I wrote something on my site years ago that mentioned that if the Italian Pasta Mafia knew how Dominicans cook their pasta we (Dominicans) would be in trouble. We have a lot of Italian visitors, and my best (male) friend is from Calabria and has read the article in question. Nobody had mentioned this before until today.
I got a very angry letter from an Italian woman accusing me of calling all Italians mafiosi. I didn’t apologize, seeing as I believe I did not insult anyone but fictional Italian Mafiosi, and I didn’t offer to change the wording in question. I told her I meant no offense, and explained to her that I absolutely did not mean that all Italians are mafiosi (or Pasta Mafiosi even).
Is talking about a fictional Italian criminal organization out of bounds. Was I really offensive? I am open to believing I am wrong, but I believe I am not.
Some people are crazy. If you’re going to write anything on a public forum, you have to just be prepared to hear all kinds of crazy stuff about it. Not all public forums out there are as civilized as we are. Blog writers and the like have to have very, very thick skin.
I’m of Italian descent, was a member of an Italian parish growing up, went to that church’s school. I don’t get offended by Mafia references, and I have never gotten that whole “disrespecting Italians” response to shows like the Sopranos. I have never, ever gotten the vibe that people think most (or even “a lot of”) Italians are connected. I have never felt offended by such a reference, though I suppose it’s possible. Maybe if some clod was belaboring it, in an obviously derisive “you know those wops” kind of way. Never encountered that though.
When Robert DeNiro was offered honorary Italian citizenship, the Sons of Italy lodged a protest, that his roles were offensive. The real Italians didn’t understand what the big deal was.
And to expand on Alice’s post, people are even more crazy on the internet because they have anonymity.
Any anyway, talking about the mafia shouldn’t offend Italians. Only the southern Italians, and they’re all in the mafia anyway.
People use the term “mafia” for all sorts of groups - the Gay mafia, the PTA mafia, the Jewish mafia…it has become a term that simply suggests a select sub-group of people who might be somewhat dogmatic in their approach.
It no longer has the purely “Italian” connotation, and even in your statement of Italian Pasta Mafia, you are making the jest that there are a bunch of Italians with rolling pins roaming the streets, and tossing macaroni at innocent bystanders.
Nah, I think the OP should comb the internet for articles about pasta related crimes and e-mail the links to the woman as proof that there is so a pasta mafia.
Too soft, and with a bunch of ingredients that would never be found in Italian pasta. It’s good in its own way, much like New York pizza is good but is a far cry from Neapolitan pizza.
Hey! You think the pasta mafia does things randomly? I assure you that the don of the pasta mafia does nothing randomly: his associates target only undesirables, like people who twirl their spaghetti using a spoon, and break into their houses to break their linguini to express the don’s dissatisfaction.
I ran into this problem (sort of) when I lived in Germany. I tend to throw the term “nazis” around - as in Grammar Nazis - and Germans get really upset about that sort of thing. I learned to modify my usage and used mafia instead never thinking that anyone would find that offensive. But apparently I was wrong…
