You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling

The story: Former Italian Primer Silvio Berlusconi was videotaped incessantly flirting with other women. Embarrassed by the incident, his wife Veronica wrote a heated letter to an Italian newspaper demanding a public apology for his naughty behavior. Silvio immediately published his public apology in a different newspaper. He praised her as a wonderful mother and a dignified woman and begged for forgiveness.

The response: Americans could certainly learn about amore from those passionate Italians. Heated love feuds are a plus in domestic politics. Instead of impeaching perfectly good presidents for their love affairs, citizens should have demanded a public soap opera-like spectacle. Hilary could have published her grievances in The New York Times and Bill could have apologized via The Washington Post. We all know politicians misbehave, but the Italians seem to be able to make poetry and comedy out of it instead of disaster.

– Lila Burgos is an international studies junior.

A new digital divide?

The story: The government of Sweden has begun establishing an official embassy in the world of Second Life, a virtual reality game where players create avatars and spend real money to buy goods and land.

The response: There are two things you need to know about this. First, it’s the wave of the future. The Swedish government’s action is just the first step on the road to integrating the virtual and real worlds; soon, such interaction will be commonplace. Second, it’s awful. Governments should not be officially recognizing the soul-sucking, addictive pastime of a bunch of neck-bearded Internet nerds. Like it or not, though, that’s what is happening. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

– Taylor Kessinger is a sophomore majoring in physics, mathematics, and philosophy.