WHY ITALIAN BRAINROT IS A GOOD THING (NO SERIOUSLY, HEAR ME OUT)

Chance is, even if you barely frequent social media, you’ve run into a weird set of memes named “Italian Brainrot”. They’re mostly made of AI-generated, nonsensical characters and their descriptions, often in rhyme, with some added swear words and blasphemies sprinkled here and there. All of that is narrated by the standard male AI voice. Some of these characters, like Tung Tung Tung Sahur, actually originated in other countries such as Indonesia, others are original…if you can call a meme original these days.

Italian Brainrot has taken Tiktok by storm. I deleted my account a while ago, so I haven’t experienced the madness first-hand: I found out about these memes thanks to my older sister, who’s an avid Tiktok user and had these weird, AI-generated images appear in her “For You” page all of a sudden, probably when the mania had already started all over the world.

My first reaction upon seeing Ballerina Cappuccina (who, fyi, is married to Cappuccino Assassino, whose ex is Espressona Signora) was: “what the fuck did I just watch?” but then…then…I was hooked. “Ballerina Cappuccina, mi mi mi miiiii” was on repeat in my head. The thing is: I’ve got OCD. When something, be it a word, an image, a thought, a song, a commercial etc. becomes intrusive, it doesn’t disappear until another one takes its place. It’s obsessive. It never goes away. Even now, while writing this article, the Ballerina Cappuccina song is playing in my head incessantly. I also can’t help but feel close to Vacca Saturno Saturnita, who just wants to live their life however they want, as a giant planet with a cow face. I can relate, I’m a hamplanet too.

The thing is: how are these nonsensical, utterly stupid memes good for us Italians and Italian culture? Hold up, I’m going to explain: the swear words. Listen, I’m in LOVE with blasphemy and swear words. My favorite swear word of all time is actually blasphemous towards Christians and the Christian God: Porco Dio. I’m sorry, but it’s untranslateable. Some people have tried translating that into English as “Pig God”. It’s simply not possible, because Porco Dio is more than just blasphemy: it’s a state of mind. It’s a feeling. You bump into the corner of the bedside table with your toe? Porco Dio. You step on a lego? Porco Dio. You miss the bus/train so you’re going to be late for work/school/university? Porco Dio. Your favorite team lost a match? Porco Dio. A pidgeon shits on you? Porco Dio. Your laptop’s battery dies while you’re writing an important document or email? Porco Dio. I could go on, and on, and on.

I’ve read many articles, mostly written by English-speaking people, who accuse the Italian creators of the brainrot memes (or everyone who actually enjoys the nonsensical humor) of being Islamophobic because Bombardiro Croccodilo bombs kids in Gaza, and there’s a blasphemous phrase (you can loosely translate it to “Pig Allah”, it’s the same as Porco Dio but with Allah instead) that’s offensive towards Muslims and also Christians who are sensitive about blasphemy. That’s bullshit. Total and utter bullshit. And the people getting up in arms about a meme are fucking pussies who can’t handle the slightest criticism towards their stupid, oppressive religion. These memes aren’t Islamophobic or bashing any religion in particular, they’re just the expression of Italian Gen Z/Alpha’s weird sense of humor and our penchant for swearing (believe me, us Italians swear a lot. From North to South, we have a huge catalog of swear words/phrases. I’m a Neapolitan who swears a lot, I am the human vessel of a swear word, you choose which one). It just happens that we use religious figures as a swear word. It’s part of our culture, as much as religion is an important part of many of us Italians’ culture.

See, I think swear words and blasphemous expressions NEED to be preserved. Swear words are important. As a lover of swear words from around the world, I do think they’re the first thing you should learn when you decide to study a new language and culture. If you decide to go to Paris, the first things you should do are: learn how to say please and thank you and how to swear in French. Sorry, I don’t make the rules, it’s just how it is. Swear words are good for you: when you swear after something bad has happened, your anger and frustration starts to dissipate the moment the litany of words leaves your mouth. After a good swearing session, you actually feel liberated, and start thinking rationally about how to solve the problem you’re facing. I’m not joking, there are scientific studies about swearing and its effect on people’s minds.

These days though, even a minor thing such as a stupid meme can cause a chain reaction of events that might exaggerate or blow out of proportion things that in our culture are completely normal, hell, even mild compared to other stuff we do. What if an oppressive Muslim country decides that Italian Brainrot memes are offensive towards Allah and wants to ban Tiktok entirely, or asks for even the slightest mention or criticism towards Islam to be censored from the platform? And what if Christians decide to do the same and lobby towards a censorship of words and expletives related to religion? I know, I know, I’m being way over the top now. But…what if? Wouldn’t that be a huge blow to freedom of expression? Would it then extend to our offline life too? Imagine: because of a nonsensical meme, a chain reaction happens and swearing in public is banned entirely and we’re back to the 1940s. Would that be okay? Swearing is an integral part of language and linguistic expression, we are already experiencing a huge loss because local dialects (that are often languages in and of themselves) are disappearing in favor of a standardised language, what would happen if swear words vanished entirely? I personally don’t like this scenario. And neither should you.

So, please, share the blasphemous memes and the swear words, even if you think they’re offensive or whatever -istic or -isms the internet thinks they are, because they’re part of every culture, a culture that needs to be preserved and passed on to the younger generations, unless we want a vital part of us to disappear forever.

Godspeed, and Porco Dio.