What the case of Flavio Briatore must really teach us

Useless jokes on social networks, unacceptable comfort with the stumbling blocks of others, it would instead be salvific to first ignore the relevance of certain characters when dealing with issues such as a global pandemic (and not only)

(Photo: Mark Thompson / Getty Images) Is Flavio Briatore positive for Sars-Cov-2? Have you developed symptoms of Covid-19? It is not known. The entrepreneur and manager himself did not confirm this to Corriere della Sera, leaving (legitimately) his health situation pending. But also giving the impression of still wanting to joke about it. The last thing a character like him should do. And that is the problem. The limelight and centrality that these profiles occupy in the public debate.

Yesterday and still today, all sorts of ironies were read between social networks, chats and not only on the possible positivity of Briatore. On the other hand, it seemed like a retaliation, after the delirium seen at his Billionaire in Porto Cervo, the soccer game with Mihajlovic & friends and the endless accusations against the government and more recently against the mayor of Arzachena. Yet those ironies do not do honor at all. The "well he is" that many let slip between their lines is a miserable reflection. Indeed, a conditioned reflex that does not make any leap in quality to the civic spirit of this country. And how to deal with the problems and solve them.

It is not a question of defending or accusing Briatore: if anything, it will be up to the authorities, if they need to, to verify compliance with anti-contagion measures in its activities. The outbreak of his club in fact involves dozens of employees - even seasonal ones - of the Sardinian nightclub and who knows how many customers. On the contrary, it is about shifting the focus. The former Formula 1 manager is just a supporting actor in a circus from which we should try to distance ourselves. Indeed, to free ourselves definitively.