Mad Men: the Maltese version. Episode 4: Democracy and Free Speech
Gino Cauchi wants somebody to shut me up forcibly
Towards the end of last night’s disgraceful programme, Gino Cauchi made a disturbing comment about me but amidst all the screaming, banging and vein-popping from the assorted Mad Men, many viewers must have missed it.
After Mad Jeff screamed my name, Cauchi said “DIK m’ghandiex x’taqsam” (ara l-veru baxx u bla manjeri, but when even his Great Leader refers to his wife as Dik, let’s not expect better) – meaning to say that I’m not on PBS so have nothing to do with the subject under discussion.
Except that he was the one who introduced me into the discussion by saying to Joe Azzopardi:
GHALIEX M’GHEDT XEJN INT META DIK IL-HABIBA TAL-BIZNIZ PARTNER TIEGHEK ATTAKK BL-AHRAX TFAL TA’ TLETT SNIN?
And after saying that I had nothing to do with the subject, he added (almost lost amid the brawling):
DAK JARAJ MIN GHADU MA RAZZANIEX
Excuse me, Mr Cauchi, but who is supposed to shut me up forcibly? Oh, I see! Lawrence Gonzi! Wow. Great idea. I see your lot still inhabit a totalitarian (but progressive and liberal…) netherworld in which the prime minister, if so inclined, can and should forcibly silence somebody who works for a newspaper and who blogs.
That sounds familiar. China. Libya. Malta under Labour.
There are no democratic ways in which anyone can silence anyone else, and even if they were so…..Labour as to want to do so, there are no legal ways, as poor old Lino Cauchi discovered when he ended up dismembered by hand saw and chain saw in that well.
If the Nationalist Party has the right and duty to silence anyone at all, it is Mad Jeff MP PN.
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Another new face of new Labour.
Why has Gino Cauchi not been shutting up those at TYOM? They seem to be closer to his party than DIK.
In English History, we have the story of an English king – Henry 11 exclaiming in rage, ” Will no one rid me of an upstart priest!” And the Bishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket was murdered.
If this is the sort of ‘democracy” Labour wish for, woe betide us all should they ever be returned to govern.
I admire all of you who watch One TV – what courage. I would probably smash the screen.
You’re the democratic deficit presumably.
Now if they ‘had’ an equivalent, things would balance out. Ergo, Lawrence Gonzi should shut you up.
Democracy by numbers, in weekly instalments.
Veru, veru. Missu qal ‘l-Eccellenza Taghha, is-Sinjura Caruana Galizia…’, mhux ‘dik’.
‘Dik’ min hi? Papra? Qasba? Ballotra? Vara? Baga? Le, le… ghandha ragun… l-Onorabbli Sinjura.
[Daphne – You’ve been mixing with that chav Ellul family for a little too long, Mr Ellul Bonici. Kienu jirreferu ghan-nies bhala ‘dik’ u ‘dak’ fil-familja tieghek?]
Iva… m’ilux, fuq Super One, in-nannu tieghi hekk kien irrefera ghal Bulculuvier – “dak f’hiex jihfem!” qal, waqt li ddefenda lil Strickland…
Daphne, since Gino Cauchi did not, as far as I know, specify who should ‘restrain’ you, one can interpret his words in different ways.
Yes he could have been referring the the PM but what about those who tried to burn your house down, with you in it? They were also trying to restrain you.
They did not succeed so they could also be described as “dak li għadu ma rażżaniex” (those who have not yet restrained her).
The only comparison I can think of when you write about ‘Mad Men’ and the Maltese version thereof, is that they’re both entertaining.
The difference is that at least the men from Madison Avenue strive to achieve something positive (notwithstanding their very often non-democratic ways), while the Maltese ‘Mad Men’ in question present to me an idiosyncratic symptom of an allergic nature (a case in point would be JPO) and never learn from their idiotic exposure.
Regarding Gino Cauchi’s comment of yesterday about you (which I have only just read), one can hardly expect better from someone brought up in with old Labour ideals, where anyone who dared speak up against the Labour government of the time, or who thwarted Labour in any way, was silenced.
Look at what they did to The Times, burning it down, at how Fenech Adami’s home was ransacked and his family attacked, how the Curia and the Law Courts were attacked – The list is endless.
For some people, it must be normal to think that way, and to think that the government has a right – or duty – to silence people that disagree with it or that thwart it.
Gino Cauchi, we’ve had 24 years of relative peace and prosperity, and are thankful for them. I am glad that my children know what it is like to have a peaceful childhood, free from Labour thugs driving through their hometown menacingly, and free from the near-daily tension that came with Labour being in government. Sadly, it looks like the peace of mind won’t last much longer.
“Look at what they did to The Times, burning it down…”
Unfortunately they have also infiltrated The Times quite successfully. Memories at The Times are also fading fast. Shame!
Thankfully, there are always internet clips to jolt people’s memories:
“The events which characterised Black Monday will be recalled in an online documentary to be uploaded on timesofmalta.com today.
The 20-minute feature puts the spotlight on October 15, 1979 when The Times building in Valletta was torched in the most violent political attack against a media organisation in Malta.
Socialist thugs had gone on the rampage in Birkirkara, attacking Eddie Fenech Adami’s home and family before proceeding to Valletta.
The 30th anniversary documentary is narrated through the eyes of five of the protagonists of the day – former editors Victor Aquilina and Charles Grech Orr, former managing directors Ronald Agius and Wilfred Asciak as well as Mary Fenech Adami.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091015/local/black-monday-anniversary-video.277449
This is getting scary, Daphne. Reminds me of ^The Hounds of Baskerville’.
Indeed, Purdie, it’s getting very, very scary. Only Basil Rathbone can save us now.
They thrive on hate and envy. You can see these two vices on their faces
Daphne, what exactly was this “attakk ahrax fuq tfal ta 3 snin”? All I recall was some jibes about the names and another article in which you said that the twins sat in economy when their parents went club class on Emirates. Is that the attakk?
ok found it… :o) i read your posts backward. its not an “attakk ahrax” imma qlajtilhom mhux hazin.