The wisdom of The People (10)
Published:
March 3, 2009 at 3:50pm
“The only solution that migrants will not escape from safi is that the police should use pigs instead of dogs. These illrgals, because of their belief, are afraid of pigs.”
– Joe Camilleri, posted on timesofmalta.com, completely unaware that in Islam, dogs are as dirty as pigs
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Joe Camilleri is also not aware that many immigrants are in fact Christian. Moreover, just because Muslims do not eat pork, it doesn’t mean they are afraid of pigs. I think I will check this particular page of wisdom on timesofmalta.com and wind up Joe Camilleri (moderator willing, of course).
This one’s priceless :-)
Ajma jahasra … and to think that when it comes to the crunch, Joe Camilleri is entitled to vote as much as the rest of us …
Leaves you speechless!
Police asked to use pigs. Some people don’t realize how funny they are.
After watching Josie on Bondi+ yesterday I now realize that in Malta we now have il-Partit tal-Hodor (AD) and il-Partit tal-Hdura (AN).
Leonard
I had thought to use that line in my response on the Times website but I was sure the moderator would not have allowed it.
Still dumbstruck!
Charles Galea (8 hours, 7 minutes ago)
I think the Maltese government should see Planet of the Apes because there we are heading where the Maltese community will be in a minority
Leonard: they are ridiculous, not funny.
Wouldn’t it be easier to surround the camp with sausage links instead of razor wire?
Whilst most who wrote before may find this post amusing, I find it deeply disturbing. I think that to ‘attack’ a person through his religion reflects ‘hdura’.
[Daphne – Unless it’s the religion you were raised in, whereupon it becomes permissible, in the same way that it’s OK for a Maltese person to criticise all things Maltese, but the criticism takes on a different slant when it comes from somebody who is not Maltese.]
Sorry Daphne, I disagree with you on this. If I have to disagree with a person on something, I don’t have to drag his/my religion into it, unless the matter we are arguing about is religious.
Anyway I am sure that the reference to pigs was meant disparagingly.
–… but the criticism takes on a different slant when it comes from somebody who is not Maltese.–
I find criticism regarding my home country, coming from people of any other nation than mine, extremely inspiring. Sharpens, widens and possibly changes my own view. But then, as for being German I am used to being put into the centre of criticism due to Germany’s cruel history of WW2 and the Holocaust, all my life. One has to accept the challenge and will hopefully learn from history. What’s wrong with ‘mutual learning’?
I’m thinking of a favourite breakfast on the Rock. Ham and eggs. A day’s work for a chicken, a lifetime’s commitment for a pig.
And I used to think that in “Malta Cattolicissima”, after daily religion lessons in primary schools and attending id-duttrina at “il-Muzew” we would have been a nation in which l’ove thy neighbour as thyself’ would have been our guiding principle. St. Paul’s remark that “the barbarians treated us so kindly,” would not have been expressed had he anded in Malta in this more enlightened millennium. Still, as long as some people go to church and celebrate feasts, their conscience is pure and “not loving black people” is no impediment to going through the pearly gates!
Pardon my crudeness, imma trid tkun ħanżir biex taħseb affarijiet bħal dawn….
Good luck with training the pigs, Joe Camilleri. Even if he manages to get them to carry out the basic tasks of guarding refugees, I doubt he will have them oinking as loudly as dogs can bark. Guard pigs indeed. It sounds like Joe Camilleri watched the sheep-pig film “Babe” labouring under the misconception that it was a documentary.
For a publication whose contributors are traditionally known for their misplaced pomp, it is surprising that The Times is now allowing this sort of crazed, misinformed Islamophobic drivel go through as relevant commentary on its website. I don`t envy the person whose job it is to monitor the comments on The Times’ website but they need to a bit better than this.
Perhaps there has recently landed a large boatload of Jewish immigrants that this wise gentlemen is referring to.
Andrea,
Being German does not make you responsible for what Hitler did in WW2. One is what one is and not what one’s coming from. What counts in a person is his intellect and what’s inside his heart. In this world there’s no German or Maltese, black or white, but humans and non-humans.
Unfortunately, timesofmalta.com didn’t find an ‘agricultural’ response worthy of publication: I had suggested that pigs of the Tamworth breed be used. They are reddish-orange in colour (called ginger by breeders) and would help to remind the “illegals” that they are in a nordic country where at least the pigs (if not the inhabitants) are Europid and blonde.
[Daphne – So it’s all right to describe Africans as apes but not all right to say that? Interesting.]
Andrea: Where’s the ‘mutual learning’in Joe Camilleri’s comment?
@ Corinne Vella
I personally do not see that Andrea was making any reference to Joe Camilleri’s remark. I understood Andrea’s post as a reply to a moderator’s comment.
@ Andrea
I do not know how young you might be. My personal experience in post-war Germany is that there are Germans, who are most willing and responsive towards “mutual learning”, and other Germans, who are not.
I have experienced that remarks of mine, as a Maltese expatriate, with reference to issues in Malta, are sometimes also received “with a different slant” in respective circles in Malta.
Moreover, I have personally experienced that remarks of mine in Germany, as an assimilated, naturalised citizen of Germany, are subject to interpretation “with a different slant”.
Lebenserfahrung/en, Andrea, the experience/s of life!
@Lino
Your sentiment is generous. But part of what one is, IS where one is coming from. And that includes Beethoven and Goethe and a host of others. As Andrea said, hopefully we’ll learn from history. And it was some history lesson.
And what’s with this “human and non-human”? I thought we were all God’s creatures.
@lino
I am born 1966 and got a lot of “Sieg Heil’s” and similar shouts when I was travelling all over Europe, even when I was a child. Obviously I am not responsible for my ancestors’ cruelties but I was born into a certain country with its certain history and burden. Within this context you grow up and therefore you become a reflecting individual, at least. Or maybe at least some of us did. My generation still grew up with the feeling of guilt. The Germans became ‘re-educated’ by the Americans after the war. They literally got ‘democracy lessons ‘ via television and cinema. Those films were actually made up like teaching lessons for children. People of my generation had to realise the fact that our parents and grandparents were still not familiar with the concept of freedom of speech and other democratic ideas. With that background I will always speak up against racism or any other kind of oppression.
In defence of all piggies, great and small, and in response to R2D2, who seems to think that these animals are stupid: pigs are actually very intelligent; some people say that they are even more intelligent than dogs. There is a reason why pigs represent the Russian intelligentsia in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and why the dogs only represent the bullying secret police/military, who were totally submissive to those in charge. In no way is this to be construed as an agreement with what was written by Joe Camilleri, on timesofmalta.com
Leo Said,
That certain unwillingness to accept other people’s skin-colour, sex, opinions, religion, lifestyle and so on is never a national issue. As I said on another thread, that ‘unwillingness’ might be a ‘human flaw’. Stupidity is an international problem.
@ Andrea
It is extremely difficult for me to agree to/with all that you write in your last post.
[Andrea – That certain unwillingness to accept other people’s skin-colour, sex, opinions, religion, lifestyle and so on is never a national issue.]
Are you sure?
Leo Said,
What do you mean exactly? I hope very much I didn’t offend you since I am never quite sure about my English (not a native speaker).
@ Andrea
Do not worry, no offence at my end. I could not share all your views. For example, it is not my opinion that only America was responsible for a democratic process in post-war Germany. The west part of the former Bundesrepublik was mainly under French influence and the lower Rhine region plus Westphalia were under British influence. Problems with freedom of speech still exist not only in Germany but practically everywhere. However, it is quite entertaining to follow cruel anarchic satire in “Scheibenwischer”, “Neues aus der Anstalt” and other programmes. Feelings of collective guilt still leave their stamp especially in socio-political issues.
Have you perhaps seen the movie “Die Welle” (based on The Wave by Todd Strasser)?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/
Moggy
I am afraid I should have written: ‘That certain unwillingness…has nothing to do with one’s nationality, you will find that attitude in human beings everywhere, all over the planet.’ I hope that makes more sense now.
@ Andrea – a vast improvement. Bravo!
@Moggy
That kind of mistake could actually have started a war. Sigh.
@Leo Said
–‘…it is not my opinion that only America was responsible for a democratic process in post-war Germany.’–
You are right. I don’t make any claim to completeness with my example. That was only an extract of the comprehensive process of denazification and democratisation, mixed with my own family history. We had to read ‘Die Welle/The Wave’ at school – a story not to be missed for those who think that fascism was only possible in certain countries. Watching the mentioned anarchic ‘political cabaret/comedy’ programme is my personal way to survive madness of life.
Well Moggy, I never actually said that pigs were unintelligent. I was just questioning whether they would be as effective as dogs for the task of guarding refugees. If your experience in this rather unusual branch of security management bears evidence to the contrary then I will happily bow to your superior knowledge.
To discuss this matter is to give unmerited credence to a timesofmalta.com comment that went beyond the normal thinly-veiled race-baiting and slipped into the realms of surreal Islamophobia. I suspect that, on this occasion, the commenter may not have fully thought things through before posting his comment.
I would dispute your contention that George Orwell chose pigs to represent the figures in an authoritarian government. My understanding was always that he has chosen pigs precisely for their unsympathetic associations rather than their intelligence. It is sort of neither here nor there though. Animal Farm was an allegorical novel using animals to represent human characteristics in the tradition of fabulous story-telling. It was not meant to be used as a zoologoical reference book.
Anyway, I’m sorry if I offended your sentiments regarding the intelligence of pigs. I have nothing against pigs and I would happily employ one in a position advertised for a dog, provided it could demonstrate the ability to carry out the required tasks to the same level of competence. Who knows, maybe one day we will see pigs join the flying squad.