare, qualcuno che fa bunga-bunga parties, ha guai giudiziari e calpesta le istituzioni un giorno si e un giorno si e poi scandalizzarsi perche' una decina di bambini cantano faccia di merda.

3) Li stanno indottrinando: questa e' la mia preferita. Quando si mandano i bambini al catechismo non li si indottrina? Quando li si porta a vedere le partite del Milan non li si indottrina? Anche solo la scelta di telegiornale da seguire o i giornali che circolano in casa indottrinano i figli politicamente. A quelli che crescono con genitori che guardano Fede e Minzolini e leggono Il Giornale verranno trasmesse idee diverse da quelle trasmesse ai figli di chi vede Rai3, Annozero e legge La Repubblica. No?

4) Sono scimmiette ammaestrate: anche questa mi fa ridere. Mah dico e tutte quelle scimmiette che vediamo in TV? Lo zecchino d'oro era l'apoteosi della scimmietta ammaestrata. Quanti filmati ci sono su youtube di figli che vengono fatti cantare ed esibire come scimmiette? Uh guarda che carino! Il bambino che canta Michael Jackson o Lady Gaga sa cosa sta cantando? Questo senza tirare in ballo le publicita'. I bambini delle publicita' sanno cosa stanno facendo? quello non e' sfruttamento? Perche' nessuno protesta contro le scimmiette che fanno la publicita' e l'inerente sfruttamento commerciale da parte dei genitori?

5) Accuse di pedofilia ed abuso: queste sono quelle che mi fanno incazzare e mi preoccupano di piu'. Come si fa a confondere una goliardata con pedofilia e abuso? I bambini in questo video cantano e si divertono non sono violentati, non sono picchiati, non sono emotivamente annichiliti. Non sono neache dimenticati davanti ad un televisore che e' un tipo di violenza passiva. Questi bambini si stanno divertendo. A me sembra grave confondere le due cose. Gente che non riesce a fare questa distinzione non dovrebbe avere diritto di voto.

6) Non si toccano i bambini e la loro purezza: i bambini di oggi, specialmente quelli Italiani, sono circondati da volgarita' cosce, culi, tette, parolacce, innuendos sessuali a gogo'. Le bambine crescono volendo diventare show girls. Che tristezza la principessa della fiaba e' stata sostituita da una volgare velina neanche da una donna capace e di successo. Per preservare la loro purezza, intesa come ignoranza delle cose del mondo, bisognerebbe confinarli in casa senza televisore e senza contatti e farli crescere deficienti per mancanza di.... conoscenza del mondo.

Insomma non si puo non pensare che coloro che hanno gridato all'oltraggio, assumendo che siano veramente indignati e non gridino allo scandalo per secondi fini, dovrebbero fare un solido esercizio di auto-critica e vedere se hanno veramente gli argomenti per dire quello che dicono. Io i miei figli non li lascerei mai nelle cure di questi protettori della purezza dei bambini, non mi sembrano sani...

...son soltanto degli stitici gelosi
(Benigni, L'inno del corpo sciolto)