Social and Personal

But jacques…how can you say this? don’t you know, where’s everybody are the epitome of investigative journalism?
Pls don’t tell me that they no longer lead the country in this field…say it isn’t so!

How weird. I was on the same conversation on facebook a few minutes ago. Lou said he would appreciate comments on yesterday’s programme. I said simply “nah. You wouldn’t”.

Sully, I’m guessing you and nigel bruno are one and the same: its naqtghu not naqtaw, jistghu not jistaw. There. Now you can hate me too.

I don’t recognise the emotions underpinning sentiments and fears.

Yesterday’s ersatz analysis of a caricatured concern may have possibly wanted to add to the arsenal of the powerful a new weapon that:

Promotes squalid opinion promoted by fake-intellectual hamalli, through a technique that possibly distorts and/or exaggerates emotional response to the most normal of events such as a birthday party, a photograph with Santa Claus, or one’s buttocks.

Erase the dividing line between informed mature debate and chatter/bad-mouthing/ridiculing anything from dress-code to manner of speech in a quagmire of anti-social behaviour

True that the positive and energetic essence of blogging may have been a temporary victim, but I feel that the exercise did not achieve the above possible aims.

Yes, sober blogs may have had their work temporarily cut out but the bad name given to blogging carries with it unique opportunities for sensible blogging.

If anything, this experience reflects our reality…surrounded by Ferraris we use as chicken-pens because we can not tell the difference…our émigrés have an important responsibility to work for a normal Malta.

Anyway, look forward to your follow-up forsi naqbad xi haga.

Very good analysis Conan..agree 100%

conan, I agree with your analysis. But i feel there is more to it. The Labour Party does give fodder to her and the NP vilification process. OK, she is master at amplification, yet the lp needs to harness a vision that goes beyond rhetoric and must bring together a critical mass of affidabili to confirm their claim that they can do a better job at managing the nation, let alone bring about prosperity.

There are still too many individuals swimming out of their depth and these dilute the impact that genuine labour heavyweights can have on national perception.

bottom line, yes power of encumbancy and systematic vilification are real concerns. Yet Labour has to do its bit too. Joseph seems to be on the right track. His man-management and organisational skills actually came as a positive surprise. Yet progression still seems to be coming in fits and starts. Worst still the crucial critical mass of affidable is still all over the place. Hopefully the whole jigsaw does finally fit in place in good time.

if only the amoral, corrupt, rudderless, and policy-free labour party were not such an easy target! dcg’s vilification of labour is only effective because it is thoroughly credible. alfred sant was a walking catalogue of disasters, and the political scene is richer for his absence. ‘joseph’, as he is sickeningly referred to, is not doing a good job at all. the job of a party leader is to create an agenda for government, not only to score cheap political points. and before we rush to canonise ‘joseph’ (sic and sick), let’s not forget that he is a product of the labour party’s amoral vilification machine.

Conan, clearly adjectives are all that attract your attention. I mentioned the fact that Joseph is a product of Labour’s vilification machine but that skipped your attention.

For an illustration of all of those adjectives, I would encourage you to watch Super 1, have a look at the lives and business interests of some of the big-shots that Labour is wheeling out, etc.

If you want to discuss content please give me one concrete example of a ‘progressive’ policy that The Progressive Movement has endorsed.

As regards the walking catalogue of disasters, multiple electoral defeats punctuated by a disastrous few months in government should serve to substantiate the point.

You mention the need for ‘a critical mass of affidabili’, I can barely count past two. It’s not a question of a jigsaw magically falling into place. It’s a matter of some sort of vision. This is utterly lacking, and a capacity to choose people who are an improvement on the present government.

@ “Anon” – Taf kemm Anon – imma jekk thoss li ghandek tidhol hawn biex tisma tiddabitu bis-sens ma nluekx – xejn xejn ftit break minn dik il-fossa.
Rigward il-kampanja ta vilifikazzjoni li DCG ghamlet kontra Sant – Hi (u int) tghid li kieku ma kelliex ragun ma kienx ikun daqshekk effettiv. Imma dan ir-ragunament ma jreggix. DCG fahhret lil JPO u issa qed tghajru. Jigifieri liema kampanja kinet it-tajba? DCG( jew Anon) tkazat b’Sant meta oghla d-dawl u ilma, imma issa baqghet siekta meta l-Gonzipn qed jaghmel l-istess….jigifieri meta kellha ragun?

Remember DCG commenting on the “abysmal and amoral” (there that adjective again – Anon) behaviour of Lorry Sant in trying to reveal pictures relating to the Mintoff family? And how she then went on to describe in detail the very same pics that Lorry Sant was not allowed to publicise???? “Abysmal and amoral” indeed. So very abysmal “Anon”.

Sully, id-dawl u l-ilma fi zmien Sant u d-dawl u l-ilma fil-kuntest ta’ suq internazzjonali totalment differenti m’humiex komparabbli. Imma Malta allahares tmiss is-sistema fiskali u tipprova tirranga l-affarijiet ghax ma tasal imkien.

Dwar JPO, Alfred Sant kien cuc u laghab il-loghoba tal-PN. U le, DCG ma kellhiex ragun u ma kienetx kredibbli.

Forsi jmissni kkwalifikajt l-argument: kampanja kontinwa (u mhux ta’ gimgha) ta’ vilifikazzjoni hija effettiva jekk tkun kredibbli. Apprti minn hekk, jekk ikun hemm ftit sustanza fil-politiku, kampanji ta’ vilifikazzjoni jaslu sa certu punt biss (ez Gordon Brown).

@ Dispassionate: the Labour vilification machine is Super 1, and the entire party media.

“Anon”´s way of thinking is simply a creation of the adjetive-oriented media machine i described earlier. And one thing which Labour needs to do…and here i answer also danny attard…is to gain self-confidence. Labour has to cease trying to excuse itself for being itself. And needs to look at it achievements. In 1997, Alfred Sant launched an aggressive strategy of reducing the deficit ON THE LONG TERM. Yes, at a time of low fuel prices he raised tariffs…yes…to reduce local consumption and …yes…to begin addressing Enemaltas inefficiencies. This policy was though, and was defeated. The result? Come 2010…13 years later..and what is the biggest issue? Yes…electricity tariffs.

@ Anon. Oh! I missed that. Who have they vilified recently? I might have been distracted by the full-time vilification machine operated by a woman who should have more taste…

and if we really want to go crazy with our expectations, how about the reform of state media?

and then there is everything that is wrong with malta: public transport, clean energy, planning laws, electoral laws, cultural policy (which the very young, in good and bad ways, owen bonnici is not doing a terrible job of), and the list goes on.

and oh, let’s not forget cleaning out the law courts, or am i not allowed to talk about that? and while we’re at it, let’s give the judges a decent wage, decent resources, and then lots hold them to account.

perhaps a political party might also be expected to treat the integration of immigrants as the serious issue that it is.

and maybe, just maybe, we can expect an educational system that works and which we can be proud of – one that produces graduates who are literate and logical.

but that would be asking too much. so excuse me if i care.

Mela ftehmna Sully – ejja naqtghu dil-fissazzjoni bil-kritika amorali (tajjeb hekk?) li taghmel Daphne, u niddiskutu ftit l-affarijiet iktar importanti. Dil-fissazzjoni bil-blog ta’ Daphne tiddevja l-attenzjoni minn gvern li ilu li skada u oppozizzjoni li fadlilha sew biex timmatura. Fatto sta li kulhaddd taparsi jiskrupla b’Daphne u sadattant kulhadd iffissat. It’s a fecking car crash. Look away.

Anon, your priorities seem to tally with amorphous rumblings coming from labour avenue. This blessed party may still mould these into a proper to-do list.

I would expect that the what and how will be explored in the process e.g. how to reform state media, not to mention the educational system.

Now, it will be utterly stupid of the lp to publish some 900 page document to have the np creeping up on the eve of an election repeating ad nauseam ‘repeater class’.

Yet, from your agenda, emotional energy and intellectual texture, I would think that the lp would certainly like to have you on board with your inputs related to your area of compitence if they really mean what they say about moviment. I honestly think you should give it a try.

On a differet note, i am not at all with you re your ‘Joseph’ objection. We normally address a person using his preference…my name is edward but please call me eddie kind of think. I see no prima facie cause to be so upset by the choice of Joseph. Personally, if i ever met the guy i would address him as Dr Muscat, (put it down to the age-gap perhaps) but if he insists on calling him Jospeh, then it is the polite thing to do. Regards.

and in related progressive news: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100223/local/muscat-does-not-see-divorce-being-on-pl-election-programme

@anon – agree fully with your take…preservation of sanity is a more real obstacle to distance :) but then hey, someone has to do it, i suppose.