Keep it in the family
Radio 4 yesterday was talking about the influence of family and friends on a young person's choice of career. Bermondsey, a sociologist said, used to be inhabited by families of dockers and when they left, they were replaced by families of criminals. A criminologist from Oxford University backed her up, saying that that crime does run in families, particularly in Calabria and Naples where there's a very low conviction rate as the families don't break ranks. Sicily, he said, was different: the mafia network there is structured on an individual rather than a family basis (the mafia is one's second family, or first, depending on how you look at it). This reminded me of an anecdote about Silvio Berlusconi. He was introducing his new Party chief in Sicily to a large delegation. "I have great pleasure in the appointment of Signor X here in Sicily and...let me tell you something...he really has his hands in the pasta..." At this stage there was a gasp from the crowd as this phrase has mafioso connotations in Italian. Berlusconi went on, "...he's a gynecologist!"
posted by Whispering Walls at 8:13 am
2 Comments:
There may be some truth in this, but it also provides a convenient excuse for excluding people outside one's own background from breaking into the top echelons of certain professions.
Medicine and the law were notorious for this, although things have been improving of late. Talking of the mob - I have finished that book 'If a Pirate I must be..' by Richard Sanders and an excellent read it is too.
It sheds light on a number of aspects of life back then. Not least is what happened to slaves they took on board. They moved from a state of being 'chattels' to being part of a fairly democratic ship's company, taking a share of the plunder with the rest of the men.
Of course, it is awful that black men were considered 'chattels' back then, but it had the unexpected consequence that when some of the pirate ships were captured, such men escaped summary justice for precisely the same reason.
It is refreshing to get a book which gives such a 'big picture' view, rather than tediously repeating the mantra that 'pirates are awful' / 'slavery was awful' in a very monochrome way, without any reference to the shades of grey which give history real meaning.
Spoke to his publisher and they are trying to cajole him to write another book. It can't come soon enough in my opinion.
Nice story!
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