Sunny to the point of darkness

Last Sunday’s article arrives late to the blog this week. What’s the point of darkness?

“Sunny to the point of darkness”: that encapsulates the very essence of my eight-day visit to the island. They have been fantastic on the whole, even if for a time they threatened to become an endless series of meetings that verged on the businesslike, as the blogging side of what has become my second profession took advantage of my stay for a spot of real-time networking. In terms of sun the octodiurnal stay could not have been any better: warm enough to soak it up but not so hot as to render it insupportable.

Flushed with the rays of natural sunlight, every little job or visit becomes an easier task to perform and enjoy. So there I had it – a wonderful glowing canvas on which to draft the latest network of experiences (and experience in networking) that included a visit to the folks at the Independent. I’ve been writing this column for almost two years and only found time to visit the home of Standard Publications last week. In the process I got to meet Joan, the lovely lady who has the tough job of proof-reading my weekly forays into the English language and whose workload might have become a tad bit lighter, thanks to the Ed’s consenting to my experimenting with a shorter J’accuse. So. Let us see what’s in J’accuse’s briefs today…

The Virtual, the Real and the Ugly

I have often rubbished those who claim that expats have no right to meddle in the affairs of state and society of this isle of ours. I will go on to do so and still believe that our contribution can only contribute an added value to the potential of our society (not to mention the arguments in favour of harnessing the inevitable brain drain one way or another). Our insular mentality does have a bad habit of turning on the returning Malteser and pummelling him or her into cultural submission. Any offer of new ideas is met with suspicious disdain that more often than not leads to the erection of an insurmountable cultural wall in order to make sure that these new ideas do not taint these hallowed shores.

This siege mentality can be understood for different reasons. Many are those who would rather preserve the status quo, and their beef with change is not so much the change itself but rather their feeling that the position of power they have carved out in this state of mediocrity would be threatened. The returning emigrant or the voice from abroad is inevitably a voice for change and, as the slogan for the latest version of video game “Deus Ex (Human Revolution)” goes, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something”.

What the “outsiders” must understand is that the petri dish they are used to seeing through the internet microscope can become kaleidoscopically different, once they eat a bit of Alice’s cake and jump into this world of the curiouser and curiouser. I try to keep that perspective as much as I can, but this time around I have been surprised by how much like the virtual Malta the real Malta turned out to be. Online projects like MaltaInsideOut.com appear to be less of a skewered window than one would actually think. From Blue Films in Iklin (are we the only country to think in terms of “Blue Films”?) to the value of gossip in the prioritisation of news and attention thereto – the “Only in Malta” that seemed to be a virtual ugly side of the nation is becoming more and more the reality.

All that we needed was a Permanent Secretary giving the red carpet treatment to a public convenience (great idea, by the way) and another visiting dignitary prompting a temporary national facelift – do you want tarmac with your Benedict? Curious? You bet – the petri dish is surprisingly full of all forms of viral delicacies.

Change and mediocrity

Just as J’accuse’s apocalyptic warnings on the race to mediocrity were beginning to look stale, the unusual suspects have jumped onto the bandwagon of doom. A new character has appeared in the current battle between good and evil that is the latest episode of Plategate: the Selectively Righteous Columnist. Some columnists have started to align themselves on the side of those who would wish to battle mediocrity in all its forms. Oh! how we wish that their declared intention would hold true whenever mediocrity rears its ugly head. What we do have, however, is a selective appreciation that boils down to tackling mediocrity only in its simplest and most obvious forms – the ones that the new paladins would label as Elvish By-Products.

Mediocrity is not always so easily identifiable when it takes the shape of a hastily assembled reaction to a gossip site that descends to new levels of disgusting public haranguing that we have got used to ever since Plategate opened the gates of hell. That’s the easy part. Mediocrity also lies in the eyes of the dabblers of trumped up legal argumentation who are now making use of social networking sites to wallow in delusions of democratic efficiency. The mediocre are those who mistake anonymous petitioning for impossible referenda as some kind of democratic legitimacy – when they are too lazy, or too abysmally misinformed, to think otherwise.

Mediocrity appears in the form of enthusiasm and joy because of the inauguration of (another) shopping complex that will include a list of franchises selling the usual products to the usual suspects. Such shopping complexes exist by the thousand all over the continent and would usually not merit much more than a mayoral ribbon of congratulation before they proceed to reap their (well-earned) profits for the next decade. They are not a measure of national success but a measure of progress along the obvious continuum of western civilisation.

Success would be transforming the nation in the expectation and attraction of new markets – not at the scrap end of the table of fiscal competition (what competitive advantage, other than discounts?) but at the cutting edge of innovation. In other words, a shopping complex is a signal of the potential for success for some individuals (most times more for the same); a real smart island attracting the googles, microsofts, cerns and silicon chips of this world requires much more than expensive real estate, a conglomerate of franchises and a red ribbon. It requires planning, investment and education – what chances of our having missed THAT train?

The Point of Darkness

It’s never all doom and gloom and this is definitely not the case for Malta. Unlike many of my expat colleagues (returned or otherwise), I can still see barrow-loads of potential. Beyond the complaints, the grudges and the damage of the internecine tribal and partisan walls lies a potential for growth. Ironically, the very individuals who have been rendered numb and oblivious to their very own potential by the bipartisan opiate that dictates the tempo of change (piano, pianissimo) on the island, these very individuals are the key to future success. It just takes a lot of wool lifting. In the meantime, we will make do with the occasional miracle – just before it is appropriated by the bipartisan monster for its own needs.

Yes, you can enjoy Malta in all its beauty. Whether you are enjoying the wonderful seafood at Qbajjar Restaurant (ic-Cirasa for locals), the delicious mouthfuls at D-Bar or the incredible orange and cream sauce that accompanies meat at The Avenue, you can still sit back and think what a wonderful nation this is. Even a trip to the latest complex can leave you with a sweet taste of materialistic success. Then, just as you are about to savour a local speciality like a good old-fashioned procession with men legally dressed up as Jesus, just as you want to breathe in and say that this country is a lovely one, warts and all… that’s the point when an anthropomorphised boiler decides to trip and call it a day. And we plunge into darkness.

What’s the point? The point is remembering that darkness is only driven out with light, not more darkness.

www.akkuza.com returns to full blogging mode after the vacational hiatus. Happy Easter to all J’accuse readers.

This article and accompanying Bertoons appeared in the 4th April edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.