Due Diligence
Anthony M. Quattrone’s article published yesterday evening on Naples Politics, Waste crisis: Naples snubbed by Northern League brought some much-needed clarity to some of the issues surrounding Naples trash crisis, a very complex problem that I’m sure has as many layers as the city itself. It is a very welcome addition to the misinformed and sensationalized 140 character sound bytes, photos and short videos that have been sweeping the twitter waves over the last week or so.
Tweeting from North Carolina – Naples, Italy is trashed.
Tweeting from Canada – Naples under piles of garbage
Tweeting from Rome – In Naples looks like war zone
Tweeting from Turin – Latest on Naples rubbish woes. This is 1 place you don’t want to visit in Italy! (with link to 9 sentence article)
A thoughtful and well researched article, Waste Crisis answered several questions that had been swirling around in my mind. Questions like how much trash is there in Naples on a normal day? Turns out 1250 tons is the daily average and at its peak this time there was 2500 tons of trash. That’s double the daily average and a whole heap of trash to be sure, but the relentless tweeting of 2500 tons of trash on Naples streets without a reference point was arbitrary and meaningless.
I suppose it’s easy to stand outside and comment on things you have no personal knowledge of. Easier still to see the bad over the good, the dark side over the bright and I’m beginning to believe that most people see the world from the glass is half empty perspective. Of course most of those people would probably argue that I should get a new prescription for my rose-colored glasses.
Either way, nothing is black or white, at least it isn’t to me. The world I live in is a thousand of shades of grey that can’t be summed up into a 140 character tweet. Yet to some degree, twitter has become a spectator sport. Nothing analyzed, nothing researched, precious little original material, and thousands of Monday morning quarterbacks tweeting and retweeting the same sensationalized misinformation.
So much so that these recent sound bytes from twitter would lead you to believe that Naples was buried in trash like Pompeii was in ash and burning to the ground like Nero’s Rome. Yet those who actually live here were seeing something quite different.
There is no doubt that Naples experienced another trash crisis and there were a number of incidents and clashes, but I’m happy to say that the city is not, as was reported on twitter “buried in trash,” “going up in flames,” “a war zone” and this latest trash crisis was definitely not “the end of Naples.”
Apparently the sensationalism was politically motivated (or perhaps not), but isn’t that the point. With little or no due diligence, the same misinformation was tweeted and retweeted ad nauseam perpetuating the sensationalism.
As I said in Bad News Travels Fast, if I’d never been here before and was contemplating a trip, a quick search on twitter would have definitely steered me the other way. So I have to ask again, did this latest tweet storm help the situation or was it just another assault on the city’s reputation? Or worse yet, an assault on the people themselves as alluded to in one of the more recent tweets:
If the locals were a bit more on the ball, they’d tidy up Naples Italy themselves. But they just moan.
Again, in my rose-colored world there are many shades of grey and while some moaned, many made their voices heard at the ballot box, electing a new Mayor, Luigi de Magistris. This in turn seems to have spurred a number of grass-roots initiatives as long time resident Anthony M. Quattrone reported in Naples: Change is taking place bottom-up.
One such initiative, CLEANAP Piazza Pulita! was inspired by a group of 50 citizens who cleaned up Piazza del Plebiscito on June 4th. Since then CLEANAP, a group of citizens “united by their love for Naples” and ”armed with brooms, dustpans, detergent, trash bags, and of course, good intentions” have been taking to the streets, or I should say the piazzas to return dignity to the places they hold most dear. Thus far they have cleaned up Piazza Bellini, Largo Banchi Nuovi, and next up is Porta Capuana on Friday July 8th, 17:30 – 21:30 if anyone wants to join.
So if you feel the need to retweet news about Naples, how about doing a bit of due diligence first and while we are at how about giving some of the good things going on around the city some equal time too, say for example this video:
Well put. You have no idea how sick I am of critiques of Naples by people who’ve never been there (or just went through it on the way to Sorrento) and who know nothing about it. I see this sort of nonsense all the time on TripAdvisor.
Thanks so much Jeff. We get tired of hearing the negative critiques that are typically not true and usually come from people who have never been here.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been getting angry at Twitter every day about this, which is why I try to counter post things emphasizing that in wandering around the city the past month I haven’t run into any of the stuff being reported in the papers… so it’s not as dire as you might think from seeing some of the photos and the articles. And people don’t realize that when trash piles up here, it’s nicely stacked around trash receptacles, not everywhere in the streets. I’ve yet to be forced to step in anything undesirable in Naples. People honestly don’t believe me when I say this sometimes, which is sad.
Thanks Melissa and well said
It’s so nice to hear the other side of the story! Look forward to seeing more of your posts about bella Napoli.
Naples has its share of problems, of course, but it’s nowhere nearly as bad as the people in the North make out. They view it the way Americans viewed New York City in the 70s and 80s, a place of predators and victims, etc.
One thing Naples has that most cities in Italy do not have (aside from great seafood): a sense of vitality.
Thanks Terence – well said!
You go, Bonnie! Wow, I’ve been busy and off Twitter for the last few days, and happily missed all the negativity. Don’t change those rose-colored glasses; your vision of bella Napoli is just fine! I wish I was in town Friday for the clean up…maybe the next one. That would be really fun to do!
WOW – Thank you so much Kathy!!! I so appreciate your comments and you are lucky to have missed all the negativity. I hope CleaNap continues their great work and that you get to join them at some point
Dear Bonnie
I moved to Naples last December from the US. The trash issue can be controversial but I am in no way offended by your posts nor by the spazzatura either! Relatively speaking, the trash is a visible problem that can easily be solved with the political will and action of those involved. More importantly are the unseen socio-economic problems that manifest themselves throughout the world. Naples is not the only place where poverty and unemployment are creating unstable cities. Many of my friends are involved in local clean-up efforts such as CleaNap and Friarelli Ribelli and I too continue my own sustainable living in the hopes that my efforts make a small difference. Thanks for your insightful blog, it’s a treasure to read!
Thank you Heather Anne for your very insightful response. It is easy to single out Naples but as you say, the reality is that most cities across the world are facing similar issues. But with the new administration and the recent grass roots initiatives I am very hopeful for Naples’ future.