Someone else's point of view
The barbarians are at the gate, and some of them are wearing suits
This is a guest-post published on Jacques Zammit’s blog. I think it’s pretty good – and succinct.
What Joseph Did
June 12, 2009
Or why SuperOneJoseph is bad news….
a post by guest blogger Justin BB
What Joseph Did
Joseph Muscat won a huge majority. Well done to him. The choice of a number of candidates who are palatable to the middle class helped, but that was not the clincher. No, Muscat won so handily because he ticked all the boxes of discontent. One of those boxes was the immigration issue…he pandered to the far right and stoked the fires of ignorance and hate.
What Joseph Did Next
As a graduate of the school of lies and sound bites, Joseph led a campaign that lied about lots. They lied about government’s healthcare plans. They twisted Vince Farrugia’s declared confidence in PN candidates and a PN government. I was interviewed by Super 1 back in the day when Joseph worked there – what made it to the screens and TV spots had very little to do with what I actually said. Can I trust Joseph to be honest behind his smile? Not a jot.
What Joseph Almost Did
The Labour-loving crowd and the lovers of all things new and kind of shiny think that JM apologised for Labour’s past. Almost, but not quite. Joseph actually said something to the effect of ‘we’re sorry, but PN should be sorry too/sorry for provoking us’. It’s redolent of a wife-beater’s apology – ‘sorry, but she provoked me’. He did the same thing again after Labour supporters beat up elderly PN zealots in Zejtun. By putting ‘provocation’ (whatever that might be) and violence on the same level, you are condoning violence because petty provocations will be there forever.
What Joseph Did Not Do
Labour is great at being an Opposition party. Calling for greater civil rights without making it your party platform is the easiest thing in the world to do – get all the pro-divorce and pro-gay rights people on board without promising anything. Actually to make sure everyone is happy, wink the other way too – tell the anti-divorce lot that they will be free to vote against divorce in a referendum, or in Parliament as the case may be. Wink at everyone and they’ll all vote for you until you become PM.
What Joseph Will Never Do
Joseph has four years to prepare to be Prime Minister. He will spend those four years lying and making contradictory promises and pandering to anyone and everyone. And he needn’t do that. To win all he needs to do is prepare a vision for government and make it his party’s electoral platform. By that I mean that he should ditch his private members’ bill on divorce and show some backbone, leadership and organisational skills – make it your party’s platform. But Joseph will not prepare for Government. Because Joseph is spineless and wants everyone to like him.
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Joseph Muscat is preparing his own undoing – I am not sure if it’s out of stupidity or martyrdom but he is doing a great job.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090616/local/malta-tops-eu-for-job-creation
I think this was another lie by Joseph Muscat. Came out two weeks too late. It is true that the Prime Minister looks tired but his work is bearing its fruit. Hope he keeps the rhythm.
Of course he is tired. Only people who work hard feel tired.
Top of the morning Daphne
… there are many more nice and succinct points where that came from.
Incidentally J’accuse and its content is covered by a Creative Commons Licence – which means you are more than welcome to copy and paste (zokk, fergha and all) so long as the attribution is clear – and that includes the web address of the page from which you performed the paste job.
That is the legal part. Then there is the part about netiquette, which requires that you Link, Link, and Link even in the(hypothetical) eventuality that you criticise a fellow blogger’s writings.
Many in Malta still have no idea about the difference between a blog, a blogger and a post. How about Malta’s senior columnist setting an example? Slowly, slowly…
Cheers.
Jacques
The link in question:
http://www.jacquesrenezammit.com/jaccuse/2009/06/12/what-joseph-did/
[Daphne – Instead of bitching, Jacques, how about a simple thank-you for bringing your blog to a much, much wider audience than it would otherwise have had? Stuff netiquette. Good manners remain the same off line and on.]
Jacques, surely you meant Malta’s most cynical columnist?
Edward, what IS your problem? The fresh air doesn’t seem to be doing you any good. Maybe another move – to Greenland this time – will make you feel a little more at home.
Daphne, next time provide a link to the source. Jacques, its a link not the end of the world.
Jacques is right. A link is always required. That’s standard stuff.
[Daphne – Put me straight: is there an international organisation of Blog Police? A Girl Guides and Scouts organisation of rule-makers? Count me out. The Maltese clique mentality on the net – whatever next.]
It’s simpler than that, Daphne: you just need to add a link. It is not about the “Maltese clique mentality”. It’s about always linking to your sources. Try and copy and paste whole articles from Reuters – if you do that, not even a link would suffice as they only allow the first paragraph followed by a ‘read the rest of the article’ link (actually, officially they allow nothing). I’m surprised you are not aware of what Jacques described as ‘netiquette’. At times, copyright laws apply and not just netiquette.
[Daphne – Reuters is a commercial entity, governed by commercial rules. This is not a commercial entity. Feel free to copy and paste whatever bits of it you please, with or without links. I am more than aware of ‘netiquette’. Whether I could give a damn is another matter altogether. If Jacques isn’t happy with the free publicity as I choose to present it, then I will simply not present it at all. But I will not be dictated to.]
Actually, it is standard behaviour on many blogs, Daphne. And it’s nothing to do with Maltese clique behaviour.
http://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/11/25/blog-etiquette-the-rules-are-quite-simple/
[Daphne – When I want lessons in how to run a successful blog, I’ll ask for them. As for this link, you cannot be serious.]
Ah! Eternal September.
The saying ‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth’ comes to mind…
Here’s one for ‘netiquette” or whatever:
Q. What do you call a man from Zejtun wearing a suit?
A. The accused.
Adapted from scouse jokes http://forum.kusadasi.biz/thread5163.html
Bad taste, Leonard… how about some of us running corporations abroad and making more money than you can possibly dream of?
Good. No need to borrow the suit.
Good for you Daphne.
Jacques Rene Zammit is a pain, and a boring one at that. He is of the school that uses twenty words where one will do.
It’s called being a pedant.
I’m actually surprised at the relative brevity of this particular piece. Makes a difference from the 2.5 tumoli of solid newsprint Jacques writes weekly for The Independent.
[Daphne – It’s brief because somebody else wrote it as a guest post for his blog.]
Goodness forbid someone should try to help make your blog a better experience for its readers. Then again, your readers do tend to be suckers for punishment.
[Daphne – If it were such a bad experience for readers it wouldn’t be getting an average of 10,000 visits a day, and 30,000 a day over the last week or so.]
Chapeau!
Hilarious!
A blog as a sadomasochistic experience.
I must confess I love to be whipped up by your writing, Daphne!
Daphne, Samuel didn’t say that your blog is a bad experience. He only mentioned the fact that someone is trying to make it a better experience. I’m sure you know the difference, but somehow you twisted his words to make it sound like he said that your blog is a bad experience. Very Super Oneish I must say.
[Daphne – Sigh. How about if we discuss the piece rather than the link? My God.]
Which piece? Sant’s?
Attenta … Jerry Springer and Xarabank are very very popular.
[Daphne – Yes. So is the Labour Party, apparently.]
A comment on the use of the “direzzjoni success” logo in the pic up here. It seems to say that “success” is somewhere else, away from the speaker. The double bold red arrows emphasize this further.
Is Jacques Rene Zammit Irish? Correct me if I am wrong but the expression ‘top of the morning to you’ is Irish. Not that this is of any relevance to the subject but just a passing thought.
It is very probable that Jacques might have an Irish female partner. After all, Luxembourg is nowadays cosmopolitan. Could also be that Jacques visits an Irish pub in his free hours.
Ok guys, there is no link but a clear reference to the source of this contribution. So, what’s your point exactly?
[Daphne – They live in a sort of Wayne’s World of blogging, proud to be bloggers and ganging up on people they perceive to be False Bloggers. So tiresome.]
Do you never admit you’re wrong, Daphne?
[Daphne – Yes, but only when I am.]
Who is allowed to tell you when you are wrong?
[Daphne – I usually find out for myself. I’m not 10 years old and at school anymore.]
Imitation is the best form of flattery…….
I think Daphne’s blog has been running much longer than Jacques’s – no offence.
[Daphne – No actually, Jacques has been running for much, much longer. Mine’s only been going for 16 months.]
@ Daphne
But many of us didn’t know of its existence until today, didn’t we?
(I wanted to put a wink here but I know you loathe them!)
Well, since Jacques has been at it much longer than you, perhaps you can take a tip or two from him about netiquette. Don’t know, just a thought.
[Daphne – “Jacques has been at it much longer than you…”. Sorry, but in the world in which I work, it’s results that count. Jacques is a civil servant, I’m not. Hence our outlook is different. He is process driven; I am results driven. Who cares how a blog is produced or how long it’s been up and running? What counts is whether people want to read it, because that’s what it’s there for. It’s not an exercise in – well, I won’t use the word, because there might be children present.]
You’re off point. I was simply suggesting that perhaps on the subject of proper behaviour within the blogging community, Jacques’ complaint was that you didn’t provide a link to his blog was not proper, and is not the done thing. That’s all. It’s really very simple. I never went into the merits of your blog or his. I hate to go on like this but your obstinacy is misplaced here. A simple “oh ok, i’m sorry, here’s the link” would not have harmed your reputation one bit.
[Daphne – Listen up, Alex. 1. I am not part of the ‘blogging community’ and I have no patience for gangs, cliques or associations of like-minded individuals, even if they are virtual and the only thing they have in common is that they ‘blog’. 2. There is no link not because I made a mistake but because I made a choice. So obviously, that choice still holds and hence I am not going to apologise and backtrack just because a few members of the ‘blogging community’ decided this is appropriate. I do not do and say things just to get pests with nothing better to do off my back. I am more likely to engage them in battle, even if it is only over a link. Surely you should have picked that up by now.]
Quote: “I am more likely to engage them in battle, even if it is only over a link”.
Sometimes, it is much wiser not to seek particular battles.
Please allow me two other quotes (without corresponding links):
Leo Buscaglia:
“The hardest battle you’re ever going to fight is the battle to be just you.”
Friedrich Nietzsche:
“Battle not with monsters lest you become one.”
Back to the subject of this post…
It’s quite cyncial that merely 13 years after Sant won the 1996 election, the MLP’s tactics are being recycled and they still work wonders.
However I still feel disgusted that Muscat chased and obtained the racist vote. He politicised something that should have never been politicised. He is probably more dangerous than Alfred Sant. The shallowness of his actions, and the cynical reaction, after the EP election, to the death of the Sudanese guy, is a cause for alarm. Not even Jean le Pen is that shallow in France. A decent politician should never go down that level. We got a hint of his unethical and shallow traits with the Sant’Antnin recycling plant, and unfortunately most people ignored the facts. After all he was just a ‘kid’.
Looks like Mario Vella, Evarist Bartolo and Alfred Sant have created a creepy personality that reflects the worst of all three.
You’re not at school anymore, but you can still commit mistakes and there’s nothing wrong in people drawing your attention.
[Daphne – It wasn’t a mistake, but a deliberate choice. Don’t be such a sheep.]
Frank:
Let me draw your attention to one:
mistakes are made, *errors* are committed.
Maybe all this quibbling about links is displacement activity to avoid the unpleasant truth that, yet again, there’s nothing behind the image.
Here’s another example to add to those listed in the blog post.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090617/opinion/thats-not-what-he-meant
Jacques René Zammit is a wanker. At least he was a wanker five years ago when I knew him. If you’re against him, I’m on your side. Screw him, and his smug friends and their huge egos. Screw them all.
Daphne, I cannot be bothered about how you should cite other blogs or otherwise, but I can’t see the good that can come of letting this sort of comment through – ad hominem attacks on Jacques and his friends (whose number includes myself and several of my own friends) cannot be justified by any stretch of the meaning of ‘public interest’. Now I’m sure that our lives will go on quite happily, but is it necessary to allow your site to be littered with this sort of thing? I can understand that you might reason that Mr Baxxter here is simply exposing himself to ridicule, but, even if that were relevant, it seems that he hides behind a pseudonym so that isn’t quite true.
[Daphne – In your case, I would agree with you. In Jacques’ case, I’m afraid not. Also, if he can dish it out, he should be able to take it. You, however, have never been rude to anyone, at least as far as I can make out.]
u ejja Daphne dejjem ragun ikollha ta.
F’gieh kemm hemm.
Rizultati rizultati rizultati!!!! Mela il PL veru ghamel xi hag tajba biex kiseb ir-rizultati jew vici versa il-Gvern ghamel xi haga hazina biex tilef. Jew ma tilef hadd. Jien nahseb ma rebah hadd. Nahseb li tlift jien fil-verita….nahseb…nahseb….nahseb li ser ikun hemm text skur taht l-entry tieghi bil-one liner ta Galizia. Nittawwal u nittama.
Apparti n-nejk imma. Nammira l-kuragg tieghek. Kieku ma tkunx int ma nafx kif jirnexxielhom jiffurmaw opinjoni il-moghoz li jirghu fuq dil-gzira. Nahseb l-arja tal-Bidnija taghmel tajjeb jien.
kont qed inkun sarkastiku ovvjament
@ Leonard
Not only bad taste, you’re even cheap. Looks like you’re into borrowing suits. I’ll let you have one of my worse ones, with my complements.
@ Adrian Borg: do you really think that the speed cameras and warden system are fair in Malta? Do you think it’s fair to get booked when you never committed a traffic infringement? Is it fair that in a local tribunal you are considered guilty unless you prove your innocence?
In my country should employers employ unqualified non-Europeans and pay them peanuts while qualified Maltese nationals remain jobless?
At long last the government has started to move about some of these hot issues. Do we make major projects to employ foreigners like they are trying to do at the Freeport?
How come Fr Abela, the Church’s Chief Censor was censored abruptly and dismissed immediately after his statement in court whilst Fr.Mark Montebello and Fr.Colin Apap can say what they like where they like about any tenet of the Catholic faith and nobody even replies to their wayward teaching?
[Daphne – They don’t sit on any church commissions, and so can’t be sacked from any.]