It’s called cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance: Most people want to hold the belief that they make good choices. It’s important to us and central to our sense of self.
When we buy something or make a decision that turns out badly, this conflicts with and challenges our faith and trust in our own good judgement and decision-making skills. So we act in such a way as to minimise the discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance, by:
1. doggedly sticking with our original bad decision and finding reasons to convince ourselves that it was the right one, to the point of repeating that bad decision (voting again for Labour in this EP election, for instance, even though we suspect it was a bad choice in 2013);
2. coming to terms with the fact that we made a bad decision and then working from there, by admitting to ourselves that we were wrong and doing what we can to rectify it, or
3. insisting that our original decision was the correct one, but the consequences are wrong and the consequences of our decision are not are fault, but still we can see there’s a problem and we will do something to help redress it, as Martin Scicluna does here.
In his column in Times of Malta two days ago, Martin Scicluna continues to insist that he was right to vote Labour in 2013 and right to write a column encouraging others to do the same, calling it ‘Time for a change to Labour’.
His latest column is titled ‘Time to send a message’, and it’s all about how, despite the fact that he was right last year, the consequences are not quite what he expected and the government he has got (and inflicted on the rest of us) is already incredibly arrogant, high-handed, undignified and behaving in the manner of ‘l’etat c’est moi’.
Scicluna writes:
There is a loss of trust. Bad governance should be punished. It is time for the 20,000 or so voters (the so-called ‘switchers’), who think before they vote, to send a message to Labour that the government is not invulnerable. The electorate should not be taken for granted.
I happen to agree with him completely on this score, and I am glad that he has worked out at last that one’s vote is not there to play dangerous games with, because those games can be very dangerous indeed.
I part company absolutely with Scicluna though, when he speaks of the 20,000 people or so who, like him, voted Labour after having voted PN “because they think before they vote”. It’s precisely because people like me think before we vote that we didn’t vote Labour, and it is also because people like Martin Scicluna don’t think before they vote that they voted Labour. Or rather, they do think, but they think of entirely the wrong things and so reach the wrong conclusions.
If I may sum it up in a way that he might appreciate, a vote doesn’t give you what you wish for. It can only give you what’s available. If people like Martin Scicluna did indeed think before they voted, we wouldn’t be in this risky situation today.
Let’s hope that he’s going to think properly now, and vote for, say, Helga Ellul – though according to Marlene Mizzi, who is using his (undated) testimonial of approval with shameless abandon, it is her talents Martin Scicluna says that Malta requires in the European Parliament – presumably because she ran a toy shop which sold the toys made by the mammoth factory set up, developed and run by Mrs Ellul.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140514/opinion/Time-to-send-a-message.518931
Martin Scicluna is a prime example of how intelligent people can sometimes make the most stupid of mistakes. But if intelligent people like him are still convinced they did the right thing to vote Labour, then why expect the marmalja Laburista to suddenly wake up and realize the mistake?
Martin Scicluna isn’t intelligent. He’s just a lousy snob. Never mistake the educated use of language and grammar for superior intelligence. It’s just the superior use of language and grammar.
“It is time for the 20,000 or so voters (the so-called ‘switchers’), who think before they vote…”.
Mr Scicluna tries to imply here that those who do not switch are non-thinkers. How very convenient to justify his bout of stupid thinking that led to his helping Labour get in government.
Did I think that the PN government had lost its gloss and a lot of its energy? Yes.
Did I think think that voting Labour would improve things? Hell no.
Guess what, Mr Scicluna. My basic non-switcher thinking process is way superior than yours. A simpleton like me knew this mess would happen under a Labour government. You, with your wannabe intellectual airs, did not.
The gist is right, but he is quite offensive when he implies that the “switchers” are those “who think before they vote”. Those who think before they vote would never have voted Labour.
He’s right actually. Voting in Malta is a no-brainer.
Scicluna tries to portray the government’s commitment to eradicate planning and hand the country to speculators as something out of the blue.
He also mistakes the dates, or does he, of Gonzi’s planning reform.
Which of those two exculpates him is his opinion. I have mine.
So? Martin Scicluna is still a pompous prat. And he writes very badly.
I came to Malta in 1979 fresh from college when the UK had been going through politically turbulent times.
Malta soon had their own significant election (1981, I think) and it was difficult to avoid being interested.
I used to ask people who they planned to vote for and why?
I never got any sensible response that revolved around the issues – it always boiled down to I hate Dom/I love Dom, I love Eddie/I hate Eddie.
I deduced then that Malta does not have an election in any sense of democracy – it has a popularity contest.
Sadly the situation remains the same.
Martin Scicluna is offensive. He is a self-righteous, self-anointed ‘wiseman’ who doesn’t have an ounce of humility.
He cannot bring himself to say “I was wrong” or “I am sorry”.
He still justifies his position prior to the last election. He portrays himself as the oracle yet if he had even one-tenth of the analytical prowess that you possess, he would have at worst either not written anything or instead encouraged people to get their heads off their own personal gripes and look at the broader situation – that Malta rode the wave of two of the biggest crises to ever hit this region – one diplomatic (Libya where this tosser of a Prime Minister sat on the fence) and one financial. For this the Gonzi government should have been applauded.