A Russian proverb says that fish start to stink from the head (“ryba is galovy gniot”, for the conference of those who cultivate the language). As in any proverb, there is an interplay between the apparent meaning and the hidden meaning. This applies to the current moment of darkness which has accompanied us since the modern formation of the country: the trial of generals, admirals and minor officers is not only an unprecedented event in the Forces, but also a testimony to the old age of a caste, buried like a stranger in the bowels of the Republic.
Reflecting on old age in his “De Senectute – the time of memory”, the Italian thinker Norberto Bobbio records a thoughtful lament of the elderly: “It is not that old age is bad, the problem is that it only lasts a certain time.” Bobbio wonders “is this really going to last a short time?” And he contrasts a verse from Dario Bellezza: “Youth is fleeting/maturity is a sigh/old age advances terribly/and lasts an eternity”.
The thinker also reflects on devices that both prolong life and prevent death. Decay can spread like a burden. “Alongside the census or chronological old age and bureaucratic old age, there also exists psychological or subjective old age.” The last two coexist in grotesque aspects of politics, such as that of parliamentarians for life, maliciously commented in the press: “It was beautiful to see the sad parade of senators for life, each more cadaverous than the other; an old Italy that no one wants anymore and which alone has buried itself” (Pietro Buscaroli, musicologist). And more: “Old, but rotten with so much poison and resentment, illicit and reprehensible vestiges of the regime of bombs and tangents.”
As with the fish aphorism, these Italian references have another meaning. “Old age,” the last phase of life,” says Bobbio, “expresses a cycle that is coming to an end. This is why it is also used metaphorically to mark the decadence of a civilization, a people, a city. » Even while quoting classics, such as Cicero, who advocate the wisdom of age, he asserts: “whoever praises old age has not seen it up close”.
But the old age mentioned here is not a natural biological maturation. It is above all the institutional fact without the necessary existential renewal. This is what makes the National Bicentenary Parliament an example of decrepitude. And among swindlers, convicted big fish, it is not necessary to look closely for signs of physical and mental illness. However distant they may be, they do not demonstrate seniority, but a heavy old age both for themselves and for others.
For you, because they envision a future devoid of the ranks and medals that give you personal glory. For others, the tiring effects of the desire to perpetuate a caste which assumes guardianship of the Republic, ignoring its own degeneration. Given the state of these heads, it’s time to think with the nose too.
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