On the blank page
It is, I know, an old story la Repubblica's blank page.It should then be considered an old story the blank page (index in computer lingo) that welcomes Simosito's visitors.
And it would be indeed, had I not decided a clarification to be necessary and had Vlad (author of the suggested website Vlad 'Sperimenta') not agreed to join this small protest.
Let's clarify: Simosito is not nor will ever be a place for political or religious propaganda, believing I that some things are private — such as the favourite brand of toilet paper (yet Facebook has 338 results for Rotoloni Regina) — and not because my "feline ataraxia" forbids to.
«Why a blank page in favour of those Jacobin journalists eager to spy on Italian people?» some will say, «Why did it take you so long to protest against an anti-democratic reform which will cast us in a 1984 scenario?» others will say; they both misunderstood my gesture: the so-called Gag Law (the Wire-tapping Bill) was the reason of the blank page, but per accidens; I had been thinking for a while of some kind of tribute to all the journalists who fought censorship, at least since this article was published by El País: la Repubblica's idea just gave me a hint.
Printed word is a powerful medium, this had already become clear at the time of the Reformation, and therefore dangerous for powerful people: long before the smiling starlet, brunette or blonde, dancing on TV, a velina (from the Italian name of tissue-paper) was a medium to control the press, and pilot the public opinion.
Photography and television made the media even stronger, for the effectiveness of the news didn't depend on the author's skills: a photo of a falling soldier, of a flag on the Reichstag, of an unknown man facing a line of tanks carried more weight than words alone. And immediately photos were manipulated: "souvenir" watches deleted from the good Russian soldiers' wrists, ex-allies disappeared from the party's photos, other shots "never existed"...
Final revolution, the Internet: it cannot be censored (the Great Firewall of China can be bypassed, ditto its colleagues) nor controlled, perfect medium for viral advertising, by which even the "official" journalists are fooled, publishing unlikely news.
Nowadays there are still people risking their lives or being arrested for spreading the truth through one of this revolutionary media, whilst some of their "colleagues" do nothing but read what they are told to and write what they are ordered to, for the former a blank page, for the latter disdain.
If you have a blog or a website and you want to use the blank page yourselves, do it. If you can't make an almost-blank index, just insert an almost-empty post (only a title and a lot of space). If you want you can link to this article (http://en.simosito.it/blog-article-16.py) or send me a link to your almost-blank page (or post).