OMERTA
omerta na pang inlove:
The 1990’s rock band Afghan Whigs has a song called “Omertà ” as the second to last song on their album 1965. The lyrics include:
“If I have love, then I hide it
Then the people that I hide it from
Have helped me to deny
That it’s not enough to show you care
You gotta take on every double cross
And every double dare, I swear to you”.
the real omerta:
“Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of himself without police protection is both. It is as cowardly to betray an offender to justice, even though his offences be against yourself, as it is not to avenge an injury by violence. It is dastardly and contemptible in a wounded man to betray the name of his assailant, because if he recovers, he must naturally expect to take vengeance himself.”
what is omerta?
Omertà is a popular attitude, common in areas of southern Italy, such as Sicily, Calabria and Campania, where the criminal organizations like the Mafia, ‘Ndrangheta, and Camorra are strong. Omertà implies “the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime.â€[1] Even if somebody is condemned for a crime he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence without giving the police any information about the real criminal. A common definition is the “code of silence”. Within Mafia culture, breaking the oath of omertà is punishable by death. A common misconception is that the Mafia created or instituted omertà , when, in fact, the code was adopted by Sicilians long before the emergence of Cosa Nostra (some observers date it in the 16th century as a way of opposing Spanish rule [2])
omerta na metal:
The American metal band Lamb of God has a song by the title of “Omertà ” at the beginning of which the Sicilian honor code is recited as follows: “Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both. For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, ‘If I live, I will kill you. If I die, you are forgiven.’ Such is the rule of honor.”
The 1990’s rock band Afghan Whigs has a song called “Omertà ” as the second to last song on their album 1965. The lyrics include: “If I have love, then I hide it / Then the people that I hide it from / Have helped me to deny / That it’s not enough to show you care / You gotta take on every double cross / And every double dare, I swear to you”.
The metal band Katatonia has a song called “Omertà .” It tells the story of a person who has lost everything, presumably in a flood, and that he wishes to know more about it, “Tell me of progress / Strengthen my blood” He also states that nobody in the area he’s now in knows who he is, and neither does he. The other person in the situation is his brother, either in a literal or contextual manner. He questions “Was it because I never told you / I was going away / That you waited so long / Was it because your fucking dreams / Meant nothing to me / That you waited so long.” The story progresses and he dies, having been poisoned.