Language forms perceptions, ideas, associations and filters. Maltese – properly taught and properly valued – could be a gem of a language, as it is for many. What we are seeing is the brash display of a limited grasp and bastardised use of a language, its grammar, its register and syntax, and with that the limitations descend.

Human behaviour is not driven by reason and numbers alone, but also, indeed mostly, by the whole gamut of emotions, some of which may seem totally absurd but all of which are, by definition, irrational.

Tradition, belief systems, political allegiance, family ties, the whole lot. I mean, who in their right mind would enter into a committed relationship, a risky endeavour at best, on the basis of reason alone?

Unless, of course it is an arranged (and rational) marriage of convenience! Why would anybody even remotely consider reproducing, thus bringing more mere mortals into this horrid, unjust world? And how could any moderately intelligent person believe that humankind was saved, albeit after some hundreds of thousands of years of earthly existence, simply by having a man securely nailed to a tree?

Alas, try as we might we remain irrational creatures, and in some ways perhaps we should. I mean, we could conceivably reduce to mere numbers Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique (sound frequencies, intervals and decibels) or Van Goch’s Sunflowers (light frequencies and pixels), but to do so would be missing the point.

The real problem is that the manipulators of this world know our weaknesses and act upon them for gain, power, or both: I refer to politicians, trade unionists, religious leaders, media moguls and, of course, marketing practitioners.

There are no floating voters, only opportunists.

Precisely this. The phenomenon even has a name: cognitive dissonance.

I agree, Edward.

Ordinary logic is concerned with truth.

The New Logic of Joseph Muscat was supposedly concerned with what was meant to be practicality and values, but has turned out to be totally lacking on both fronts, as expected.

He is building a logic on ‘maybe.’ ‘Is’ and ‘is not’ are of no concern to this breed that promote possibilities based on myth and probabilities based on ‘likely’ and ‘unlikely.’

Can you build a logic on ‘maybe?’

Ordinary logic can be used … sometimes.

Otherwise there is “logic 2.”

All they need to look for are things that flow in that direction.

What we need to be aware of now are the following:

Energy of flow

Inclination and direction: Roads, slopes, reverse slopes

Barriers

Energy Absorbers

Change factors (deliberate) (not deliberate)

From there one would need to identify the resultant changes, effects and evolutions. etc. eg latitudes, such as relationships, same groups, differences, interaction, similarities, connections and comparisons etc. and longitudes such as identities and things..

What makes you so sure that the thesis presented in Muscat’s name is actually his?

Respectfully, that’s a load of bloody bollocks. An illiterate redneck is an illiterate redneck, whatever language (obviously generally only one, and badly) he speaks, irrespective of which script it’s written in and whether the script forms the language or vice versa.

Our population is at an earlier stage of development so we have a greater % of illiterate rednecks – the problem is they think they can think for themselves so they’re busy voting for a bunch of slightly less illiterate rednecks.

Note that my definition of illiterate redneck is broad enough to cover quite a few University of Malta graduates, the numbers of which I see the university is doing its best to increase (see separate thread about lowering entry requirements for the law course).

With a solid base of 45% voting Labour, whatever, the Nationalist can only hope to win the next election by default.

Labour’s first six months in power are encouraging. If they remain consistent for the remainder of the term, then the Nationalists may start hoping again.

If I may go off on a tangent – the placebo effect is only possible because of the belief that something will have a positive effect. By contrast psychosomatic conditions can occur.

I think there are two types of people: those who act in response to their emotions without actually processing their thoughts; and those who think things through rationally before acting. No amount of education changes this innate behaviour.

It is because Labour’s approach to politics reflects the worst aspects of the Maltese character: egotism, self-promotion, cheating, getting preferential treatment, corruption, graft, spite, envy, jealousy, negativity and so on.

I always found it difficult to accept that persons who I considered as rational and intelligent could vote Labour. When I thought about their personality (as distinct from their intelligence) it then made sense.

Some however are simply too uneducated to be able to vote otherwise.

[Daphne – I always link people’s voting preferences to their personality and general attitude rather than to their intelligence or socio-educational background, always. Because of this, I can generally work out within minutes, if not seconds, how people vote. And the fact is the reverse of what Labour propaganda would have us believe: it is those who favour Labour who have a negative attitude (resentment and a sense of being hard done by) while those who favour the PN tend to have a positive attitude towards success and achievement, even in others. That’s why I had written way back that both Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando are Laburisti despite being elected on the PN ticket, and I turned out to be correct despite their frenzied hysteria and accusations. ]