Did you know “anorak” is an Inuit word? Fascinating, innit?

Somehow I doubt he was referring to Nicaragua. Having said that, we now have solid contacts in the Caribbean thanks to Dalli.

Could not have said it any better myself. In Malta, and much of the rest of the West, morality is linked to religion. In the eyes of many one cannot be atheist or a Modern Liberal if he helps others – the reason being that we are all animals and must act as such. Any other kind of act of love or fraternity is deemed antiquated, motivated by the threat of pain in the afterlife.

[Daphne – David, Greenland is most definitely not ‘culturally European’. Around 90% of its population is Inuit.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2-axIk5yyI

Angus Black, if you’re going to be pedantic, get your basic facts right: it’s the Queen of the United Kingdom, not England alone. And of course Canada is independent. Who’s head of state is irrelevant.

I think it’s because he’s a hick from the sticks with little awareness of the world outside the bubble of his personal existence. If he’s impressed, then it must be because it’s impressive, and not be because he never knew much at all or has zero self-awareness.

See, e.g., his self-referential “British” humour, his self-delusion that he’s playing China at its own game, his ridiculous claim that he’s moving Malta’s economy out of prehistory, his absurd belief that he is running the country when he’s really just a puppet on a string.

This argument infuriates me. Whenever a Christian helps someone the typical christophobic reaction is that the only thing that prompts them to help is the fear of hellfire.

Most Christians, like most atheists etc, actually help for the sake of helping not for some Middle-Age fear of eternal damnation.

[Daphne – Which is my point. And I am no more Christianophobic than I am Islamophobic. It is presumptuous to assume that the people of Lampedusa are 1. Christian by default, and 2. helping because they are Christian. Equally, it is insulting to all those who are not Christian to assume that the drive to help others comes from Christianity. It most definitely does not. It comes from a fundamental morality that is more generally transmitted to children outside of religion or alongside it. That is precisely why many Maltese people are so amoral or immoral: there was absolutely no attempt made by their parents (who doubtless had the same attitude) to teach them morality outside religion. You will notice that very many Maltese people link morality to religion, as our commenter is doing here. Morality taught only within the context of religious instruction does not become an intrinsic part of the person’s character. There are very many really bad people in Malta, and they’re not necessarily criminals – just very bad people, unprincipled, liars, cheats and backstabbers, disloyal. This is where it all stems from. ]