Sfera Ebbasta at San Siro: fame is not a value

The entrance of singer Sfera Ebbasta into the San Siro skybox, surrounded by ten girls dressed in black and orchestrated to capture the gaze of the match crowd, triggered the usual conditioned reflex of public debate.

On one side there are those who are outraged, denouncing the usual objectification of the female figure; on the other, those who applaud a brilliant marketing stunt, capable of monetizing attention ahead of a new album.

By dividing ourselves between moralism on one side and cynical pragmatism on the other, we keep failing to see the central knot of the issue. A knot that is not purely aesthetic or about customs, but deeply educational.

The real question these episodes pose to us does not concern the effectiveness of advertising strategies, nor the morality of individual characters, but the pedagogical impact of the message we are sending to younger generations, to which the media give wide coverage.

From fame as a result to fame as an end

Today we are raising kids immersed in a dangerous illusion: the belief that personal relevance no longer comes through building a path, talent cultivated with discipline or meaningful deeds, but rather through the ability to produce a sensational act.

Once upon a time, fame and respect were the indirect consequence of real activity: a discovery, a lasting work of art, a sporting feat or a concrete contribution to the community. Fame was the result of value. Today we are witnessing the inversion of this paradigm: fame has become the only goal, and the shortcut to obtain it is the visually loud act, provocation or the spectacularization of every aspect of existence.

Don't confuse memory with virality

As educators, parents and citizens, our concern should focus on this cultural distortion, namely replacing 'doing' with 'scenography', where mattering means only making noise. If we teach young people that this is the model of success, we are devaluing the value of commitment, study, privacy and patience.

Fame based on the sensational gesture or the big show is a flare that lasts the space of a page scroll. The real mark we leave in the world is not measured by how many screens we manage to occupy, but by the impact our concrete actions have on others and on time.

If we unreservedly accept the logic of hype and sensationalism at all costs, we are handing young people a frighteningly empty idea of value, where reckless form completely drains the merit of content.

This is not about being censors or being scandalized by a marketing stunt. The real educational challenge consists in giving young people back the measure of things: showing them that true importance is not measured by how many gazes you can capture for an instant with a twist, but by the real and lasting value of what you know how to build day by day.