You think that you can shuffle things adeptly. But collective actions such as those have a total sum, and it’s not looking good.

Which means, that each one of us that can do something is not doing enough, because for the balance to tipple, there simply needs to be more.

Max,

I’m probably wasting my breath, but I’ll try one last time to find some common ground. I didn’t say anywhere that all Maltese people are corrupt, or unintelligent, or too stupid to know what’s good for them — please don’t put such words in my mouth.

I knew many people in Malta who did not subscribe to the values of Joseph Muscat, or the values of the majority who voted him in — and who seem intent on voting him in again.

The readers who comment here on Daphne’s blog are mostly in the same camp as the friends I liked, respected and shared drinks with back in Malta. It is those honest people who I really feel for in the present crisis.

The rest, yes, they’re getting what they ask for when they support “red at all costs”. Unfortunately, right now they seem to hold the majority.

I’m also aware of the danger in generalizations. Any population can be broken down into sub-groups endlessly, until we reach the level of the individual. Unfortunately, that’s not at all helpful when trying to understand the behaviour of large groups of people.

There are outliers in any population, but there are also clear cultural patterns that chart the direction of a society.

Anthropology has a lot to offer here. And in the case of Maltese culture, we’re fortunate to have access to the work of Jeremy Boissevain. What he discovered — and I agree with — is not a “socially aberrant society”, to use your words, but a specific cultural adaptation called amoral familism. One that is also prevalent in Sicily.

A government reaches this profound level of corruption because the society enables it. Removing the current corrupt administration and prosecuting the criminals is only the beginning. Choices must also be made on an individual level, every day, to go beyond amoral familism and work for the good of the whole rather than just for the good of the faction.

This requires institutional change, yes, and the creation of proper checks and balances. But it’s also important to understand how and why things got where they are today in order to spark that change. Otherwise, you won’t address the underlying problem, and the same scene will play out again and again.

You can have the best map and compass in the world, and the best intentions, but you won’t head off in the right direction unless you know precisely where you are right now.

Next, my comparison with Canada and Australia is relevant. You’ll remember that I was writing in response to your claim:

>>”Our national sense of economic dependence is a character trait reflective not solely of our relatively recent colonial past, but also of our more distant history of foreign occupations, military or otherwise.”<“However to compare us with the likes of Canada and Australia is frankly ridiculous if only from the perspective of inherent natural resource wealth, economic dependency”

We’ve all had a recent lesson in complacency. Look at how many people voted in favour of Brexit and then spent the following days panicking because they had no idea what they had voted for.

If you really believe that Malta is in deep shit, then I hope you have the basic decency to return to the island to vote on 3rd June.

I remove lots of comments, Michael, not just yours. I don’t want the comments boards on this website to end up like those of the newspapers.

Daphne. You know that politically at the moment maybe I am not on your side. I have my reasons for that aswell. But I always admired your job, courage and blogs. I rarely miss a story. But I am very dissapointed that in the past days for the first time I decided to start commenting on your website and for some reason you are always removing my comments. Can I have an idea why? I hope that you dont expect my comments to be favour of the pn to show them. If this is the case I am really dissapointed and I will wait until after the general election to start commenting again and hopefully in less political material. You can not show my comment. But a reply will be appreciated.

I didn’t say anywhere that all Maltese people are corrupt, or unintelligent, or too stupid to know what’s good for them — please don’t put such words in my mouth.

I knew many people in Malta who did not subscribe to the values of Joseph Muscat, or the values of the majority who voted him in — and who seem intent on voting him in again.

The readers who comment here on Daphne’s blog are mostly in the same camp as the friends I liked, respected and shared drinks with back in Malta. It is those honest people who I really feel for in the present crisis.

The rest, yes, they’re getting what they ask for when they support “red at all costs”. Unfortunately, right now they seem to hold the majority.

I’m also aware of the danger in generalizations. Any population can be broken down into sub-groups endlessly, until we reach the level of the individual. Unfortunately, that’s not at all helpful when trying to understand the behaviour of large groups of people.

There are outliers in any population, but there are also clear cultural patterns that chart the direction of a society.

Anthropology has a lot to offer here. And in the case of Maltese culture, we’re fortunate to have access to the work of Jeremy Boissevain. What he discovered — and I agree with — is not a “socially aberrant society”, to use your words, but a specific cultural adaptation called amoral familism. One that is also prevalent in Sicily.

A government reaches this profound level of corruption because the society enables it. Removing the current corrupt administration and prosecuting the criminals is only the beginning. Choices must also be made on an individual level, every day, to go beyond amoral familism and work for the good of the whole rather than just for the good of the faction.

This requires institutional change, yes, and the creation of proper checks and balances. But it’s also important to understand how and why things got where they are today in order to spark that change. Otherwise, you won’t address the underlying problem, and the same scene will play out again and again.

You can have the best map and compass in the world, and the best intentions, but you won’t head off in the right direction unless you know precisely where you are right now.

Next, my comparison with Canada and Australia is absolutely relevant. You’ll remember that I was writing in response to your claim:

>>”Our national sense of economic dependence is a character trait reflective not solely of our relatively recent colonial past, but also of our more distant history of foreign occupations, military or otherwise.”<“However to compare us with the likes of Canada and Australia is frankly ridiculous if only from the perspective of inherent natural resource wealth, economic dependency”

We’ve all had a recent lesson in complacency. Look at how many people voted in favour of Brexit and then spent the following days panicking because they had no idea what they had voted for.

We have been a functioning democracy for quite some time now. And yes it is colonialist.