Honestly...

Raise your hand if you're sick of being abused and manipulated. I know I am. No, not with fists or any other physical means. I'm not referring to being herded along with brute force; rather, in the more subtle fashion. I mean, when people convince you that their actions and attitudes towards you are correct or justified, while in reality they're not. When people respect you so little that you have become just another object in their lives, as if you were a piece of furnature or a painting on the wall rather than a person. When people have overstepped their bounds so much and are now so accustomed to doing so that they get angry when you attempt to assert yourself. I mean people who get a hard-on when they know they can get you fired-up without putting forth the slightest bit of effort. I'm talking about functioning, psychological 2 year olds who have learned to say 'mine' in 1000 different ways and get away with it.

Italy is full of people who will treat you like this if you let them. I have encountered endless numbers of them. The social dynamics of Italian people are complex. It is like warfare, strategic, highly-tuned and calibrated. If you do not know the rules of the game, many Italians will pick up on that immediately and make a floor-mat of you. Honesty is not considered a virtue in Italy. In fact, it is a vice. If you cheat someone or cut a corner in any respect, it is considered clever. It does not matter the cost. Let me repeat that. It does not matter the cost. That's why the country is going to shit. No one wants to work, the streets are filthy, half of the economy is black-market, petty criminals govern the people, and the people knowingly and somehow willingly vote for them. The list goes on and on, and there is no hope in sight.

This is the life of an American living in Rome. I hope I'm not the only one who makes these observations. If I am. Then either I am crazy or everyone else is so used to it that it has become their 'normal.'

I'm tired of it.