THE ART OF MAKING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL - Splużjoni fil-power station tinżamm mistura - liars
Telling lies is a great temptation for all humans, whether to justify conduct by framing-up events to hide one’s own shortcomings, or whether to justify and strengthen a belief, or an accusation.
During my experience in a career as an HR and Administration professional spanning almost 45 years, I faced and dealt with thousands of people and this introduced me to the art of psychology.
I am no Sigmund Freud, but by time I learnt to categorise people and assess their being genuine or otherwise and among the people I faced there were a percentage of liars of various degrees.
The most lethal liars are those who lie regularly, so much, it becomes part of their psyche and part of their personality. These create an outstanding category of those whose habit becomes so overwhelming they actually begin to believe their very own lies and create a whole framework to justify them.
At this point I exhibit an approximate translation of a “news” item that featured on the Netnews portal yesterday under the headline “Power Station explosion kept hidden”:
“For some reason the Government over recent days has kept hidden an explosion that happened two weeks ago in one of the engines at the BWSC Power Station in Delimara.
“The explosion happened midweek about two weeks ago in the afternoon on Engine Number 3 following an accumulation of gas which resulted in a powerful explosion that not only occasioned a large plume of smoke but was heard in a number of localities.”
Now, concentrate on the following phrases:
“about two weeks ago”
“in the afternoon”
“resulted in a powerful explosion”
“occasioned a large plume of smoke but was heard in a number of localities”
Right, so this is Malta we are talking about, in the vicinity of Delimara. This is NOT the Sahara Desert, or the wilds of Siberia, or indeed the Steppes of Central Asia – this is Malta and Delimara.
Now, Malta today has become a place where if Konrad Mizzi is seen at a party with a beer can in his hand, you can be sure someone will take an illicit picture and if she were still alive send it to the late DCG and the story would be that Konrad Mizzi is often being seen drunk in public!
If Keith Schembri is heard coughing the story would be he has an incurable illness.
If PM Joseph Muscat opens his wallet and out slips a €100 note it is because he is making money off the people and has become a millionaire with bank accounts in Panama.
Yes, this is Malta in August 2018 and if a pin drops in Delimara, within minutes the people in Dwejra, Gozo will be reading about it – indeed, all over the world.
Delimara is surrounded by copiously populated places like Marsaxlokk, Marsascala, Birzebbuga and a little further inland Zejtun, Zabbar, Gudja, Ghaxaq etc BUT, lo and behold, on this afternoon two weeks ago NOBODY heard anything and NOBODY saw anything and everything has remained hidden and mysterious.
Since yesterday I have received countless messages and emails from friends in these areas expressly affirming they heard and saw nothing. Some took it further and commented that if there was an explosion it would have emanated from Dar Centrali in Pieta!
Naturally, these opening paragraphs were followed by a sermon that workers and the whole area is in danger from the Power Station and of course this is an extension of what the PN has been propagated all along about perils, dangers and inhabitants in the area being at great risk, etc
CONCLUSION? Yes, there may have been some minor explosion and there may have been some smoke. These things happen at power stations where nuclear reactors have been known to explode such as in Chernobyl and Japan and such stations are known to have undergone some kind of damage all over the world. Yesterday a fuel truck exploded in Bologna, Italy.
Needless to say, this is a whole framed “blow-up” of a minor incident framed-up to suit a vindication. As I wrote when I started there are those who become habitual liars and end up telling so many lies they themselves begin to believe them.
Psychiatrists are urgently needed and would have a field day here.
ALBERT JEROME FENECH
