Another tu quoque stupidity from a government spokesman
Times of Malta interviews Transport Minister Joe Mizzi today about the public bus service:
When Mr Mizzi was asked how much the company was spending on the service and the losses being incurred, he said the losses were lower than Arriva’s.
What sort of response is that? I’ve had it up to here with the government’s inability to respond to a simple, straightforward question about its own activities without reference to what others did.
Stick to the ruddy point. Tu quoque arguments are major failures of logic and rationality and do not hold.
There is another reason why Joe Mizzi’s reply is a failure. It is irrelevant whether current losses are greater or fewer than Arriva’s. Arriva bore its own losses. Current losses are borne by the government of Malta, i.e. the taxpayer.
11 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Shockingly ignorant?
Shockingly NO, but ignorant YES.
It is expected of people with no calibre. Ask Edward Scicluna.
Arriva was subsidised circa €10 million a year by the government.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121206/local/Arriva-s-subsidy-is-to-rise-further-next-year.448397
L-Orrizont published that “Unscheduled Bus Service” are being paid over €35,000 per day for their rental service. Here’s the link: http://www.orizzont.com.mt/oldarticles/article122888.html
That’s over €12 million a year paid by the tax payer just for rent of buses. This confirms that his reply is a failure.
If this government cannot do better than the previous one, can we have back the previous government, please ?
This tu quoque nonsense is not acceptable. The standard reply by the journalist to the government crony giving this type of reply should be a standard: “I did not ask what the PN did, I asked with the MLP in government did.”
“Journalist”?
Joe Mizzi would win all debates “ghand tal-grocer.”
Politicians can get away with such rhetoric and red herring arguments because here at home everything becomes a catch phrase.
Arguments between the majority of voters are catchphrases versus rhetoric versus “ghax ma tarax inthom x’ghamiltu”
And so it goes on and on till it’s time to tick the ballot sheet. May the best catchphrase win.
Joe Mizzi doesn’t care if millions of taxpayers’ money are spent on his grand failures.
In 1998 he commissioned the Madonna taz-Zejt well to drill for oil which cost Malta 30 million euros, all for nothing, although it did comfort his overinflated ego of oil supremo.
The Opposition does not care either. Too busy deciding on the Ice Bucket challenge. Sssssh.
Although the logic is not correct, the perception is that it is among those that do not process logic.
Therefore, I am disappointed that Simon Busuttil has not done more so far to clean up his party and render these type of arguments futile even to the fallacious segment of the electorate.
Simon Busuttil could clean, disinfect, maybe even steam his party to kingdom come. That segment of the electorate will still continue with the same arguments.
Logic is completely alien to their genetic makeup.
To people like Joe Mizzi, government’s money is not real money. It is like Monopoly money – there to play with and lose without any consequence. It’s sad that, as a Minister, he doesn’t seem to have learnt that government money and the sources for such money are infinite. He still appears to have the attitude that it’s “easy come, easy go.”