7 ms·

In Italy, in the '90s, we had a popular tv program with comedians doing sketches. One of those sketches was written and interpreted a guy who used to work in im

by toyg 4y ago

In Italy, in the '90s, we had a popular tv program with comedians doing sketches. One of those sketches was written and interpreted a guy who used to work in important advertising agencies. The sketch had a corporate manager who always started as a calm and devout supporter of buddhist-like tranquility in the workplace, all meditation and zen and care for personal wellbeing; by the end of the sketch his schizophrenic double (or rather true persona) would violently emerge, utterly angry and materialistic. This sort of attitude, at the time, was lampooned because it was limited to the upper echelons of society (sure enough, the only buddhist in my extensive family was a corporate manager). I bet such a sketch would cause outrage these days.

victornomad 4y ago
I'd love to watch it. Do you mind sharing a link?
- toyg 4y ago
  Sadly it doesn't seem to have made it to YouTube. The character was called Dottor Frattale, by comedian Walter Fontana https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Fontana https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Fontana If you read Italian, I'd recommend tracking down his short comedy novel L'Uomo di Marketing e la Variante al Limone, which satirizes the milanese advertising industry of the '90s (but I bet it's still mostly like that, lol).
  - kinow 4y ago
    Found one on FaceBook, I think: https://www.facebook.com/Mai-Dire-GialappaS-109451077867913/videos/dottor-frattale-1999/487646329772763/ https://www.facebook.com/Mai-Dire-GialappaS-109451077867913/...
- matfior 4y ago
  There's a couple facebook videos: https://www.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/tutti-vorremmo-percepire-il-mitico-stipendio-di-giada/1772719716095917/ https://www.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/tutti-vorremmo-pe... https://it-it.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/la-filosofia-del-dottor-frattale/1391559144211978/ https://it-it.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/la-filosofia-de... It was one of my favorite as well!
mjfl 4y ago
Is Steve Jobs a great example of this?
- tim333 4y ago
  Jobs wasn't really like that as in "zen and care for personal wellbeing" at the start and then switching to "angry and materialistic". He seemed to combine a fairly consistent zen like focus, more on great objects like the iPhone rather than care for people, and a fairly consistent edge of angry materialism. It didn't really flip from one thing to the other. A well known video of him for example on changing the world https://youtu.be/kYfNvmF0Bqw?t=7 https://youtu.be/kYfNvmF0Bqw?t=7 He was a complex character
open-source-ux 4y ago
The TV show Silicon Valley also satirises the aggressive, egotistical CEO (a character called Gavin Belson). Belson spends some time at a Buddhist retreat which seems to impart nothing from his experience. The attraction to Buddhist ideas are only at shallow, surface level. He also employs a full-time spiritual adviser. Even the adviser looks out for opportunities advantageous to him and manipulate situations. It's a cynical (but honest?) look at personality traits in tech.
- nicbou 4y ago
  It also shows an opportunistic, career-driven teacher. There's a whole bit about the teacher losing his parking pass and finessing his way back into the CEOs council. And doesn't Gavin kill someone at his Buddhist retreat?
- soco 4y ago
  Oh well this reminds me of a certain prime minister of a certain two letter country starting with U and ending in, K having a full time ethics adviser, which he subsequently fired...
- WJW 4y ago
  My favorite moment in perhaps the entire show is where Gavin Belson has a (mild) flash of self insight and asks: > GB: Have I just surrounded myself with sycophants, who tell me whatever I want to hear, regardless of the truth? > Spiritual advisor: <swallows awkwardly> ... no? > GB: Thank you Denpok, I really needed to hear that.
fendy3002 4y ago
I don't think it's worth to be outraged, logically. After all, if the manager can stay calm and all, that means he's close to attain (or one step closer to attain) buddhahood, which is a very difficult thing to attain.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
RicoElectrico 4y ago
> I bet such a sketch would cause outrage these days. I remember the times when people whose pastime was to get offended at stuff were ridiculed by most of the society. For all our social progress in this millennium, we regressed in many ways people don't readily notice. This was mostly an American thing in the past; but it spilled into Europe over time.
- sg47 4y ago
  We have regressed by overturning abortion, enacting subversive election laws and in general destroying the fabric of democracy.
  - rayiner 4y ago
    > overturning abortion More accurately, the US Supreme Court returned the situation in the US to the status quo in most advanced countries: regulating abortion as a legislative matter, not a “right.” It did what the EU Court of Human Rights has repeatedly done in declining to recognize a “right” to elective abortions,[1] that can override legislation. A putative right that, 100 years from now, may well be seen alongside eugenics (alongside which it originated) as a mistaken wrong turn in the arc of progress. [1] In a series of cases, most recently RR v. Poland, the EHCR has declined calls to overturn Poland’s near ban on abortions, deciding them on narrow grounds that the government had prevented abortions that were legal under exceptions to Polish law. It has gone only so far as to suggest there is a right in case of risk to maternal life.
    - markdown 4y ago
      Did you just liken abortion to eugenics?
      - stn8188 4y ago
        I'm no expert on the topic but there are articles that contain both words... https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/14/432080520/fact-check-was-planned-parenthood-started-to-control-the-black-population https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/14/43208...
foobarian 4y ago
That reminds me of Monty Python's cheese shop sketch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A

by toyg 4y ago

victornomad 4y ago

I'd love to watch it. Do you mind sharing a link?

toyg 4y ago
Sadly it doesn't seem to have made it to YouTube. The character was called Dottor Frattale, by comedian Walter Fontana https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Fontana https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Fontana If you read Italian, I'd recommend tracking down his short comedy novel L'Uomo di Marketing e la Variante al Limone, which satirizes the milanese advertising industry of the '90s (but I bet it's still mostly like that, lol).
- kinow 4y ago
  Found one on FaceBook, I think: https://www.facebook.com/Mai-Dire-GialappaS-109451077867913/videos/dottor-frattale-1999/487646329772763/ https://www.facebook.com/Mai-Dire-GialappaS-109451077867913/...
matfior 4y ago
There's a couple facebook videos: https://www.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/tutti-vorremmo-percepire-il-mitico-stipendio-di-giada/1772719716095917/ https://www.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/tutti-vorremmo-pe... https://it-it.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/la-filosofia-del-dottor-frattale/1391559144211978/ https://it-it.facebook.com/MaiDireGol/videos/la-filosofia-de... It was one of my favorite as well!

mjfl 4y ago

Is Steve Jobs a great example of this?

tim333 4y ago
Jobs wasn't really like that as in "zen and care for personal wellbeing" at the start and then switching to "angry and materialistic". He seemed to combine a fairly consistent zen like focus, more on great objects like the iPhone rather than care for people, and a fairly consistent edge of angry materialism. It didn't really flip from one thing to the other. A well known video of him for example on changing the world https://youtu.be/kYfNvmF0Bqw?t=7 https://youtu.be/kYfNvmF0Bqw?t=7 He was a complex character

open-source-ux 4y ago

The TV show Silicon Valley also satirises the aggressive, egotistical CEO (a character called Gavin Belson). Belson spends some time at a Buddhist retreat which seems to impart nothing from his experience. The attraction to Buddhist ideas are only at shallow, surface level. He also employs a full-time spiritual adviser. Even the adviser looks out for opportunities advantageous to him and manipulate situations. It's a cynical (but honest?) look at personality traits in tech.

nicbou 4y ago
It also shows an opportunistic, career-driven teacher. There's a whole bit about the teacher losing his parking pass and finessing his way back into the CEOs council. And doesn't Gavin kill someone at his Buddhist retreat?
soco 4y ago
Oh well this reminds me of a certain prime minister of a certain two letter country starting with U and ending in, K having a full time ethics adviser, which he subsequently fired...
WJW 4y ago
My favorite moment in perhaps the entire show is where Gavin Belson has a (mild) flash of self insight and asks: > GB: Have I just surrounded myself with sycophants, who tell me whatever I want to hear, regardless of the truth? > Spiritual advisor: <swallows awkwardly> ... no? > GB: Thank you Denpok, I really needed to hear that.

fendy3002 4y ago

I don't think it's worth to be outraged, logically. After all, if the manager can stay calm and all, that means he's close to attain (or one step closer to attain) buddhahood, which is a very difficult thing to attain.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

RicoElectrico 4y ago

> I bet such a sketch would cause outrage these days. I remember the times when people whose pastime was to get offended at stuff were ridiculed by most of the society. For all our social progress in this millennium, we regressed in many ways people don't readily notice. This was mostly an American thing in the past; but it spilled into Europe over time.

sg47 4y ago
We have regressed by overturning abortion, enacting subversive election laws and in general destroying the fabric of democracy.
- rayiner 4y ago
  > overturning abortion More accurately, the US Supreme Court returned the situation in the US to the status quo in most advanced countries: regulating abortion as a legislative matter, not a “right.” It did what the EU Court of Human Rights has repeatedly done in declining to recognize a “right” to elective abortions,[1] that can override legislation. A putative right that, 100 years from now, may well be seen alongside eugenics (alongside which it originated) as a mistaken wrong turn in the arc of progress. [1] In a series of cases, most recently RR v. Poland, the EHCR has declined calls to overturn Poland’s near ban on abortions, deciding them on narrow grounds that the government had prevented abortions that were legal under exceptions to Polish law. It has gone only so far as to suggest there is a right in case of risk to maternal life.
  - markdown 4y ago
    Did you just liken abortion to eugenics?
    - stn8188 4y ago
      I'm no expert on the topic but there are articles that contain both words... https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/14/432080520/fact-check-was-planned-parenthood-started-to-control-the-black-population https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/14/43208...

foobarian 4y ago

That reminds me of Monty Python's cheese shop sketch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A