The way that nationalism enters is that people feel that criticism of the verdict (especially coming from outsiders, as it mainly does in this case) is an attack on the nation’s institutions (specifically its justice system), and thus on the nation itself.
In other words, if Knox and Sollecito were innocent, that would be a soldier for foreigners to use against Italy, and thus must be defeated at all costs (Sollecito’s nationality notwithstanding).
Well, Italians tend to be quite un-nationalistic in that sense, but yeah, I’m under the impression that some of them would be pissed off by foreigners criticizing Italian institutions even though they would agree with the same criticism coming from a fellow Italian. (As someone-I-can’t-remember-and-Google-is-failing-me said, insults hurt more when they’re truthful.)
EDIT: What paper-machine said seems very relevant. Italians tend to be very pissed off when they perceive Italian institution to succumb to foreign pressure.
The way that nationalism enters is that people feel that criticism of the verdict (especially coming from outsiders, as it mainly does in this case) is an attack on the nation’s institutions (specifically its justice system), and thus on the nation itself.
In other words, if Knox and Sollecito were innocent, that would be a soldier for foreigners to use against Italy, and thus must be defeated at all costs (Sollecito’s nationality notwithstanding).
Well, Italians tend to be quite un-nationalistic in that sense, but yeah, I’m under the impression that some of them would be pissed off by foreigners criticizing Italian institutions even though they would agree with the same criticism coming from a fellow Italian. (As someone-I-can’t-remember-and-Google-is-failing-me said, insults hurt more when they’re truthful.)
EDIT: What paper-machine said seems very relevant. Italians tend to be very pissed off when they perceive Italian institution to succumb to foreign pressure.