If you want insight into elector psychology, talk to me, not to Franco Debono
Predictably, The Times has asked Franco Debono what he thinks about the local council election results:
Nationalist MP Franco Debono said today that the results of the local council elections showed that the people wanted to convey a clear message to the ‘oligarchy’.
“The people said ‘we want our country back.’ The people are waiting for accountability and resignations” he said in comments on his interpretation of the results.
That newspaper’s treatment of Debono has moved away from its original news value and is now akin to the 18th-century amusement of provoking lunatics at Bedlam, or rattling the bars of a monkey’s cage to create a bit of a mini-sensation and liven up a dull hour.
And no, Franco, I am not comparing you to an 18th-century lunatic or a monkey. I am describing The Times’s behaviour as the equivalent.
Asking you what you think now has no news value. It has now become the act of provoking you into making a scene for the amusement of the few in an otherwise terminally tedious and unenlivened news landscape.
It is also lazy. There are many things a sizeable newsroom can investigate and write about that are of more relevance to readers, but rattling the bars of Franco’s cage is a lot easier.
Coincidentally, I was about to put up a post, before I read Debono’s latest ‘I Totally Lack Insight’ statement, about the real reason people are switching off.
The circus acts to which he, Botox Jeff and others have subjected us so tediously over the last couple of years, peaking unbearably over the last three months, have been a major reason for the build-up of irritation with politicians and politics in general. That, and Labour’s sustained electoral campaign which began 18 months ahead of time.
Every time we switch on the television or buy a newspaper, it’s either Joseph Muscat addressing the nation as prime minister, Franco on a roundabout dressed as a lawyer instead of Napoleon or Julius Caesar (but portrayed as entirely normal and rational), or Botox Jeff on yet another of his twisted benders.
There are cameo appearances by Evarist Bartolo, Anglu Farrugia, various PN exponents trying to cope with Franco and Jeffrey while pretending everything is hunky-dory and under control, Michelle Muscat parading herself and her twins in a variety of outfits and talking rot, and then to top it all that exercise in reconfirming Lawrence Gonzi as party leader and all the hoo-ha surrounding it, complete with assorted pains in the butt giving telephone interviews about why they didn’t vote.
People have had enough. Overwhelming irritation with these tedious and self-obsessed individuals, who come across clearly to the electorate as thinking it is all about them, has translated – tragically – into overwhelming irritation with the attempts of the Nationalist Party and the prime minister to cope with the situation, and that in turn translates into overwhelming irritation with the Nationalist Party itself.
This then magnifies the already existing contempt, anger and derision for Joseph Muscat and his Labour Party, through frustration at their inability to get their act together, but above all because of their ceaseless campaigning and their refusal to just shut up and let us get on with our lives and work without the sound of an incessant electoral campaign like a swarm of mosquitoes whining in the background and then screaming to the foreground each time we look up from whatever it is we are doing.
Do the political parties really want the answer from somebody who, unlike Franco Debono, has plenty of insight into these situations?
I’ll shout it out in capital letters.
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH. IT’S BEEN FOUR YEARS ALREADY OF NON-STOP BICKERING AND CAMPAIGNING AND WE HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE.
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF JOSEPH MUSCAT AND HIS LABOUR PARTY’S INCESSANT CAMPAIGNING AND KVETCHING AND NEGATIVITY AND WHINING AND ADDRESSES TO THE NATION.
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING STRETCHED OUT ON TENTERHOOKS DURING A PREMATURE AND PROLONGED ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN WITH NO END IN SIGHT, THAT HAS FRAYED OUR NERVES, DAMAGED OUR BUSINESSES AND MADE US WANT TO JUMP ON ALL THEIR HEADS AND YELL ‘JUST SHUT UP AND GET BACK INTO YOUR BOXES AND LEAVE US ALONE.’
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF FRANCO DEBONO. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF JEFFREY PULLICINO ORLANDO. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF JESMOND MUGLIETT. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF STORMS MANUFACTURED IN TEA-CUPS, LIKE THE FUSS ABOUT BUSES AS EUROPE CRUMBLED AROUND US.
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF WALL-TO-WALL COVERAGE OF THESE CRETINS AND THEIR ANTICS AND THEIR THOUGHTS AND THEIR BREAKFAST ON FACEBOOK. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THEIR RELENTLESS SELF-PROMOTION AND THEIR FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE SICK TO THE BACK TEETH.
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE ATTEMPTS OF THE NATIONALIST PARTY TO DEAL WITH THEM. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE PN’S COPING MECHANISMS. WE WISH THE PN WOULD JUST STAMP ON THEIR HEADS AND LEAVE THEM FOR DEAD (METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING, JEFFREY) NOT BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGE THEY ARE CAUSING BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE SO BLOODY, BLOODY BACKWATER BORING AND WE HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THEM. BUT WE KNOW THE PN CAN’T DO THAT BECAUSE OF ITS SINGLE-SEAT MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE, SO THIS INCREASES OUR ANGER AND FRUSTRATION AND TEDIUM AT THE LOT OF THEM. IF YOU CAN’T TELL JEFFREY, FRANCO AND JESMOND TO GO TO HELL AND DIE, DEAR NATIONALIST PARTY, THEN DO YOURSELVES AND THE REST OF US A FAVOUR AND STOP PRETENDING THAT EVERYTHING’S FINE AND YOU’RE ALL FRIENDS. IT’S GETTING ON EVERYONE’S NERVES.
WE ARE SICK OF NEWSPAPERS AND SUPER ONE TALK SHOWS WHO TREAT THESE FREAKS AS NORMAL BECAUSE THEY SEEK POLITICAL OR NEWS ADVANTAGE THROUGH THEM. THESE NEWSPAPERS AND TALK SHOWS ARE OUT OF STEP WITH THEIR TARGET AUDIENCE, WHICH HAS LONG SINCE MOVED ON AND INTO MAXIMUM ANNOYANCE.
WE WISH THEY WOULD ALL JUST GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE, AND SO THE LAST THING WE WANTED TO DO LAST WEEK WAS COLLECT OUR VOTING DOCUMENT AND SPEND TIME VOTING FOR THEM. THAT’S HOW FED UP WE ARE.
——
There. That’s insight into elector psychology for you, Franco. Now that I’ve got that off my chest in capital letters, may I just say what a terrible tragedy it is that the combined and sustained efforts of people like Franco, Jeffrey and Joseph Muscat have produced the entirely predictable result of pushing us to the point where the sight and sound of anything linked to them and to party politics in general is unbearable and we are just switching off.
I’m not going into a complicated explanation here of marketing psychology and overkill. I’ll just say that in metaphorical terms, we would dearly love to stuff these people into a sack and fling them off a bridge.
Now Botox Jeff will rush to Facebook to tell his Wall Friends that I’ve suggested putting him into a sack and flinging him off a bridge. Yes, that’s how far gone he is.
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My word you’re really are living on a world of your own.
Franco Debono might be a lunatic, self obsessed and narcisistic but he surely is listening. Unlike Dr Gonzi, who pathetically appointed a ‘listener of the people’ (wonder how you would have butchered Fredu Sant if he had come up with such a ridiculous, paternalistic and elitist idea), Franco Debono is listening.
He might be selecting and conveniently manipulating what he’s listening too but my word you’re really detached!
I can just imagine the top echelons of the Nationalist Party religiously reading your blog to get comfort of what the ‘people’ are saying and thinking.
They’re in for a wonderful surprise! And we’re going to be lumped with tuks forz, debono grechs and schiberras trigonas, just because of hard headness and arrogance to accept when mistakes were made and ensure accountability and responsibility. Very wise indeed.
[Daphne – Dear Anonymous Jean, the only reason I have done my job as a newspaper columnist successfully for 22 years is because I am not in the least bit detached (and detached from what, anyway?). I am mundanely representative of an electorally significant group of people, and a bellwether for the views and opinions of that group. Also, I have many, many flaws, but failure to know my subject is not one of them. The fact that the sentiments and views of this particular group of people do not concur with yours does not mean they do not exist, still less that they are not the more accurate view. Also, if you think that Franco Debono ‘is listening’ to anything but the sound of his own voice and the voices in his own head, then you are deeply unperceptive. Franco is not a symptom of voter disillusionment nor a solution. He is one of the main causes.]
No Jean, he isn’t listening. He’s not even seeing.
He can’t see to what squalor politics have been reduced, and if you need an example, here’s one.
Joseph Muscat has recently declared he’ll change Delimara power station to gas, something which should, no doubt, please Franco and his admirers.
My question, which, if you don’t mind, should be on the agenda and to which everyone, including you, is owed an answer, is how he intends to do this.
The answer has to include with what money, when, and where the major depot is envisaged. (When I say depot, imagine acres and acres of land taken up by spherical tanks, a jetty leading at least a hundred meters offshore and so on).
We won’t get an answer, nor will you. Now if that satisfies your idea of politics, suit yourself, but don’t go telling others Franco’s listening.
Politics cannot exist in a vacuum, and if Franco wants to be really useful he should be the first one to challenge Joseph regarding the above. Have you ever questioned why he doesn’t do it? And why he doesn’t check the facts before rebutting gratuitiously with some slogan to defend ‘his’ south?
When people like me voted for him, the idea was for constructive change, all we’re getting is non sequiturs, declarations left to speculation and even more confusion.
The fact that he has the cheek to ask for an apology from the voter should at least open your eyes to the degree of delusion he’s going through, distracting us from the real issues in the process.
One of the reasons I want the PN re-elected, amongst other things, is to be able to see their expression when they’ll have to concede humble pie. I insist this should be on prime time TV.
WOW – that was one hell of a bollocking. Good for you, Daphne. You have said what a lot of us have been thinking for these past months. Thank you.
It is high time that Franco & Co stopped trying to monopolize every second of our lives with their antics.
Most people are interested only in what affects directly their lives and that of their dear ones on a daily basis.
If only the media had some wee bit higher standards, Franco & Co would not even be a blip on their monitors.
seriously this guy should get a grip on things and stop messing about and looking for attention.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Family-calls-for-prayers-for-Serracino-Inglott-20120312
Thanks, Daphne. I’d say it’s what most of us feel.
Franco talks about resignations, very true – why doesn’t he follow his own advice and quit politics once for all.
Very well said, Daphne. Thank you.
When are these idiots going to stop throwing tantrums and instead let everyone else live in peace?
And Botox Jeff can rant and rave, and say that we do not have a life (for the simple fact that we, unlike him, accept that we are not teenagers anymore) all he wants.
Daphne, I really cannot understand your reasoning. It is people like you and other journalists who are giving him the publicity he yearns for.
How about ignoring him instead of giving him all this prominence?
[Daphne – There is an alternative to ignoring him or giving him importance, Silvio. And that is what I do: laughing him out of town for the jerk he is.]
People like him and the other one (see I don’t even mention their names) thrive on publicity. Try and ignore them and talk about the weather or something else, but stop reporting them.
Malta would be such a nicer place to live in if we don’t see the headlines, everyday, with just their names splashed all over.
Of course this is all wishful thinking.
The problem with your reasoning, Daphne, (however sound it may be) is that hordes have been telling Franco for a long time now how big a jerk he really is, but he only hears what a handful around him want him to hear – that he is intelligent – a hero and capable of setting the NP straight.
It is very difficult to get a person like Franco to get back to the real world.
hear! hear!
Thank you, spot on. Franco Debono should lead by example and resign. All his boasting and awarding himself merits for this and that has become truly sickening.
Now I am a bit confused whether it was Joseph Muscat or Franco Debono who won the local council elections.
Gonzi is intelligent, and did well to put these people aside.
They are a disgrace not just to the PN and politics in general but to all Maltese citizines of good faith.
I was very surprised to see that the PN lost around 11,000 of its voters whilst the MLP only gained 150.
Now obviously this still means that the MLP has won and that if this happens in a general election MLP will be in government, but it is quite telling.
I cannot really understand what is happening but my take is that these are really protest votes plus some apathy.
In an older post you (Daphne) said that low turn-out meant many people could not be bothered but in that case there would have been reductions on both sides not just one.
[Daphne – No, it doesn’t follow. Labour supporters are driven by years of opposition to go out and vote. PN voters are not. Also, ABC1 PN supporters tend to be uninterested in local councils and not to feel that level of competitive pressure to vote. Speaking for myself, and I am quite typical, I must have a reason to vote, and ‘PN getting more votes overall than Labour’ is not sufficient motivation. With a general election, the motivation is the government at the end of it all. There is no such motivation with local councils.]
One thing is clear. Labour might win the next election because Nationalist voters stay at home rather than because the same people vote for Labour. It is important that we highlight the fact that if you are a PN voter (or did so in the past) and you do not vote you are basically voting Labour.
If you don’t like PN then vote labour – sitting on the fence means you let others decide for you and then it is useless complaining. At the end of the day it’s not the number of votes that counts but whether or not you have a majority.
The difference of 150 votes is not a real picture as it includes the votes of Sliema which shoud not be counted.
I believe that many PN supporters will rarely vote for Labour, but will abstain unless the hurts they are feeling (and love him or hate him, Franco was spot on with his criticism) are addressed, and not superficially.
Gonzi has started to try to address this situation by giving Simon Busuttil this special role, in itself an admission that Debono was right (I persoanlly think that they should have given this role to Debono).
However we all know that bejn kliem u fatti hemm bahar jikumbatti. Personally, the hardships we have been put through, and I know so many who have been there too, are probably unfixable now.
[Daphne – This business of ‘wegghat’ and ‘hurt’ fascinates me. Yesterday I tried to work out what could possibly constitute pain caused by a ‘partit’. I was at a loss. Most of our so-called hardships are just life, plain and simple. Life. I’m guessing that many of us never fully came to grips with the harsh reality of adult life in the real world. Try looking after a severely disabled child, or fighting a cancerous tumour. Or losing your job and having your home repossessed. That’s hardship.]
I think I love you Daphne
Hey Martin, join the queue.
I was first.
Apparently Mark-Anthony is her favourite. Mark-Anthony this. Mark-Anthony that. He makes me sick.