Crackpot Central
Crackpots are part of life. There is no life without crackpots. You’ll find them everywhere you go, holding forth in bars, standing on roundabouts dressed as Napoleon, on soapboxes in public gardens claiming to be Julius Caesar, wearing a sandwich board that tells you the end of the world is nigh, cornering you at parties or ringing you at 6am to tell you about their latest project.
And everywhere you go, crackpots are treated like crackpots. People walk on past or humour them if they must – when the crackpots are wearing uniforms with lots of medals and are running the show, for instance.
But in Malta, where there appear to be far more crackpots than usual – perhaps as a result of cabin fever, faulty genes and too much tal-Muzew – the crackpots are in the mainstream and are treated like normal people. Their crackpot statements and crackpot behaviour are taken literally and are not put into the context of their crackpot-ness.
So Emanuel Cini, the man who has said he will starve himself until the prime minister sacks his minister Austin Gatt, or until Arriva gives him back his old bus route which he used to go to the beach and then for ‘treatment’, is not locked into a media box called ‘attention-seeking crackpot’ and instead his crackpot behaviour is reported in the same tone as that of a normal person whose campaign is rational and valid.
My reaction is: let him starve himself. If he thinks a ruddy bus is worth dying for, then let him do it. Except that he won’t, of course, because common sense tells you that if the man is protesting because he doesn’t want to wait in the sun in case he gets a stroke and dies, then what is he doing starving himself to death?
Why doesn’t he just go off and wait for a bus and get a stroke and die far more quickly?
Let’s see whether I can follow his train of thought: he’s killing himself because he doesn’t want Arriva’s new bus route to kill him first.
Go figure.
All he needs to do now is dress up as Napoleon for his internet protest videos, then we’re sorted.
Strange how no reporter’s bothered to go to Emanuel Cini’s Facebook page and find out that he studied ‘dramaturgy and performance, theatre design and theatre direction’ at Westminster Kingsway College, graduating in 1999 even though he’s a pensioner – except that the pension belongs to his mother.
He was born in Bormla, went to London when he left school, and came back to live in Malta when he was in his 40s.
I have the memory of an elephant (sometimes) and this conjunction of facts rings a lot of bells. I might be confusing him with somebody else entirely, but somehow, I don’t think so.
There can’t be too many Maltese men who grew up in Bormla, went to London when they left school so they could live freely as a homosexual, studied theatre and performance late in life, then returned to Bormla to make some God-awful fuss in the newspapers, something to do with his pension or hospital care or heaven knows what. I can’t remember.
But I do remember the rest of the facts. Perhaps some enterprising reporter will let us know whether it’s the same man or not. Either way, in his frustration at not having an outlet for his craft, he’s obviously acting out what he sees as a piece of performance art, and far too many credulous people have been sucked into his performance.
65 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Here it is:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090706/local/hiv-positive-half-paralysed-and-living-off-mothers-pension.263856
This story has the man down as sweet, charming, polite and with a sense of humour. But recent events have proved otherwise.
The report itself shows clearly that he is a total bum: he tries to claim an invalid’s pension from Britain while living in Malta and when that fails, makes a fuss when Malta won’t pay him a pension, even though he has spent his entire working life in Britain and has paid no social security in Malta.
Now he claims that his behaviour is not politically motivated, and that he doesn’t want to tarnish the Labour Party’s ‘squeaky clean image’, but his Facebook friends are mainly people like Charles Marsh of Super One and Alex Saliba of Forum Zaghzagh Laburisti.
It won’t be long now before he claims that all this is being done to him deliberately because he’s gay, and that’s why he supports Labour.
Exhausting.
Yes, I remember that article. On watching the first few seconds of his video on today’s link on timesofmalta.com (I couldn’t stick it out for much longer), I tried to figure out where I could have come across him previously. Thanks for the link you’ve provided.
He does come across as an attention-seeking man.
Incidentally, if he is so unwell that he goes for treatment to Inspire, does Inspire not supply the transport?
On another note, seeing that he is HIV-positive, I was wondering if he uses the swimming pool at Inspire as part of his “treatment”.
To be honest, I find his hunger strike an exaggeration.
To me, more than a drama teacher, he’s a drama queen.
A little background research on this chap tells me that his father is a staunch Mintoff stalwart who worked for the refuse collection service.
What is even more interesting is that when he contracted toxoplasmosis – which is a disease that usually does not affect people with a healthy immune system and is given less importance than the common cold – he tried to put the blame on an NGO because pigeons (or maybe it was cats… I can’t remember) sometimes entered the premises of this NGO.
“Toxoplasmosis (toxo) is an infection caused by a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. The infection is most commonly acquired from contact with cats and their feces or with raw or undercooked meat.” ( http://www.medicinenet.com/toxoplasmosis/article.htm )
i am manuel cini’s brother and i DO NOT agree with what he is doing but most of all I DO NOT agree with mentioning my late father in your post. pls remove post. ASAP!
[Daphne – He didn’t mention him by name. Had he done so, I wouldn’t have uploaded it. ]
there is only one manuel cini’s father, and that was out of place,please let him rest in peace!, on other issues i have absolutely nothing to say
and who ever had this info must be really close to this ngo isn’t that so Padre or shall i call you Mark!
[Daphne – You and another member of your family have been posting comments repeatedly suggesting that my ‘old schoolfriend Montebello’ tipped me off about your brother’s porn history. Rubbish. Mark Montebello and I have no contact with each other at all. The last time we spoke was in 2002, when I rang to invite him to our 20th anniversary sixth-form reunion. The next time I speak to him will be next year, when I will have to help ring round for the 30th. Dery is not Mark Montebello. However, thank you for the tip. Something tells me there’s another story there. BUT PERHAPS SOME REPORTER WILL BOTHER TO DO IT INSTEAD.
I know you’re distressed, but you’re focussing on the wrong targets. Your distress is caused by your brother’s past and present behaviour and by those really disgusting pictures he posted on the internet. Even if everyone stops talking about them, those pictures will still be there, so maybe you should sit him down and talk to him and persuade him to get rid of as many as possible.]
Dear daphen, i’ll take care of my own distress and you take care of yours tnx.
[Daphne – Exactly why are you so keen to tell everyone that this man is your brother?]
all I asked is to stop mentoning my late father, that’s what really interests me, and please daphne stop acting like maury povich or jerry springer with the last thoughts!
[Daphne – Some mentioned your late father just once, and not even by name. I understand that you are upset, but he has hardly been drawn into the debate. The real problem here is your brother, and not the people who are discussing him. He has done all this – the naked posing on the internet, the porn, the hunger strike, the videos – because he wishes to be discussed.]
then i invite dery to publish his name, i have nothing to be ashamed, mine is published, i am a hard working family man, who works hard everyday for his family in his honest job, if you got the balls then tell me who you are! and by saying that my dad was a person who worked for refuse collection is not degrading at all he worked hard for us and he had 3 jobs, so that he can financially contribute for my studies, so please cut the crap, and FYI my dad was a security officer ta SVPR before he was transfered to waste collection in 1987, by some kind harted person, (a court case concluded it was vindicative)
Let me think…..an HIV-positive person with toxoplasmosis is afraid of the new bus service killing him, and therefore goes on hunger strike.
Well, he already has a death sentence on his head, so maybe he’s just fed up of living.
The pity of the situation is that he thinks his ‘strike’ will have an immediate effect.
No politician ever resigned because one person went on a hunger strike. The situation is being blown out of all proportion.
He should either go out and actually try the new service or be taken into a medical care facility that can treat his delusions.
Could it not be that he just want to make a grand exit?
I can already see the Maltese solution: they’ll send him his very own personalised taxi, courtesy of the Health Department. And no one will bat an eyelid, because marid, miskin. And we are a government that cares. The Xarabank-Istrina nation.
Baxxter, he only needs the transport to go to St. Thomas Bay for a dip as part of therapy.
In the long run, a swimming pool in his back yard will work out cheaper than a personalised taxi.
Isn’t Austin Gatt Minister of infrastructure also?
This is interesting:
Possible link to psychiatric disorders studies have been conducted that show the toxoplasmosis parasite may affect behavior and may present as or be a causative or contributory factor in various psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia.
In 11 of 19 scientific studies, Toxoplasma gondii antibody levels were found to be significantly higher in individuals affected by first-incidence schizophrenia than in unaffected persons. Individuals with schizophrenia are also more likely to report a clinical history of toxoplasmosis than those in the general population.
Maybe that’s why he thinks his strike will cause Austin Gatt’s resignation.
Another turncoat –
“U kumment lejk Kajjik… M’ghandekx ghalfejn tkun daqshekk negattiv fil-kummenti tieghek. Min jaf x’kont tghid int li kieku kont f’loku.
U biex ma tahsbux li qed ninheba wara laqam, jien Adrian Meli, Kandidat ghat-tieni distrett mal-Partit Laburista. U ghal min irid ikun jaf jien ivvutajt dejjem lill-Partit Nazzjonalista imma l-arroganza dejjqitni wisq!
Ibqa uri kuragg Manuel u taghtix kaz ghal min jipprova jfixxkel dak li qed taghmel.” -Griffin
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/its-up-to-him-gatt-disabled-man-hunger-strike
ADRIAN,bit-turncoats JISSAFFA U JISSODA l-partit.
It is a shame that attention-seeking Maltese people are given far wider coverage than people like this poor 32-year-old Eritrean, who probably endured who-knows-what to end up in Malta, only to drown in such a selfless manner while rescuing others: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110720/local/man-dies-after-difficulties-in-rough-seas-another-rescued.376521
Il-lista ta’ Frends fuq il-fejsbuk ta’ dan Cini qisha tal-LGBT Labour – International Edition.
Maybe he wants to compete with another gay man for the headlines.
Ok guys, I’m just going to flag this up before people get too sweeping-statement happy here.
HIV/Aids is an illness that still has a lot of stigma, even in places as liberal as the UK. So let’s not go throwing that word around because, even if it is true, it is a private matter and no body’s business.
Calling such an illness a “death sentence” is hardly fair, accurate or intelligent. In fact, people who have HIV live normal healthy lives and usually pass away due to other complications and not AIDS, and often live long lives too. But it is no laughing matter, so let’s drop it now.
As for this man in Bormla: perhaps his complaint is fair enough. I have been told by many people that the new bus routes do not reflect the needs of the Maltese people and seem imposed and artificial in many ways, perhaps because people who aren’t Maltese planned them and therefore don’t know what Maltese people need when it comes to public transport.
Is his complaint reason enough to starve one’s self and demand the sacking of a politician? Not really. Storm in a tea cup if you ask me.
Judging by the info I’ve just read on this blog it seems like he is another Stacy whatshername who complained about her “student loan”.
If someone is urging him on to do this then they should know that his death is on THEIR conscience, and not the government’s. But is it possible that someone would be so stupid as to encourage someone, who is already suffering from some illness that needs regular treatment, to starve themselves just to make the PN look bad?
“Don’t know what Maltese people need”?
I should think the first thing any company does when it sets up shop anywhere is a bit of market research, i.e. who uses buses, where they go, how many route changes they’re prepared to make, what they’re prepared to pay. Arriva, after all, seeks to make profit. And you cannot make profit unless the market demands are met.
But trust the media to turn the volume up on the whingeing of the unwashed. In a country that substitutes anecdotes for hard data, they’re bound to shoot to stardom. And what better way to shoot to stardom than to attempt what no Maltese has ever done before, viz. to kill oneself, live, before the whole nation?
Arriva have a monopoly in Malta, therefore they could do what they like, especially when their service is not that elastic.
Arriva’s reputation abroad is that they cut corners a lot. I m not surprised. I’ve seen the routes. Some of them just look like they got a map and said “We’ll just stick a route through here and a bus stop there” without even checking if anyone actually needs or wants it.
Taking away routes that people need/want shows that this was the case and that they live up to their reputation. Here’s an idea: if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
Anyway, that’s all Arriva’s fault, not the government’s, who were just paying for a service they trusted. So I still don’t see why the politicians are to blame.
You are off the mark, Baxxter. For the most part getting on a bus now involves a tour when least wanted, on the way to work.
Arriva through their comments are pointing their finger at our local route geniuses for the current mess .
@ Edward Caruana Galizia – but that’s the problem – they DON’T HAVE a conscience. They would go to any length to blame the government and make them look bad.
This is the only decent comment so far.
I think it is sick to make jokes using somebody’s health. It also insults anybody else with the same condition.
Maybe he’s a drama queen and a fake, and I am really surprised he got so much attention (especially from the authorities), but making fun of him by using a disease is not the way to go about it.
Some poor bloke was allowed to fall flat on his face at the Eurovision party with no thought of possible injury so long as filmage was gleaned. Any news on that investigation?
Hunger strike by a Maltese?
Contradictio in terminis. The Marco Pannella of Malta.
Maltese people will go on strike for anything as long as it involves staying away from work and getting paid nonetheless.
But hunger strike. Never.
The best way to pick out a Maltese in a crowd is to watch out for the one who is eating.
Good one Silvio (for once)
Not me!
Stupidest hunger strike in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf4KIvoz_RE&feature=player_profilepage#t=65s
Oh please, this guy is a retired gay porn star – known by his stage name of “Manu Maltes” … enough said.
If he decided for himself the way to die, why should any one stop him?
I think this will be a case of euthanasia. It must be that liberal agenda once again…
Muscat will not allow him to die – one vote less in 2013.
This guy is undoubtedly a crackpot but there’s no denying that the revolutionary new bus system is, by all reports, a major disaster.
I must stop reading the Times of Malta – it angers me. Stick to the foreign press …
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/r1/ms10dart.asp?a=16154
This news item on Maltastar.com had a clip showing Joseph Muscat visiting the Trelleborg factory. Once this clip finishes up pop links to other clips which take the mickey out of various PL/Superone stalwarts. And all this on Maltastar.com where Evarist Bartolo was appointed to spruce up and remove cobwebs. Evarist, where art thou ?
To Emanuel Cini and Adrian Meli – try owling together.
Owling together…. rather stupid comments I have to admit. I find all this rather pathetic. Just because I support Manuel Cini does not mean we will owl together.
I respect Mr. Cini’s rights, immaterial of whether he is gay or not.
I do not even care if he was a gay porn star…. So what? Are we all trying to portray ourselves as saints? Sorry but to comment further would be a complete waste of time….
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110720/local/Minister-takes-note-of-hunger-striker.376376
I find the Maria Goretti comment directed at Lynn Zahra (Joe Grima?) hilarious.
Daphne, do you really have to mock ‘Tal-Muzew’ and associate them with faulty genes.
[Daphne – Where have I associated tal-Muzew with faulty genes? I said something else entirely: that faulty genes and tal-Muzew might be among the reasons there appear to be far more crackpots in Malta than there are elsewhere, as a percentage of the population. You might think tal-Muzew builds character. I think it destroys it and is responsible for many of the personality problems we’ve got to deal with in the post-Muzew generation.]
I think you need to get to know this people better before you mock them. I am agnostic by the way but I was a member of Tal-Muzew until the age of 17 and I gained a lot of benefit from this society, not only religious knowledge but social activities which they organised, this served me a lot in later life.
[Daphne – If children have to depend on tal-Muzew for social activities, then poor them. That tells you enough about what’s wrong with the situation.]
An agnostic should know that the “religious knowledge” that Tal-Muzew teach is very selective, to put it mildly. I don’t see half-truths as educational benefit.
What a load of tosh. It’s people like you who keep screwing this blasted country. Our children need their social activities organised by a religious community. Straight out of a Brazilian favela. Or Palermo, 1900. And that’s where Tal-Muzew are stuck. But no one will utter the slightest criticism, ghax we’re a country that cares, they care, hence they’re perfect.
VERBUM DEI CARO FACTUM EST? No. THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.
Do you remember the black dresses that girls wore when swimming with tal-Muzew some years back? Being so ashamed of the human body breeds illicit desires .
I remember everything. I am painfully reminded of the time frittered away at MUSEUM whenever my European colleagues talk about the wonderful and interesting leisure activities that filled their childhood.
I’d come home from school, where we had religion lessons, AND mass, AND nuns all over the place, for an hour of incarceration with children I barely knew, five times a week. If only my parents had been as enlightened as Daphne.
Paul Bonnici, which social activities by tal-Mizew are you referring to, where the superjuri fondle the boys in the dark halls while showing them films of religious nature?
I went to il-Muzew in the Sixties and Seventies. We used to play football, go swimming, walks in the countryside.
Children interact and learn social interpersonal skills just by being together.
[Daphne – I did all that by playing on the street and the beach with other children who lived on the block. Not even our parents hovered over us, let alone Tal-Muzew. They would never have dreamed of sending us, and we would never have gone anyway. Children need to be free of adult supervision for long periods of time. That level of control-freakery is frightening.]
In my time Il-Muzew was different and that was the only place children could gather after school other than playing games in the streets.
[Daphne – Playing games in the streets without grown-ups around was healthier and preferable.]
Il-Muzew instilled in me some form of discipline. I always looked forward to Christmas and receiving a crib. I have nice memories of Il-Muzew. Maybe now Il-Muzew is redundant for some but it can still benefit society.
Qatt ma kont naf li l-Maltin jaqghu daqshekk fil-baxx. Il-marid nghinuh Mela nirridikolawh. Kieku dan kien it tifel taghkhom hekk triduh jigi ittratt.
[Daphne – U ejja, f’gieh kemm hemm. Qisu kullhadd ghandu tifel jahdem films litteralment tan-nejk. Ma, x’mard ta’ mentalita.]
Jien mhux ha nidhol fil-mertu tal-kaz, ghax dik mhux bicca tieghi, imma ejjew inkunu ftit aktar tolleranti. shame shame
Jien ghidtlilkhom ma tirridikolawhx fuq il Mard. Imma Mhux min jahdem films porno biss jaghmel hazin Hawn tant Affarijiet hziena fId dinja.
Isn’t the term “hunger strike” an oxymoron? Implies stop being hungry, i.e. eat.
Like “Drug Squad”, you mean?
Or “Maltese think tank”.
This Cini man is waiting for a medal from Muscat and Co.
Just how low The Times can go.
I don’t know what Church bashing has to do with this, but it seems any old excuse will do.
I also want the old buses back. Driving behind the new ones I can no longer imagine Consie’s face.
@ apc “Well, he already has a death sentence on his head, so maybe he’s just fed up of living”
Nonsense, and that shows your ignorance of HIV.
HIV people can lead a normal life with less complications than a diabetic.
Only in Malta a minister of transport does not resign after the bus fiasco and the Euro 40000 studying and planning routes. I watched Austin Gatt on TV and could not believe how he is not ashamed to show his face.
Some of his detractors are not ashamed to show their penis, so let’s keep things in perspective, shall we?
I agree that crackpots are a part of life and Daft Daphne is up there with the best of them. Now have I accidentally mispelt anythink … Oooooo…. go for it, Daphne. The government should award you a medal for your contribution to comedy (certainly not journalism).
[Daphne – In your 60s and still talking like a girl in the school playground. Is your ambition to put prejudiced people even further off gay men? If so, then you’re doing a great job]
Joseph, why not thank Daphne instead? She has just provided you with more material for your Queer Mediterranean Memories II. A chapter entitled “Gay PORN (notice my emphasis) stars on the Catholic Island of Malta” would make that a best seller. Go for it, mate.