"Questioning ourselves about a “politics” of intellectuals is important today, not least because we live in a time when so-called “cultural products” are increasingly involved in consumerism. They are often manipulated with a view to immediate and fleeting success, which they sometimes fail to achieve or which lasts only a morning. They often set out to shock, irritate and scandalise (which is also very difficult) in order to impose themselves with the label of absolute novelty, which is pure illusion. They often take on the function and value of “slogans” intended to increase the spread of foolish ideas and fictitious fanaticism. And their authors do not hesitate to take to the stage, to perform in costume, to put on the show they consider most conducive to their success. [...] Part of the bitter sadness that pervades the world of intellectuals today is due precisely to the awareness of their lost or diminished decision-making autonomy, of the looming danger of being able to survive only as instruments of forces that appreciate their work only as an occasional means of success, to be thrown away when it is no longer useful. (from “Il rischio del consumismo”, pp. 142-143)"