Those who package the unbalanced as normal are guilty of a crime against democracy, and they serve others ill
There is no way on earth that editors like Saviour Balzan and politicians like Joseph Muscat do not know that people like Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando are, to use the famed euphemism, unwell.
But this does not stop them from using them to their advantage by packaging them, time and time again, as perfectly normal and viable individuals.
Because what is understood to be normal in societies far more advanced than ours is not similarly understood by many in Malta, those many are literally incapable of reading the evidence of a person’s sanity in his words and his behaviour, unless he is actually babbling like a loon on a roundabout, dressed as Napoleon.
They rely on newspapers to interpret the situation for them, but the newspapers have been a catastrophic let-down, serving them ill.
Today Malta Today ran a big interview with Franco Debono – yes, with Franco Debono instead of, more appropriate, one of the new government ministers. It treats him as normal. How many people are able to see this bit, for instance, as yet more evidence of Debono’s psychiatric condition, rather than thinking that this is perfectly normal behaviour?
However the first thing Debono did on hearing of the PN’s historic defeat, was to send an SMS to Gonzi, telling the former prime minister that he had forgiven him “for all the harm he tried to inflict on me, my family and the country”.
And then there’s this:
Describing the outgoing Nationalist administration as “the worst government in Maltese history,” the Ghaxaq lawyer says that the major reason for the PN’s loss is found in the power set-up within the party.
An independent, critical assessment indicates that it was actually one of the best governments in Maltese history, taking us safely through some really very bad times.
If Gonzi’s second term was the worst government in Maltese history, perhaps Franco Debono would care to give us his thoughts as to where he ranks Mintoff’s/KMB’s 1981 to 1987 administration.
It was the interviewer’s job to ask him that, but the interviewer works for the Labour-enslaved Malta Today, so nothing doing.
Are they going to keep this up for the next five years? Let’s be patient: Labour’s only been in government for one week. Perhaps Saviour Balzan hasn’t quite noticed yet.
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Looks like that Debono told Maltatoday that the general council councillors are not the problem, but I heard him saying on One, when he was in the company of JPO, Jesmond Mugliett, Robert Musumeci and John Bundy, that the PN is not able to elect a good leader if it keeps the same councillors that confirmed Lawrence Gonzi a year ago, and he insisted that these should not remain.
He keeps contradicting himself.
Now that he’s the one who’ll draft party financing, Franco’ll get to write how a party should be set up. Or better rewrite the PN to his own image.
Rendering the PN illegal if need be. As if Franco’s going to listen to what the opposition has to say.
Muscat just put himself in Debono’s hands. We need a compact PN, FAST.
Jekk Franco hafer lil Gonzi , l-elettorat li kien tellghu ma nahsibx li hafirlu.
Nghid ghalija jien iktar ma nara racanc li kien hemm fil-PN fuq is-Super One iktar insahhah fhemti li Gonzi ma cediex ghat-theddid u r-rikatti meta kien Prim Ministru.
Ma’ nies bhal Franco l-anqas fl-istess quddiesa ma rrid inkun ghax itellfuni tqarbina.
Alla jilliberana, kont minghalija li hlisna minnu.
Ghax ma jibghatux ambaxxatur ta’ Malta ghal-Gappun biex fl-istess hin jghallem lil-Gappunizi kif jiktbu l-Hajku.
Franco Debono will draft the new law on party financing. It will be written in a way to jeopardize and punish the PN, and at the same time tailored for the MLP needs.
Does that law require a simple majority in the house, or two-thirds?
[Daphne – Simple majority.]
Franco’s bill will probably state that, if in the last general election the vote difference amounted to 35,000 or more, then the winning party will get a government subvention to cover all expenses of the electoral campaign, including the cost of confetti.
Spot on.
He’ll accuse the PN of being the klikka when they’ll oppose the ‘electoral expenses refund mechanism’.
It’s uncanny, I’m reliving 1994 and il cavaliere’s ‘scesa in campo’.
I don’t see how they can reduce government expenditure and still give out hand-outs to the political parties. Such a move would be highly unpopular and the PN would be wise to reject it (but perhaps I’m being naive).
At the same time, he’s commissioned a revision of the code of ethics.
Laws ad personam and institionalised conflict of interest. Rings a bell.
Berlusconi’s just been indicted of paying senators to bring down Prodi’s government.
Where’s Cassola? You’ll have to accept the reality of Joseph’s real intention behind the electoral reform.
An extra ‘premio di maggioranza’ to keep everyone in a restricted opposition. Stability.
And don’t be surprised if he intends to remove direct representation.
If Berlusconi had a gun to his head, Joseph has major debts to pay. Whatever he’s done this week, it’s clear he can’t risk.
Speaking of laws ad personam and Berlusconi, how about this news?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130318/local/pm-ministers-to-discuss-coherent-policy-on-fireworks-factories.461923
What we have here is an attempt to damage all opposition to the Labour party. This is akin to Hitler’s rise to absolute power. We all know how it ended, and who paid for it.
Thank the stars that we are but a stone in the Mediterranean , any larger and shit shall fly in all directions .
It’s already happening. Now that Muscat’s in power, his task is to neuter all opposition by psychologically absorbing it into his ‘movement’. Structural adjustment will follow.
How many people remain blind to this?
I feel as though this is one of those horror films where an endangered crowd of normal humans is surrounded by zombies. They are simply not seeing this and never will. I am shivering as it happens before our eyes.
What a calculating schemer Muscat is to engage poor Franco Debono to draft the party financing law. Who does this charlatan of a PM think he’s fooling with this skulduggery? Mur tne**ek!
I guess it’s kickstarted the 2018 election campaign – five years of utter bollocks.
He used to accuse his leader and his party of arrogance. Quite frankly, being a sicko, Debono does not realise that he himself is the incarnation of arrogance.
What about him issuing an apology to the people that put him in that seat in the first place, the same people he betrayed?
Many people I know who voted for him, people who are usually calm and reasonable, start frothing at the mouth at his name, and I don’t blame them.
You are despicable Franco, and I hope your stupid ears keep you up at night at least if your conscious doesn’t.
Yes, I know you very well.
A*sehole.
Maybe now we get to see his Form V results instead of the Form II ones. Whilst we are at it maybe he can also show us his LLD course results…..or maybe for those we might have to wait a bit more…
hi daphne.
lately i tried to make comments on franco debono’s website…and when i criticise him , he deletes my messages…i know his trick now…he just accepts comments that make him popular…and when i paste a link of your articles on his blog he deletes it immediately…i cant trust franco debono…
Hi Jason, welcome to the space where you’ll be challenged to air your views.
A few days ago I commented that we had voted in a dictatorship. As soon as I posted it – it was very early morning – I thought that I was being melodramatic.
But as things are evolving in only one week, I’m beginning to think I was right.
If I remember well, it happened in Cuba when Castro was democratically elected and you know the rest.
M’hemmx bzonn jergghu jahtru lil-Franco, ix-xoghol lestieh u thallas ghalieh meta kien fl-ufficju tal-Prim Ministru, il-proposta tal-ligi diga ghamilha Franco.
Mhux flus fil-hela dawn, jew ghandhom xi commissjoni fuq ix-xiri tal-pilloli tal-ugiegh ta’ ras?
Worst government in Maltese history, eh? Of course, you and nano were part of it. Ja s**cker.
Muscat’s smokescreen, get Franco to ‘oppose’ and corner the PN.
It follows that Muscat cannot have the law enacted.
I wouldn’t be suprised if a whispering campaign for Franco’s leadership of the PN started.
Muscat’s weakness lies in the ‘moderates’, anything the PN does, must be affirmative.
This one will follow the polls every other week and ignore the real figures.
The PD in Italy are still in shock at having ignored Renzi, an outsider relative to the party establishment.
They’re reconsidering their proposals now. Lost.
When in Malta the PN’s policies are the thing to have, the method of choice has to be in line. Unfazed. An alternative to male testosterone.
Time is very ripe.
Did you hear the latest from KZT?
Kenneth wants the new parliament to be converted into a museum of contemporary art (i.e. his personal ego struggling to stay suppressed inside), while parliament, the institution representing democracy, be relegated to the MCC (out of sight out of mind). I understand that people in Malta have no real understanding of democracy, but this is beyond belief.
Anby by the way, Kenneth impies that it is not him who has such a wish – but a certain unnamed movement. The concept of movement as a buzz word is already being abused.
Kenneth might have more self-control and etiquette than Franco Debono, but I am afraid that the differences between the two stop there.
What is it with these mammoni in Malta?
Franco will turn against Labour and Muscat before long. That’s the sort of person he is.
Payback time! Kambjali iridu jithallsu! Ipoteka ma kienx hemm. Rata ta’ interessi se tkun gholja hafna izjed milli nifilhu.
There is only one reason why Muscat is engaging Franco Debono: to spite the PN.
The best tactic would be to ignore Debono and treat him as irrelevant.
Labour’s use of Frankie Tabone and the others shows the extent to which Labour resorts to extremism to gain and protect power.
Labour has no mechansims to control itself. It has no ethics, no limits.
How can it control the violent ones in its party? How can it ever gain the respect of those who do their best to act honestly and democratically?