Comments on: A lesson for Joseph Muscat, in language he can understand – thank you, Mony

By: Antoine Vella

Antoine Vella — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:06:58 +0000

David Buttigieg
“. . . uhmm are they going demonstrate in the ocean or what?”

Unfortunately Mr Farrugia, the original poster who had invited us to the Pacific manifestation, was denied the benefit of my advice about what to wear.

My foray into the fashion scene was: “Don’t forget your Hawaiian shirt and grass-skirt for the Pacific manifestation. Aloha”

Sadly, the Times moderator decided Mr Farrugia didn’t need my suggestion so it was left out. Oh well, it’s their loss.

By: Rob Mallia

Rob Mallia — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:14:49 +0000

Only one thing to REMEMBER that most probably the rich are Rich at the expense of less fortunate one. They are either speculators, Hbieb tal-Hbieb etc… Probably you are one of them.

[Daphne – Spoken like a true fossil. In the southern Mediterranean, people resent those who have more than they do (instead of admiring them and trying to emulate them, as in US culture) because they perceive them as having taken ‘their’ slice of pie. Wealth and other non-material sources of security and happiness are seen to be limited, so if the total amount available is seen to be X, and Mr Borg next door has y, then what’s available for you is X minus y. In real life, sugar, that’s not how it works. You would probably still have nothing even if there weren’t any rich people around. In fact, you would probably have less than nothing, because it’s rich people who provide sources of productive work and not the state. And no, I am neither rich, nor do I clobber poor people over the head and rob them.]

By: cikki

cikki — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:27:44 +0000

Read India Knight’s article in the Sunday Times today

By: Tri

Tri — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:24:10 +0000

I remember spending a couple of months in Ethiopia and working with both Sudanese individuals and Ethiopians. The Ethiopians quite plainly insisted on calling the Sudanese ‘black’. When I asked what they considered themselves to be, they replied ‘just not black’.

I’m sure they thought facts were facts, too.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:26:58 +0000

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5100973.ece

By: Harry Purdie

Harry Purdie — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:57:51 +0000

An excellent finish to this thread, Paula.

BTW, the last comment volunteered by an individual in my ‘straw poll’: “I can’t wait to meet the new black American ambassador to Malta”. Me too!

By: Paula FS

Paula FS — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:48:54 +0000

Does this help? (Apologies if I didn’t link this properly)

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_latimes-why_im_black.htm

[Daphne – Good piece, thanks.]

By: Sybil

Sybil — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:29:17 +0000

“Harry PurdieM Friday, 7 November 1502hrs
How about asking a black person? Those on this thread are only giving their personal opinion–no problem with that. While living in Switzerland, my very best friend was black. He had no problem whatsoever in being called black. In fact, he was very proud of his black heritage. I admit that this is a small sample, however, we now have many blacks living among us, some of whom I have met and have had very interesting conversations with. I will do a ’straw poll’ and report back”.

In my experience, the best racist jokes I ever heard about blacks are those made by blacks themselves. Which reminds me of yesterday’s TVM news coverage of that Berlusconi “tanned” joke. In hushed tones they commented on several film clips of people denouncing Berlusconi as a racist and then carried on referring to people “ta karnaggjon skur” instead of saying “suwed”.
How daft can one get?

By: Sybil

Sybil — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:21:14 +0000

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20239003,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

[i] The other is that “our preference would be to get a shelter dog,” which would point to the possiblity of a mixed breed, or, as Obama said, “[u]a mutt, like me[/u].” [/i]

Hilarious !!!

By: Sybil

Sybil — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:18:54 +0000

“Zizzu Friday, 7 November 1306hrs
I like Afro-Norwegian, or Siculo-Sino-Russian. Hispano-Inuit. Ethiopio-Finnish sounds good too.I think we’re verging on the ridiculous now.”

I sure think we are .
How about Gozi-Maltese or Malt-Gozitan for mixed-blood Maltese/Gozitan mutts?