Tixi dixit is a play of words on ipse dixit.
In this blog I state opinions and thoughts without any claim of these being thoroughly researched or proven. Just like any editorial or opinionist column, the worth of my writing relies in the sympathy, the resonance that the words themselves can generate in the reader.
Born in Genova some 40 years ago, I spent almost half of my life abroad living in different countries throughout Asia and Europe. Like so many of my generation, I perceive the world as one and globalised and call many places my home today. Like so many Italians of my generation, I developed a unique attachment to my country of origin based on both affection and befuddlement.
When I lived in China, every time I found something odd, my Chinese friends and colleagues used to explain the differences by simply saying: “Well, this is China.” It took me years to realise that their remark was as insightful as it was misleading. Indeed cultural differences matter and puzzling things happen in any country, but the root causes of those situations are often not too dissimilar across the globe. It takes however a well developed global perspective to be able to differentiate between global and local and thus make the issue at hand understandable for an external listener.
This is one of the reasons why I believe experiencing life across different cultures and societies is so important, as it enables you to see things more clearly and offer a point of view that you can’t easily find otherwise. Creating parallels with experiences that can be globally understood and then add the cultural layer and understanding on top is my personal way of interpreting events worldwide and i believe this to be a valid and simple enough methodology that can help us better understand each other.
By reading and watching the media in Italy today, there is a noticeable void when it comes to offering such a global perspective. It is an interesting place to be when, as an Italian, you are not quite sure if you fully understand your fellow countrymen and the extent of their argumentations. I appreciate many of the argumentations I hear, but I also observe and note the differences, the subtleties that many people around me do not seem to notice or be bothered by and comment them through the lens of my personal experience as a world citizen. My need to write originates from this personal impulse to make better sense of what I see and hear around me now that I moved back to Italy.