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他是我们的“首席赦免长”：贝卢斯科尼
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大利的真实生活总是让人始料未及。在过去的几个月里，意大利的政治图景就好像梅尔•布鲁克斯(Mel Brooks)导演的西部片《灼热的马鞍》(Blazing Saddles)的意大利版本──任何事都有可能发生。但这一次，我们意大利人可笑不出来了。
一些外国人（但不是外国投资者）说：“这也是意大利风情的一部分！”但是，这也是我们的问题，而问题的核心人物正是西尔维奥•贝卢斯科尼(Silvio Berlusconi)。上个月29日，他已经年满75岁，是意大利战后任职时间最长的总理。
对于贝卢斯科尼的丑闻和种种荒唐的举动──开狂野派对、招妓、结交声名狼藉的生意伙伴──全世界都已经耳熟能详了。尽管他否认自己做了任何错事，但他目前至少卷入了9件官司，面临着包括收买证人、与未成年人发生性交易在内等多项指控。
光是这些事就足以让人脸红了，更别提他领导下的意大利政府可怜的政绩了──国内生产总值(GDP) 停滞不前、年轻人失业率居高不下、税务和司法改革陷入困顿，还有公共债务引发的忧虑。但是，在经历了所有这一切之后，贝卢斯科尼一直──至少是直到最近为止──都能凭借一种持久的力量屹立不倒：他是典型的意大利人，比其他任何人都更了解国民的想法。
贝卢斯科尼的身上集合了意大利民族一些最棒的优点和大部分最烂的缺点。每个意大利人身上都有些许贝卢斯科尼的影子。正如流行歌曲作家乔治•盖博(Giorgio Gaber)总结的那样：
我不怕贝卢斯科尼他本人，我怕我自己意识里的贝卢斯科尼。下面这几个关键词可以解释贝卢斯科尼为什么能这么多年稳坐总理宝座，以及他何以被打倒但却没有被赶下台。
第一个关键词是：讨人喜欢。在意大利语中，最危险的一个词就是simpatico，它的意思是和蔼可亲、惹人喜爱、让人愉快。但这个词有时也用来形容某人摆出一副存心引诱人的态度，而这种态度并不总是无害的。
提起贝卢斯科尼，多数意大利人会想到什么？他看起来和我们差不多。他就是我们当中的一员。他很爱自己的孩子，经常谈起自己的妈妈，懂足球、会赚钱、喜欢新房子、讨厌清规戒律、爱开玩笑、有时会冒脏话、迷恋女人、喜欢开派对、纵情狂欢到了过分的地步。
他是我们的“首席赦免长”，他宽恕我们所有已经犯下的和可能会犯下的罪行。他曾经说过，如果他们想让我把50%以上的收入都用来交税，那我认为这种要求并不合理。从道德角度说，我觉得我有权尽可能多地逃税。
在面对一系列通奸证据时，他自我解嘲说，我忠诚吗？通常是的。当他和一群称呼他为“Papi”（意大利语中爸爸的意思）的女孩举行狂野性派对的丑闻细节被曝光后，他解释说，我工作很辛苦，到了晚上，我需要释放一下。
第二个关键词是：推销员。贝卢斯科尼带着一种与生俱来的诱人魅力走进政坛，这种天赋帮助他在之前的建筑、电视和广告等职业生涯中取得了成功。他很清楚，他向公众传达的信息必须让人觉得安心而且浅显易懂。有足够多的意大利人会相信他们在八卦杂志或电视上得到的消息──许多此类杂志和电视台都归贝卢斯科尼所有，或者作为政府首脑，他能控制这些媒体。
贝卢斯科尼深信，在一个注重外表的国家，形象非常关键。在意大利，在公众面前留下好印象往往比做好事管用得多。
第三个关键词是：幸存者。每个意大利人都觉得自己遗世独立，或者至少在邻居当中显得格格不入。无论对个人、家庭、社会还是经济角度来说，能够幸存下来都是件令人骄傲的事情，也是对机智的一种测验。有关意大利人的个人主义和权谋的作品琳琅满目，贝卢斯科尼就是这些品质的具体体现。
首先，他通过自己的努力积累财富，出人头地。其次，他进一步发扬了意大利人的特点：怀疑一切人所共知的观念、不能忍受清规戒律、在用个人方式解决集体的问题时内心会迸发出强烈的满足感。在意大利，公众不会真的向政府施压，要求实行新的、更公平的税收制度。人们只会去寻找逃避现有税收的方法。
第四个关键词是：贵族。在意大利，土生土长的政治结构只有地方自治和贵族统治。其他所有的一切──封建制度、君主政体、极权主义、联邦制和议会民主制度──都是舶来品。从墨索里尼(Mussolini)那令人难堪的法西斯主义到今天消极的议会，这些舶来品移植到意大利后总是有些不自然。
不过，贵族能够激发人们古老的本能。如今，许多现代意大利人看待贝卢斯科尼的方式就像他们的祖先看待专制贵族一般。我们可能会去挖苦、躲避或哄骗这位高高在上的亲王，但我们绝不会去干预他。
和其他西方民主国家不同的是，在意大利，掌权者在行使权力时不受约束。当反对派要求贝卢斯科尼辞职时，他用嘲讽的语气说，他们不停地对我说回家去回家去，他们真让我感到为难。我有20座房子，我该回哪个家？在如今的经济环境下，你能想象其他任何一位西方领导人能不因这种言论受到谴责吗？
有些东西保持了几个世纪一直没有改变。贵族的暴行常被认为是一种不小心受到牵连的共犯行为，有时甚至还会引起他人的艳羡。前提是，暴行不要太过分，如果太过分了，比如贝卢斯科尼先生最近几个月内的所作所为，就会引发反弹。
第五个关键词是：魔王政治。玛格丽特•撒切尔(Margaret Thatcher )的经典缩略词T.I.N.A.──There Is No Alternative（别无选择）──极好地诠释了意大利选民的心态。意大利中左派提出的替代贝卢斯科尼的方案完全引不起选民的兴趣：冲突四起的政党联盟、含混不清的议案、伪善的姿态。而且贝卢斯科尼一直不遗余力地攻击竞争对手民主党的共产主义本质。
意大利人是现实主义者。在做出他们认为的正确选择之前，他们会考虑哪一个有用。为了击败左派，许多意大利人会投票给魔鬼。贝卢斯科尼有时可能比较穷凶极恶，但魔王风格是另外一回事。
那么，生日快乐吧，贝卢斯科尼先生！世道艰难，我们没有生日礼物可以送给你。或许，给你办一场欢送派对？
Beppe Severgnini塞韦尔尼尼(Beppe Severgnini)的新书Mamma Mia! Berlusconi's Italy Explained for Posterity and Friends Abroad将于下月在美国出版。 （本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Real life in Italy is always one step ahead of anyone's imaginings. In the past few months, our political scene has started to resemble a spaghetti-western version of Mel Brooks's 'Blazing Saddles'伟anything goes. But we Italians are not laughing anymore.
Some foreigners (but not foreign investors) say: 'It's all part of your charm!' But it's also one of our problems, and at the center of it all sits Silvio Berlusconi, who turns 75 this Thursday and is Italy's longest-serving postwar prime minister.
The whole world is well acquainted with Mr. Berlusconi's scandals and shenanigans伟wild parties, prostitutes, unsavory business partners. Though he denies any wrongdoing, he is currently embroiled in no fewer than nine judicial tangles. The charges range from corrupting a witness to paying for sex with a minor.
This is embarrassing enough on its own, to say nothing of his government's pitiful record伟stagnant GDP, rampant youth unemployment, stalled tax and justice reforms and fears over the public debt. But through it all伟at least until recently伟Mr. Berlusconi has been able to fall back on one abiding strength: He is the quintessential Italian and has been able to read the nation's mood like no one else.
Mr. Berlusconi represents some of the best, and much of the worst, of the national character. Every Italian possesses a tiny bit of Silvio. As the songwriter Giorgio Gaber summed it up:
I'm not afraid of Berlusconi in himself
I'm afraid of Berlusconi in me.
Here, then, are a few key terms to explain why Mr. Berlusconi has been around for so long伟and why, despite being down, he's not yet out.
Simpatico. The most dangerous word in Italian is 'simpatico': nice, likable, pleasant. But it can also mean putting on a seductive attitude, which is not always harmless.
What do many Italians think of Silvio Berlusconi? 'He looks like us. He's one of us.' He adores his kids, talks about his mamma, knows his soccer, makes money, loves new homes, hates rules, tells jokes, swears a bit, adores women, likes to party and is convivial to a fault.
He is our absolver in chief. He forgives us for the sins we have committed and those we may yet commit. 'If they want upward of 50% of my income in taxes, I feel that's an unfair demand. I feel morally authorized to evade as much as I can,' he said once.
'Am I faithful? Frequently,' he quipped when confronted with the evidence of his serial adulteries. As details surfaced of his wild sex parties with girls who called him 'Papi,' he explained: 'I work hard and, in the evening, I need to unwind.'
Salesman. Mr. Berlusconi has brought to politics a flair for seduction that served him well in his previous careers in construction, television and advertising. He knows that his message has to be reassuring and easily digestible. And there are enough people in Italy who believe what they see in gossip magazines or on television伟much of which Mr. Berlusconi owns or, as head of government, controls.
Mr. Berlusconi is convinced that, in a nation obsessed with appearances, image is key. In Italy, making the right impression ('la bella figura') too often prevails over doing the right thing.
Survivor. Every Italian feels he or she stands alone against the world, or at least the neighbors. Survival伟personal, family, social and economic伟is a source of pride and a test of ingenuity. Much has been written about Italians' individualism and resourcefulness, and Mr. Berlusconi embodies these qualities.
First he amassed his fortune, earning his spurs as a self-made man. Next, he built on Italians' distrust of everything shared, our intolerance of rules and the inner satisfaction that we take in finding private solutions to collective problems. In Italy, there is no real public pressure for a new, fairer tax system. People simply figure out ways to evade the one they already have.
Signore. Together with the Comune (municipality), the Signoria, or absolute lordship, is Italy's only indigenous political structure. All the others伟feudalism, monarchy, totalitarianism, federalism, parliamentary democracy伟have been imported from elsewhere. Their Italian incarnations have always been slightly artificial, from the toe-curling awkwardness of Mussolini's fascism to today's passive parliament.
But a Signoria stirs ancient instincts, and many modern Italians see Mr. Berlusconi much as their forebears saw absolute lordships. We might satirize, circumvent or hoodwink the great prince, but we don't mess with him.
In Italy, the powerful do not have to exercise their power with restraint, as they do in other Western democracies. As the opposition called for his resignation, Mr. Berlusconi quipped: 'They keep telling me, 'Go home! Go home!' They're putting me in a difficult position. I own 20 houses. Where shall I go?' Can you think of any other Western leader, in today's economic climate, who could get away with that?
Some things have not changed for centuries. The Signore's excesses are seen with a kind of bemused complicity, even pride. That is, until excesses become too excessive, as have Mr. Berlusconi's in the last few months.
Satanic Politics. Margaret Thatcher's classic acronym T.I.N.A.伟There Is No Alternative伟says it all about the attitude of Italian voters. The alternative to Mr. Berlusconi offered by Italy's center-left has proved unappetizing: strife-torn coalitions, woolly proposals, hypocritical posturing. And Mr. Berlusconi never fails to point out the communist roots of the rival Democratic Party.
Italians are realists. Before choosing what they think is right, they consider what they believe to be useful. In order to defeat the left, many Italians would have voted for the devil. Mr. Berlusconi can be pretty diabolical, but Satan's style is something else.
So, then, buon compleanno, Signor Silvio! Times are tough, and we have no present for you. Perhaps a farewell party instead?
Beppe Severgnini
Mr. Severgnini's latest book, 'Mamma Mia! Berlusconi's Italy Explained for Posterity and Friends Abroad,' will be published in the U.S. next month.
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