The Intellectual Left: A Project Gone Awry in Italy

In Italy, the left's grand project of fostering intellectual leadership through curated, purpose-trained classes has reached an undeniable dead end. What began as an ambitious endeavor, championed by figures like Matteotti and later Berlinguer—leaders whose misguided ideologies were at least tempered by honesty—has devolved into a parody of itself. The architects of this vision are long gone, and those who inherited the reins of the former Communist Party (then PDS, later Ulivo, and now PD) have proven, without exception, to be an uninspired lot. Opportunistic mediocrities at best, they’ve managed to derail the project entirely.

Much like a botched mayonnaise, the initiative to monopolize the Intelectuality and the judiciary and hijack democracy has curdled. Without competent direction, the intellectual pretensions of the left have metastasized into a self-proclaimed aristocracy of so-called professors, philosophers, and intellectuals—self-appointed, unmerited, and utterly detached from reality.

A new breed of educators has emerged in the 21st century, individuals who, devoid of genuine intellectual rigor, occupy key positions in education. Instead of nurturing independent thought, they wield their roles as ideological cudgels. An educator, in my view, should inspire curiosity and critical thinking, equipping students to form their own opinions. Today’s "professors," however, are anything but. They are useful idiots clinging to obsolete narratives, warping young minds into automatons of ideological dogma. The brain eaters!

The result? Generations emerge from classrooms armed with extremist notions utterly disconnected from everyday life, leaving them adrift. These young people often channel their disorientation into rigid, illogical applications of their "education," creating a dangerous echo chamber of radicalized ideas.

Take Professor Marco Revelli, whose rhetoric grates like the screeching of a fanatical hooligan mourning communism’s demise. His belligerent disdain for dissenting opinions is both tiresome and troubling. One wonders: in his classrooms and examination sessions, what happens to students who dare to think differently? It’s a fair question, and one that highlights the ideological rigidity infecting Italian academia.

Then there’s Professor Prodi, a man whose career is a litany of failures. Yet at his advanced age, he continues to tout his supposed greatness, oblivious to the harm his teachings have wrought. How many minds has this "professor" ruined?

Contrast this with the ancient Greek philosophers, whose schools were crucibles of free thought. Aristotle’s disciples—Boethus of Sidon, Aristocles of Alexandria, and others—each departed from their master’s teachings to forge their own paths, free from intellectual cannibalism. That ancient liberty has been obliterated by yet another leftist experiment gone awry.

Today, Italian intellectualism is rife with pretentious mediocrities, nurtured in classrooms that more closely resemble indoctrination camps. The few young people Italy produces are subjected to this intellectual erosion, emerging as either directionless or ideologically shackled.

Universities, as evidenced by the recent 2024 protests, have devolved into mental wastelands where politics, not scholarship, reigns supreme. These institutions fail to cultivate well-rounded individuals, instead churning out ideological slaves. Online education may be a glimmer of hope, potentially insulated from the groupthink dominating Italy’s antiquated and malodorous lecture halls.

The rot extends beyond academia. If you’re a singer, actor, or artist in Italy, being openly right-wing is career suicide. Success demands a uniform aesthetic—threadbare jackets, scruffy beards, and, for women, an almost performative nod to queerness. The cultural conformity is stifling, a virus infecting Italy’s artistic and intellectual spheres.

Education Minister Valditara’s formal platitudes—"our teachers are the pride of the nation"—ring hollow. Minister, let’s be honest: many of our educators are incompetents perpetuating further incompetence. Reforming teacher training is imperative. The profession has been reduced to a fallback for those seeking job security rather than a true calling.

If Italy has any hope of reclaiming civic sense and a cohesive national identity, it must overhaul the education system. Enough with the politeness. Yes, there are excellent teachers, but the embarrassingly high number of unqualified "professors" must be expelled from the system. Doing so will require immense courage—a trait seemingly in short supply among those in power.

I remain skeptical, but hopeful.