Danilo Aprigliano

Renzi and Bergoglio. The words of the break.

As already noted someone before me, there are various elements that unite the communication of Renzi, the aspiring leader of the Italian left, with that of Pope Bergoglio. First of all, the constant struggle to appear to be breaking with the past and with predecessors. Verbal, body and advertising language communicate only one thing: change. The judgment on the factual nature of this revolution is left up to the individual: here we are only talking about communication strategies. The words chosen, the photographic poses, the places (physical and media), the contact with the public, ... All thought - strategically - in the name of breaking with the past and with predecessors.

This is most likely the advanced stage of a process that began a few years ago (at least in Italy) and which has seen some key words polarized towards the semantic fields of good and evil, according to a scheme that sees youth is change as positive semiotic sets; old age is immobility as negative.

Looking at the latest electoral campaigns (but we could go even further back in time) we can easily see how the political factions have resorted to a lexicon made up of words like reforms, change, innovation, growth, development to talk about yourself; and others like old age, immobility, twentieth century, ideological, Communist, Christian Democrat to describe opponents.

The word reforms, in particular, has been increasingly used, especially since budget problems have become more pressing and, often, to blame opponents for the country's lack of competitiveness and growth.

Renzi's, in short, seems to be the strategy that wants to definitively close accounts with the past.

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