Fleximan vs. Fico’s Shooter: Italian Media’s Hypocritical Double Standard

In Italy Fleximan, the folk hero who became famous because he knocked down speed cameras with his circular saw, may have been identified.
He would be, according to the clues gathered by the police, a simple 42-year-old metalworker who, tired of the fines he got from speed cameras, in a fit of libertarian madness, started knocking them down using a circular saw. This tool in Italian is called “Flessibile,” hence the nickname “Flexima.

Up to this point, a news story, however, is not over because Fleximan struck all over Italy, even far from the Veneto region, so it is unlikely that even if this person was responsible for some cases, he is responsible for all the downed and damaged speed cameras. Recall that Italy has the European record for number of speed detectors used by municipalities to make cash, so the hostility is understandable, even if the damage is a crime.

What is far more shameful, however, is the treatment of this gentleman by the Italian press, always in the service of power. Let us remember that Flexximan committed minor crimes against property; he neither injured nor killed anyone

Despite this, Italian newspapers close to power, such as the “Corriere della Sera,” treated this person as the worst criminal, devoting headlines to him, publishing photos, generalities and history, and judging him as a kind of crazy neo-Nazi.

In contrast, the person who shot Slovak Prime Minister Fico and almost killed him is judged, by the same newspaper, as a pacifist , a poet, and a good guy who would not hurt a fly except then shoot with the intention of killing—four shots.

Because for the Italian press, one is bad, although not hurting anyone, if one opposes the overpowering of the authorities, but one is good if one shoots a person who is accused of being a pro-Russian sovereignist. And I will spare you the descriptions the same press makes of the Slovak prime minister, presented as a foolish servant of Putin.

Italian newspapers are losing more and more readers, but this is obvious: they are so politicized that they no longer have any credibility