Comments on: And so she should be – now she should do something about it

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 16:49:00 +0000

Here we go again. Do I really have to run through the same explanation about how all writing depends on generalisations and how the understanding that exceptions are read into the generalisation is part and parcel of the language?

Have you EVER read any piece of idiomatic English writing which goes: “Men are savages – not all men, obviously, but lots of men are savages so it isn’t really fair to say that men are savages but you know what, so many of them are that on the whole you can generalise, I suppose.”

You’d have stopped reading by that point.

By: Le pauvre homme

Le pauvre homme — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 19:31:00 +0000

Jealous or not, she’s still totally incapable of doing the right thing and sacking the old lech.

She “feels uncomfortable” duhh! This entire cabinet does wrong, knows it does wrong and yet never takes the opportunity to correct itself.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 16:00:00 +0000

No, it’s not an opinion. It is a fact.

Column-writing is a skill and an art, but Maltese columnists break every rule in the book and lose readers because of that.

Pick up any British or US newspaper, read the columnists, and notice the difference. Whatever the newspaper or journal, whatever the subject, they all follow the same (unwritten) rules.

It’s not a gift. It’s something you learn, like driving.

By: Tabatha_White

Tabatha_White — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:54:00 +0000

Uncapping that law will have a wonderful effect on their understanding of what the actual definition is.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:52:00 +0000

No proper writing would be possible without generalisations. The understanding that a generalisation does not encompass the whole is supposed to be embedded into our cultural code.

Apparently, it is not – and now I understand why Maltese columnists (another generalisation) are so bad and so boring. They qualify every statement.

By: Titanic Rose

Titanic Rose — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:49:00 +0000

Unacceptable on both counts: what she said and what he wrote.

By: Jo

Jo — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 12:46:00 +0000

The ‘victim’ in such cases is not simply the person who the comment was made to but also the other employees who might feel that unless they succumb to similar banter, they will not be favourably considered for a promotion.

By: Tabatha_White

Tabatha_White — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 12:23:00 +0000

It’s time that the harassment laws in Malta were changed.

What these people see is that the maximum fine applicable is no deterrent whatsoever, that out of court settlement is easy to reach in that light, and that several are the female lawyers willing to defend known serial (male) transgressors.

If the ceiling were not capped at the meagre sum of either 1000euro or LM – I can’t remember which it was – there would be much more downward pressure on such behaviour.

The fear/ disincentive of a high uncapped fine/ penalty/ award in damages etc. would be enough motivation for correct behaviour to start working its way in to workplace norms.

As it is, the laws protect the employer and/ or the transgressor.
The mentality is that anyone pressing charges is obviously after the money, so let’s remove that temptation, and make it as easy as possible for the (generally male) transgressor to get off scot-free.

After all, what’s a reputation in the age of e-reputation?
E-reputation works against the (generally female) victim first and foremost.

There should be zero tolerance for unacceptable behaviour.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 11:42:00 +0000

I’ll tell you why: it’s because they have never had anything remotely resembling a career and because the last time they worked was three decades ago between leaving the typing school and getting married. And because the way they have survived ever since is by ‘being nice to men’, whether the man is their husband or not – a category of behaviour that includes putting up with all sorts and even egging men on when they make perverted remarks.

But in general, I think you will find that many of those Disqus profiles actually belong to men using women’s names to seem more credible.

By: Mananni

Mananni — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 10:58:00 +0000

In reply to P Bonnici. Yes Giovanna Debono is an independent MP and rightly so. She was never desperate for a seat but always elected with a big majority over her rivals.