Moderate vs Extremist

You’d think that politicians and activists who work for political parties would know that the descriptors ‘moderate’ and ‘extremist’ refer to ideology and policy. But with the Labour Party, that’s not the case – largely because the words ‘policy’ and ‘ideology’ mean nothing to them. Labour thinks in these terms: power = money, contracts and jobs.

In politics, an extremist is somebody who espouses far right ideology: kick out immigrants, for example, or ‘Malta for the Maltese’. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, somebody who passes a law saying that you can change your gender by going to a notary and having a deed drawn up – no need for surgery or anything like that.

Moderates, meanwhile, are nice, civilised people who just want a quiet public life with no corrupt politicians, respect the rights of others, and believe in freedom of expression without the pollution of government aides trying to frighten critics into silence – among other things.

But that’s not how the Labour Party/government reads it. To those ignorant goons, ‘moderates’ are people who don’t criticise the Labour Party much or Nationalist politicians who give Labour a free or easy ride. And extremists are those who give corrupt Labour the bollocking it deserves.

So I, who am not involved in politics at all and who espouses the most moderate kind of political ideology (liberal), far removed from the extremes of right and left, am an “extremist” for calling out the Labour government on its shocking corruption and for pointing out that when we out here are relying on the Nationalist Party to rid us of those criminals, those Nationalist politicians who are not pulling their weight, either because they are unable or unwilling to do so, are letting us down.

The definition of a political extremist is not a citizen or journalist with an extreme desire to see the back of this corrupt and abusive outfit. That’s the definition of a normal, decent person.

But the defining characteristic of the Malta Labour Party, other than abuse and corruption, is ignorance about the meaning of words and concepts.

This is an example of a what a political extremist is.

This is another example.