Sicilian Culture: The News & Views: Jay Leno Gets "Spanking" from Professor De Simone

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Jay Leno Gets "Spanking" from Professor De Simone
Following Letter to Jay Leno has been abbreviated.
http://nbci-nbctv.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nbci_nbctv/people
NBC Telephone: (818) 840-4444
Jay Leno Show : (818) 840-2222

Norristown, Pennsylvania, 3/1/01
Mr. Jay Leno
The Tonight Show
3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA 91523
Dear Mr. Leno,
...I (have long)enjoyed the Tonight Show and your sense of humor. As a semi-active university professor, I've enjoyed your interviews with college students who don't seem to know much of anything. That problem has been baffling me for years, too. Otherwise, I simply enjoyed your brand of comedy. Until last night, that is.
Last night, in one fell swoop, you turned me off completely. That skit about New Jersey, and the Soprano's insulted me both as an Italian-American, and as a Catholic. I mean, any dumb-dumb could have figured out that on a day when Catholics go to church in droves to receive ashes, you don't make light of the practice. It was uncalled for, especially since it added fuel to a very disturbing situation that we in the Italian-American community have had to face for lo so many years now: the American Media's efforts, and successful, too, to destroy our image...
I'm not sure if you are Italian or not, whole or in part, but if you are, shame on you. Obviously your cultural literacy level is not much higher than that of those students you like to interview, from time to time.
The problem with the demise of our Italian-American identity is that we have been absorbed. We have not been absorbed as protagonists in the American experience, however.
No, we have simply been made to supply material for American sick entertainment. "The Mafia sells," the Pepsi Corporation told me, once (I switched to Coke ever since)... Most Italian-Americans, unfortunately, are like you, deferent to the rest of the country, almost servile. Many of the stars in Mafia movies are, themselves, of Italian descent (Pogo was right: "We have met the enemy, and he is us"). If we were more combative, and boycotted your sponsors, for example, skits like the one you put on last night would be a thing of the past.
Yes, we have the reality of the mob; every family has its black sheep, but that unmistakable mobster you dressed up like a priest giving ashes with lit cigarettes, does not in any way reflect the reality of our people. As a professor of Italian language, culture and civilization, I am very much aware of the overwhelming cultural heritage that is mine. I know that I need not bend my knee to anyone, worldwide. And, of course, there are many Americans who are equally aware of our immense cultural endowment. They, too, know that your "priest" was a poor representation of our people. Unfortunately the vast majority of Americans take such trash at its face value. That's why the Mafia sells.
Is it any wonder, then, that we have been relegated to the function of dung collectors, bringing up the rear of the American parade!
When I taught at Bishop Kenrick H.S., Norristown, Pa., the FBI provided me with some statistical information. It showed that the Mafia in this country consists of about two thousand real mafiosi, and about twenty thousand "helpers." It calculates to approximately 11/1000ths of 1% of the American people of Italian descent. The vast majority of our people are hard-working, honest, loyal citizens.
We do not deserve to be treated as the fuel for sick, vapid, insulting jokes.
One more thing, Mr. Leno: the word Italian in our binomial is an adjective, not a noun. The noun is American, with a capital A. We are Americans who happen to have been blessed with the privilege of being the descendants of "the people who gave the wind a voice and the world a picture of its soul,"... As the heirs of nearly three millennia of Italian civilization, of course, we can take (great) pride ...
But as Americans, too, we have a long list of names that makes us proud to be Americans....Yes, Mr. Leno, our people can take pride in their contribution to the greatness of the United States of America, at all levels. They needn't take second place to anyone, American Media notwithstanding.
You owe us all a profound apology... let me tell you, Leno, that was dumb!
Sincerely,
Prof. Donato A. De Simone
421 Long Meadow Rd.
Norristown, PA 19403

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