Ta' wara l-muntanji
www.timesofmalta.com reports that the police have been asked to hunt down the people who harassed a disabled woman (the report called her a ‘physically disabled female person’) and made her weep with distress, then filmed the show and posted it on YouTube. This comment was posted beneath the story. Please picture this woman’s ordeal, as she boards bus after bus packed with civilised Maltese people who have values they fear might be tainted by Africans, only to be put through the sort of ordeal we associate with pre-Enlightenment days. I can’t believe that ‘taunting the village idiot’ is still a popular pursuit in this country. In a comment beneath an earlier story on the subject, somebody who uses the bus and frequently encounters this kind of scene said that the only time somebody stood up for her (and he wasn’t embarrassed to point out that it was never him), that person was an English tourist who told off the taunters by saying they should be ashamed of themselves and their country.
J Grima (2 hours, 27 minutes ago)
Anyone who uses public transport cannot but know what this poor woman has to go through, every single day.Almost all drivers pick on her, with the passengers’ blessing. If a passenger picks on her, this is done with the driver and the fellow passengers’ blessing.The culprit who filmed the shameful video clips took it too far by filming her. Had he picked on her without filming the act no one would have known. And the scary part of the story is that people actually DO pick on her without filming the act. What the National Commission Persons with Disability needs to do is HELP this poor woman. GIve her the help she needs! If she is being spoken for by the National Commision Persons with Disability, she clearly IS a Person with Disability, and in 2008 this shouldn’t be something which one cannot be helped with. She could ask for help, and if she doesn’t, someone can do it for her.
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All this proves that the Maltese have remained an ignorant and backward lot with not much hope of improving.
I think the disabled woman in question is one known as Cetta or Censina, I can’t remember. She is disabled in that one of her arms is amputated above the elbow. I think she may also suffer from some sort of mental deficiency. I only recently saw the videos, of her being heavily picked on, on YouTube, and was disgusted by the bunch of moronic youngsters picking on this poor woman. I believe that the videos may have been removed by the c***s who put them there. What’s more, I had heard that bus drivers also routinely pick on this person.
That’s Catholic Malta for you. We’re anti-divorce and pro-foetus, but, hey, once you’re no longer a foetus and are in the outside world…..
Morbid curiosuty got the better of me and I tried to look for the clip but couldn’t find anything… maybe I typed the wrong keywords – anyway, have better things to do. However, I did come across a clip featuring a teen with Down’s having the piss taken out of him… oh, by Maltese too. The negative influence of those Marsa migrants must be stonger than anticipated, we were never like this before ;)
Eccuse me Gerald, but don’t be so quick to put Malta down as a whole. These things happen everywhere, not just here. These are a few dumbasses who have just discovered the wonders of Youtube probably. It doesn’t mean we’re all like that. An Austrian man made children with his daughter, a German caused the death of 6 million jews and A powerful American chose to invade Iraq and has left a hell of a mess.
This stupid “Malta-is-the-worst-place-to-live” mentality adopted by the English speaking locals has to stop. Its not cool, elitist or posh or whatever. Its snobbish, ignorant and asinine. As one of the smallest nations in the world we have a lot to be proud of. I can imagine people like you rubbing their hands in delight when you hear of such stories- Hey, another chance to throw a swipe at my country!
Give us a break please
[Daphne – Oh for god’s sake: we all know there are sink-pits of bad behaviour everywhere in the world. The difference is that in Malta it permeates right through, and because the island is microscopic, it’s in your face all the time and you can’t get away from it. Where in the (civilised) world are disabled people taunted on buses for the amusement of the masses? True, you’re more likely to get stabbed, shot or pickpocketed on a Greyhound bus or a British train, but that’s one person working alone, without the approval of the rest of the people on the bus/train, as in this case.]
I really cannot understand why so many people take every opportunity possible to have a pop at Malta and the Maltese? The morons who picked on these disabled people are clearly idiots, but there are idiots in every country. The only thing that I have in common with them is that they were born on the same island that I was. It’s so easy and lazy to blame everything on Malta, the size of Malta and the island mentality. We should be looking for a solution and finding a way of how to help people who feel bullied, victims of racism etc etc.
The way police are trained for example does not prepare them for our society with it’s modern day realities.
[Daphne – You appear to miss the essential point that this woman is bullied every time she gets on the bus, by the driver among others, with the collusion of those present, who signal their amusement. And you think that doesn’t signify something deficient in our ‘culture’?
What actually happened is that the videos got reported to the police, after an ex-pat living in Ireland saw them, and in disgust, started a topic about them on a Maltese forum. Another member took the interest to report the case both to the police, and to YouTube itself.
The woman actually used to work with the government as I remember her when I was young on the bus. The story goes that after she had her hand amputated in a traffic accident, she went a bit mad. Certainly no excuse to pick on her – what a load of sickos.
Yes it’s Censina and she’s the laughing stock of the village – akin to something you’d witness in Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, set in 15th century France. Rather than whipped and punished, Censina is laughed at and ‘ordered’ not to swear pretending not to realise that Censina swears because she suffers from a condition in which she unknowingly swears loudly. Think of it as a loud sub-conscious.
I was actually surprised that this video made such a loud fuss! Everyone knows her and everyone has seen someone picking on her.
M Bormann – no that’s not true. Once you are out in the outside world you could either be venerated and highly regarded (recall the framed photo of Mintoff with a couple of red candles) or ridiculed, insulted, hurt, kicked or worse, hidden because, OMFG she’s an amputee!
Catholic Malta, my foot.
[Daphne – Oh, I know who she is, then. She lost her arm in an accident involving a bus, and she has Tourette’s Syndrome – and the ignorant people you mention don’t know what that is because (1) they never read anything that isn’t on the back of a lottery ticket, and (2) there’s nothing about it on Super One, Net, or TVM. You know, outside what Gerald likes to call the tal-pepe places – and he was born in one – Maltese village society is really, really backward, like those frightening mountain villages in Sicily or the kind of thing you find down a dirt track in the region of Naples.]
@all: Yes it’s her. She hails from Zejtun if I am not mistaken.
There is of course a lot that istotally wrong with that, it’s disgusting.
I still cannot see how having a go at these so called people is going to improve things though.
In London for example, happy slapping is all the rage, you might have read about that young lady suffering from cancer who had her wig stolen from her, the whole thing was filmed and posted on the net.I saw young teens throwing fireworks at each other on the bus trip home, and this young man was stabbed on the bus, just cause he complained when someone threw a blinking chip at him.The drivers sit in an enclosed box. I am not saying that we shouldn’t do anything about this cause it happens in other places, that’s not my point.
There are idiots everywhere, we should be talking about the problem, and what we can do about it.I really pity people who think that they are too special for this island and still choose to live here. It must be so frustrating. I lived in the north of Italy for 4 years, London for 6 and Germany for one year, and I have met stupid silly selfish people in all of those places, just like I met stupid people here. It’s way too easy to blame an issue like this on the island mentality, if we continue doing that, we will never get anywhere. Is there anyway that a person like this can get justice? The biggest scandel here is that in 2008, black people can’t get into most bars in Paceville, that bullied people can’t get help, not these idiots, there will always be idiots, people who should know better are doing nothing about it.
[Daphne – Do you think the fact that black people can’t get into bars is unrelated to that other fact that people with Tourette’s are taunted on buses? Or that Maltese women are spoken of as if they need protection from African rapists? They’re all linked.]
The national commission for people with special needs, or whatever it is actually called should make a formal and public complaint to the authorities so that the tormentors of this poor lady will be taken to court and made an example of. Dr Gonzi should insist on it seeing that he is the former chairman of this commission.
There are idiots everywhere.There are a lot of bars in the UK where black people don’t feel welcome, or gays or other minorities for that matter. The main difference is that they have law on their side. If they feel that they do not get justice, they can report the booby and get justice that way. Try reporting a policeman in Malta. I see your point though about the size of Malta. In big cities one can choose to stick to his own if he really wants to. That is nearly impossible here.
We seem to be creating a really bad situation here. On one hand we are treating everybody who comes over from Africa like untermenchen and on the other both political parties seem to be creating this climate of fear that is scaring the crap out of people.There is a total lack of planning. Will they get a pension? How? What will happen when they cannot carry rubble anymore? They might be submissive now, history shows that the first generation always is, but their children won’t be.
I am sure that you know that it’s not only the working class in Malta that feels scared, the amount of fascist talk one hears around the Sliema cafes is out of this world.
We can’t even blame this one on Mintoff, apart from the fact that his bokkla is kind of blingy.The police force needs to be reformed, it has come a long way of course,and it can be done. After reading yesterday’s Maltatoday, seems a lot of them in parliament can’t run a bath, let alone a country.
The problem is not that we have such scum in Malta, like those excuse for a human being who stalked and filmed this person. The problem is that a lot of people not only choose to look the other way and let such things happen (which is bad enough), but actually giggle as if its something funny.
Oh but yes, the immigrants will make us “lose our values”. What values?
Compulsive swearing is not necessarily symptomatic of GTS (or Tourette’s Syndrome). You don’t even have to suffer of “coprolalia” (= compulsive swearing) to be diagnosed with Tourette’s.
The woman in question is probably suffering long term PTSD or something …
Actually it probably is not Tourette’s Syndrome. Someone who suffers tourette’s syndrome is conscious of the problem, and might swear when is perfectly and completely calm
Censina probably suffers from a combination of conditions which affect her well being, cleanliness, social skills etc.
But may I hazardly add something to what you said about Immigrants – Immigrants are promptly helped when they reach our shores. I won’t go into the political matter. What concerns me is the fact that there are a number of entities who do their job and do make sure that the immigrants are helped. The Association with a long name which supposedly helps People with Disabilities limited themselves to make sure that the culprit who filmed the obscenity is punished.
They don’t seem to realise that it is just the surface of the problem. Scraping the tip of the iceberg. They should make sure that Censina is safe, is undergoing any therapy available and helping her returning to mental health which she once enjoyed. She lost her sanity when she lost her hand. Why wasn’t she given psychiatric help? I think that she did go to hospital when the horrific accident happened. I think they just waited for the flesh wound to heal and kicked her out of hospital.
Again. Catholic Malta my foot!
And I make a lot of grammatical mistakes when I’m angry :/
Zizzu: What difference does that make? And what’s the excuse of her tormentors?
Stanley’s got a point that the knee-jerk “What a shit place Malta is” reaction to several problems can be counter-productive. Fools – often violent – exist everywhere. On the other hand, I don’t know of many places in Europe where the other passengers on that bus would let these tossers get away with their sad game. I think that that’s the crucial point here.
[Daphne – Agreed.]
Some people are afraid to speak up against bullies.
My disability is that I am hard of hearing. I do not hear people who speak in a low voice. When I ask them to repeat, I am often considered dumb. It hurts especially when they say ‘Mela truxa?’ as if they mean ‘Are you dumb or something?’
We often speak of people with a disability’s rights and you Daphne wrote ‘I can’t believe that ‘taunting the village idiot’ is still a popular pursuit in this country.’ but alas these things happens all the time to people with different types of disability.
Somehow suiting article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/research/07fair.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin
Even though I in general would object to people taking the law into their own hands, a certain degree of civil courage is needed, especially in cases like these.
As bad as the “Mela truxa?” expression, though normally said under different circumstances (usually on being left out or when given less of something than the rest in a particular group) is “Mela jien iswed?” Now that is another expression that really gets at me, more so when said by people who consider themselves to be quite holy.