Staying home is just another opinion
We're queuing to vote for Manwel Cuschieri's brother
We are told that 44 per cent of electors will stay away from the polling-booth when the time comes to choose Malta’s five members of the European Parliament. It won’t happen. The Eurobarometer survey which gave us this figure took place in February and the elections are in June.
Experience has shown that as polling-day draws nearer, more and more people change their mind and decide to vote after swearing that they will not. I rather suspect that turnout will hover around 82 per cent, though of course, I could be wildly off the mark.
A lot of it hinges on what those people will do who voted for Arnold Cassola last time round. They’re not going to vote for him again. Cassola took the vote of the chattering classes and then some. But the chattering classes have now moved on. They are tempted to vote Labour, but for the infra dig deputy leaders and a leader who suddenly seems quite infra dig, too, with his silver-clad wife and his protocol slip-ups.
I think they will compromise by choosing the non-infra dig Labour candidates, something that Labour has understood, which is why the party is fielding a fair selection alongside its traditionally cringe-making Johnnies.
Most of us won’t be able to resist the pull of the polling-booth, when the days dawns. One of the defining characteristics of Maltese culture is that everyone insists on having his or her say. Whatever the forum, from a school PTA to a band-club committee to a board of directors or a local council meeting, everyone wants to stick in his two cents’ worth, even if it is actually worth less than those two cents.
Have you ever been to a conference, seminar or breakfast meeting at which, after the guest speaker has spoken, questions are taken from the audience? There rarely is a question. There are only interminable monologues. The men who succeed in getting hold of the microphone – for they are invariably men – insist on holding the audience hostage while they tell us what they think.
Their right to do so appears to be implicit: the microphone is never removed from their grasp with a gentle reminder that the speaker has called for questions and not for opinions.
The ability to comment beneath stories on online newspapers has drawn out the worst of this aspect of the national character. People feel the urge to comment about anything and everything. A report about a young man’s accidental death apparently gives them the compulsion to post inane remarks like ‘the good die young’ and ‘RIP’ and ‘our condolences to his family’ or ‘we are praying for you.’
Some people are even compelled to enter into the merits of how and why the death happened, going into tastelessly detailed speculation about somebody who hasn’t been jolted from private citizen to public figure purely on the basis of a factual report of his death.
A story about a call by the Emigrants Commission for volunteers to babysit the children of refugees who are out at work all day turned into a heckling circus, with people demanding to know why refugees are getting a free babysitting service while Maltese parents have to shell out. I wondered what part of the words ‘Emigrants Commission’ and ‘volunteers’ they didn’t understand.
A Maltese person will give you his or her opinion even when you don’t want it and haven’t asked for it, and will continue to give it to you even if you make it quite plain that you are bored and irritated at the presumption. So a Maltese person, armed with a vote, is going to be doubly determined to use it – for what is a vote but the expression of an opinion?
Maltese electors have found elaborate ways of expanding the usefulness of the vote as a means of making their opinion known. We don’t use our vote merely to choose first a political party and then a candidate. No, we have evolved the vote into a sophisticated means of expressing one of the most primitive emotions of all: I’ll damn well show them what I think of them. This is my opinion and I’m going to make them sit up and take notice of it.
When the Eurobarometer pollsters quizzed that representative sample of Maltese electors and got the reply that no, they wouldn’t be voting, that was another example of the Maltese using their vote to communicate a message. “I won’t be voting and you can ruddy well tell them so.”
But when the big day arrives, most of them are unable to resist the temptation to give their opinion, especially not when somebody is actually asking for it. They will only stay away from that polling-booth if they see it as expressing an opinion – I am protesting – and not out of indifference, as happens elsewhere.
The big thing about the Maltese is that we are unable to stick to minding our own business. We have to butt in and tell everyone what we think. People like me, who do it for a living, don’t count. It’s work.
The ones who count in this analysis are the tens of thousands who give it away for free, on buses, at street corners, in the check-out queue, on radio phone-ins, on the internet, and everywhere you care to look.
In Gozo, you won’t find a single person who’ll tell you what he thinks. In Malta, you’ll be hard put to find one who won’t begin ramming his opinion down your throat even if you don’t ask for it.
There is no way on earth that almost half of Maltese electors are going to stay home on polling day, unless they think it’s a very good way of expressing their opinion.
Getting away with it
Ray Vella, the Foresta 2000 ranger, has been attacked again. Two years ago, he was shot in the face. Last year, his property was set on fire. This time, he got a sprinkling of lead shot on the head as he got out of his car after dark near the Mellieha tower.
All sorts of people and organisations have gone public with their condemnation of the attack. I’ve always wondered about this. Something bad is done to somebody in the public eye, and everyone else who is in the public eye feels obliged to ‘condemn’ it. “We’d better rush out a statement to the media condemning the attack, or people might assume we’re condoning it instead.”
What sort of reasoning is that? It’s like the Maltese compulsion to be seen at funerals, even of people who we hardly knew or liked.
But that’s not the point. The point is that all these people and organisations have called for something to be done and for the perpetrators to be hunted down and apprehended.
This is fanciful thinking. It is obvious they are going to get away with it and that’s why they keep doing it. There is no way on earth that those who do this sort of thing can be identified and tracked down, and even if by some amazing coincidence they are, there is never going to be enough evidence to get the case to court, still less to achieve a conviction.
Somebody, invisible on a dark night, shot at somebody else. Were there witnesses? No. Is there circumstantial evidence? No. There have been hundreds of cases of vindictive arson in Malta over the last few years, for example, but no prosecutions, still less convictions.
In many cases, the victims and the police would have their suspicions, sometimes to the degree of certainty, but that’s not enough. What you need is evidence. And with an attack of this nature, evidence is impossible to come by, which is why the worst elements in our society get away with it, time and time again.
This article is published in The Malta Independent today.
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From Balzan to Sicily…
…from the Isles of Scilly?…
…or how to “vote” not to vote…by somebody’s Saviour (definitely not mine)…Balzan
“The one-minute resto crit
Catania Restaurants
(For all those who wish to join me in Sicily when everyone else will be voting for candidates who wish to jump on the Brussels bandwagon for the fat salary).
Al Gabbiano
The name refers to seagulls, but none of the dishes served here are based on winged creatures. Instead, fresh seafood and fish is the norm in this restaurant located in the very centre of Old Catania. €30 per person. Open for dinner. Closed in August. Via Giordano Bruno 128
Metro
Cuisine served here is best described as traditional with an original touch, something creative to complement the place’s elegant decor. €40 for lunch or dinner. Major credit cards are accepted. Via Crociferi 76”
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/04/12/sbalzan.html
…and addresing Dr Alan Deidun
“…Come on Alan, do what everyone in his right senses should be doing. Abdicate from politics and on election day join me on my trip to Sicily… where I promise a plate of fresh pasta and vongole and drink for all those who have a mind of their own.”
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/04/08/sbalzan.html
I think that having Malta as one big district rather than split into 13 will have an impact on turnout. Notwithstanding the campaigning, some voters will be a bit lost. It’s unlike voting for your party leader or outgoing minister, your family doctor or favourite fishmonger. In my one and only stint as assistant electoral commissioner, the voters who asked for assistance were all focused on their first preference and really couldn’t be bothered what the other candidates on their party’s list received (except two or three who wanted to be absolutely sure that the last preference went to so-and-so).
And the Maltese do have a penchant for showering you with unsolicited opinions. While fishing from easily-accessible places, I recall being bombarded with opinions on the position of the float, size of hooks, strength of line, type of bait … FFS, I’m here for some peace and quiet not to hear the opinions of some Izaak Walton wannabe. In Gozo you’re observed.
The problem is not that the Maltese have views and want to share them, but that the opinions are so rarely thought through. It is no secret that this is a product of the country’s primitive approach to education, which endows no proper value to critical and independent thought.
I have not frequented coffee mornings with any particular dedication, so I have no idea what happens in them. I vividly recall, however, how one enterprising English teacher (she was in fact half-English, as well as being a teacher of English literature) in my secondary school in Malta attempted hopefully to hold a series of debates in my class. You can probably imagine how dismally it went.
What people express in those comments pages of The Times are not opinions, but rote utterances, as you correctly point out. Writing the words ‘we are praying for you’ is no more indicative of sentient intellectual process than the reflex reaction of pulling away your hand from a hotplate.
On the contrary, I would suggest that many people’s preparedness to vote mindlessly in fact demonstrates a complete lack of opinion. Casting a vote for many people in Malta is not an act of participative engagement, but a ritual observation, not dissimilar to going to church.
Most opinions I hear are carbon copies of what people heard from party sources. I do hear some original idea or opinion from time to time but these make up only a small portion of what I hear. When you ask them, why do you subscribe to that opinion, they either invent some weak excuse or tell you “ghax hekk hux!”
“I have not frequented coffee mornings with any particular dedication, so I have no idea what happens in them.”
You wouldn’t want to know.
“vividly recall, however, how one enterprising English teacher (she was in fact half-English, as well as being a teacher of English literature) in my secondary school in Malta attempted hopefully to hold a series of debates in my class. You can probably imagine how dismally it went.”
I remember being told by a teacher in secondary school that students are not here to discuss, but to accept academic instruction. The only times we had some sort of “debate” was during religion or religious meetings and still it was very limited. Even during PSD lessons, we were always being lectured and shown videos, but rarely allowed to argue or discuss. I think that’s why most people today are incapable of analyzing things, discussing and making good decisions. They’ve always been told what to do and how: spoonfeeding.
Or try out il-Delfino at Sferacavallo limits of Palermo. All the fish you can eat for a mere €25, including wine!!!
Easily the best fish restaurant on earth!
Yes staying home is just another opinion. This one will not stay at home:
Comments from The Times today.
Damien Attard (9 minutes ago)
The best leader ever. make difference in his talkings in Europe. good on you Joseph
@Daphne
“Whatever the forum, from a school PTA to a band-club committee to a board of directors or a local council meeting, everyone wants to stick in his two cents’ worth, even if it is actually worth less than those two cents.”
I don’t agree. I think everyone should be allowed to say what he or she thinks, even if it is not up to your expectations. Maybe even that 0.0000001 of a cent is worth something.
“People feel the urge to comment about anything and everything. A report about a young man’s accidental death apparently gives them the compulsion to post inane remarks like ‘the good die young’ and ‘RIP’ and ‘our condolences to his family’ or ‘we are praying for you.’”
Why not? It’s a gesture of solidarity.
“Some people are even compelled to enter into the merits of how and why the death happened, going into tastelessly detailed speculation about somebody who hasn’t been jolted from private citizen to public figure purely on the basis of a factual report of his death.”
And why not? The public deserves to know everything. That’s the purpose of the MASS media.
“They will only stay away from that polling-booth if they see it as expressing an opinion – I am protesting – and not out of indifference, as happens elsewhere.”
That’s the whole point of not going to vote. To show the parties that you couldn’t care less about what they do. It’s still a sort of opinion. Believe me that sort of opinion is steadily increasing, espescially in the younger generations.
“The big thing about the Maltese is that we are unable to stick to minding our own business. We have to butt in and tell everyone what we think.”
I think this has to do with the centuries of repression that the Maltese have endured. Now all that steam has to be let out.
“In Gozo, you won’t find a single person who’ll tell you what he thinks.”
Hehehe. In Gozo, people act and keep silent. “Ma smajna xejn, u ma rajna xejn.”
“There is no way on earth that almost half of Maltese electors are going to stay home on polling day, unless they think it’s a very good way of expressing their opinion.”
It IS a very good way of expressing your opinion. Gives a clear message to both parties, if a good portion of the electorate stays at home.
Why are you always nitpicking on labour daphne ? forget J.cuschieri, are the other ones so bad too ? In my opinion this time round labour has a much stronger team then the PN, come on admit it. If you leave out Simon Busuttil the other PN candidates leave much to be desired.
[Daphne – Please itemise Labour’s strong team.]
Edward Scicluna, Marlene Mizzi, Louis grech, Kyrill Micallef Stafrace…..ain’t that enough?
[Daphne – Glenn Bedingfield, Joseph Cuschieri, John Attard Montalto, Sharon Ellul Bonici…..]
eric. I don’t care if Labour has a strong team. All I know is that I will not vote for people who were never in favour of us joining the European Union. People like Marlene Mizzi for example. Where was she during the tough times when we had to literally fight for every single vote to get us into Europe? Taking care of her business and lying low? Is she all for Europe now?
The PN do not just have Simon Busuttil. I will tell you whom the PN have. They have candidates whom you can trust and most important of all, getting elected as MEP is not the be-all of their lives. They are professionals for whom life will go on if they do not get elected. Those are the kind of people whom I consider to be ‘strong’.
Here’s another one of these opinion makers, i love this:
Charles J. Buttigieg (3 hours, 18 minutes ago)
Burden sharing Italian style.
Italy and Malta should stick to their position and the ship’s captain should take them back to Libya where they came from. That’s right, pass on the bug; it’s the only way these people realise that we do not need them here. Our lads go to Libya to make good money what’s wrong with these people staying there?
[Daphne – PASS ON THE BUG! I LOVE IT!]
I loved the last line of this comment (extracted from http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090418/local/migrants-on-board-ship-off-lampedusa-take-over-engine-room )
John Betts (1 hour, 25 minutes ago) “…Mr.Portelli: The culture and the identity that has been passed onto us generation after generation was formed by a long, long sequence of immigration processes, with each generation adding its own new elements. The Maltese culture and identity are more at risk from Eurovision and MacDonalds and MTV than immigration.”
Please publish this link to the http://msf.ie/userfiles/File/Not%20criminals%20report%20on%20Malta.pdf
“Report Exposes Appalling Conditions in Maltese Detention Centers”
Both The Times of Malta, as well as TVM have ignored this report as if it doesn’t even exist.
I ask your readers to read this report and ask whether this is really a detention camp or is it in reality a concentration camp in disguise.
What I really want to know is where’s Denis (Catania)? Did his “racial” girlfriend disconnect his internet? He hasn’t posted anything on the Times for ages I think.
Easter Peep season is just over. He was probably very busy and needs to rest now.
Staying away from the polling booth is stupid because whether you vote or not, five candidates will be elected just the same. If you do not vote you’ll be leaving the choice to others.