IT ALL BEGAN WITH ROLLING STONE

 IT ALL BEGAN WITH ROLLING STONE

Credits Kyle Rowley

It was a day of April when Rolling Stone Italia, a magazine once considered a reputable source of musical information, published a preview of an article on the Kardashian sisters written by certain Mattia Carzaniga. Lines of thoughts that contain adjectives and words such as "kingdom" and "Bourbon". Kim is raised from "reality show figure" to "genius of contemporaneity", when, honestly speaking, there is really nothing genius about her. There are many women who defend the famous Kardashian either because she is taken as a role model, or only because followed among the tragedies and household scandals by people who accept the existence of the rich, their superficiality, their mediocrity and their, for some verses, uselessness on a social level. Some know about the real climb of the sisters, daughters of dad Robert known for being an entrepreneur, as well as a friend and lawyer of O.J. Simpson, and of the notoriety gained by Kim due to that fuck videotaped and disclosed by then-boyfriend Ray J, brother of singer Brandy. The latter are indignant and wonder why so much attention is given to certain characters and why they are credited with having achieved success starting from the wealth and cotton wool in which they were born and raised. Here arises the discussion with one of the young ladies who admitted, after a few minutes of back and forth, that she had watched two seasons of the Kardashians (not one episode, but two seasons), but who says she feels distant and indifferent to the lifestyle. She points to the Kardashians as a horrible example but, at the same time, appreciates the fact that between a plastic surgery and a make-up line they find the time to do some charity. If I may be honest, I'm sick of people putting on the pedestal the fact that the billionaire on duty donates a few dollars to some nonprofit. Therefore, I tell the girl that their contribution is comparable to the gesture that we commonly do every time we hand a dollar to the homeless: it does not affect our lifestyle and does not change the condition of misery of the person receiving it. I insist on specifying that only the redistribution of income and the increase of taxes to the rich (as well as the extinction of the public debt towards Third World countries) would be part of the real solution to poverty and the ever widening social gap. Her answer is "dream". I am disheartened and disgusted by what capitalism is inculcating in our minds: the rich are rich; the rich are untouchable; the rich can buy and live in luxury and brag about it; accept your status and fuck off! The acceptance that the rich can act as they please and that they have no obligation to society is increasingly palpable among the masses; the ideology that being rich necessarily equates to living a life of splendor is now preponderant. The girl continues in the rant trying to convince me of the fact that anyone would flaunt wealth if only they had the economic possibility. To my negative answers she dares to conclude that my choices are not dictated by moral principles but by my condition of poverty (yes, she called me poor). Perhaps the silly know-it-all is unaware that there are also billionaires, the minority unfortunately, who lead a humble and modest life. They are not the ones on people's lips, they are not the ones whose dilemmas, fake tits and butts make the world talk; yet they are the ones who actively and positively contribute to making a difference in this selfish and superficial life. Talking to the girl becomes tragic and painful; she does not conceive how a rich man can get by on two thousand euros a month in Italy. I smile with contempt because inside me I know that it is the rich man himself, who according to her cannot thrive on two thousand euros a month, who decides for her and for the Italian working class that half or less of that amount is enough to be able to survive. In conclusion, capitalism and individualism are devouring the people who, instead of realizing that they are the foundations of society without which the rich could not endure, have come to idolize status symbols, money and emptiness as gods. Perhaps the day we will lack bread and the powerful will shrug suggesting eating croissants (hoping the reference is understandable to all), then we will be witnesses of a new social revolution.