DEVELOP THE ART OF TELLING LIES – being truthful is no longer permitted by society
The era of instant communication has plunged the world into its deepest chasm of trite in the annals of history. If somebody writes, posts or communicates something factual about you, are they advising you – or are they expressing an opinion – or are they bringing to light a fact – or is it because they hate you?
That is the dilemma into which the world has been plunged. If somebody writes about me that I have a large and crooked nose and embarrassing cauliflower ears and should have cosmetic surgery to get them fixed, are they giving me good advice or are they highlighting my physical features to ridicule me?
The dilemma has opened a trapdoor to a free-fall system. If I dislike the comment, my immediate reaction is that it is a purely hate comment – whereas in actual terms it is purely an expression of fact.
This too has given rise to a new form of parlance. Nowadays you do not go to “prison”, you go to “a correctional facility”, that is – a prison; you do not go into “a mental institution”, you go to “a mental rehabilitation centre”; you are not “bloated and fat”, you are “obesity challenged”!
In the case of politics and politicians, the situation is even graver – a veritable minefield. Criticise a politician or a political situation and you will be accused of “spreading hate”, mainly by those politicians who spew venom all the time but then feel offended when it is spewed back.
I had a classic spat with Simon Busuttil some two months ago when in a sarcastic comment I suggested the best thing he can do is take a dive off Dingli Cliffs and do everybody a favour (particularly Adrian Delia no doubt!). This sarcasm is common in English Language parlance like take a running jump, or a long walk off a short pier. There are also expressions like “get stuffed” and “piss off” and of course they are not literal – just sarcastic.
Busuttil made a meal of it and came out screaming and wailing that I wanted him dead, wanted him to commit suicide, but he is going to carry on fighting the good fight to keep Malta free, blah, blah, blah. The cry was taken up by his lackeys, including Manwel Delia and a number of others to illustrate that empty vessels really do make most noise.
Much the same Toni Zarb yesterday passed a comment that no matter the number of candles and bunches of flowers, none of these will bring Caruana Galizia back – which is a fact. That is, unless to being Edwin Vassallo’s declared “Malta’s Our Lady of Sorrows” she also becomes a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
This was taken up by the PN media as being “scandalous”, “sheer hate” and “spreading hate”. To reflect this “scandal”, the Editor of NETNews allowed comments to be made with the article one of which stated:
“This heap of rubbish (referring to Zarb) speaks like this because he is a subhuman, this rubbish heap speaks like this because he has powers backing him. Yes, you were, are and will remain a rubbish heap. You were born a rubbish heap, you are still a rubbish heap and you will die a rubbish heap”.
Sweet language indeed! So the editor of NETNews feigns shock and scandal at what Toni Zarb said but allows a comment like this without batting an eyelid!
However, the accolade must go to the visiting EU MEP Delegation who ended a two-day all-expenses paid holiday in Malta with three main points:
The Government should not allow hate comments to be made about Caruana Galizia; they seemed to overlook that DCG made her name spewing hate under the guise of “freedom of expression”;
The Government MUST solve the reason why DCG was murdered; perhaps PM Joseph Muscat may employ one or two magicians to wave magic wands and come up with answers;
The authorities seem prone to procrastinate over issues instead of taking Legal measures; this to some extent I partially agree with because a number of people should have been arrested a long time ago for various criminal offences such as treachery, fabrications and lies etc.
The bottom line is, one may no longer be truthful, honest and straight to the point. One has to be diplomatic and suave because the days of calling a spade, a spade, are over. By the way, this spade expression must not be used in Britain because black people were known as “spades” and using this expression earns hostile stares and frowns!
ALBERT JEROME FENECH
