Give them an internet connection and they’ll drive you crazy
Reading the comments-board on timesofmalta.com is really bad for my health. I don’t get angry, so much as desperate. It’s impossible to be merely amused, because all the while there’s this thought at the forefront of my mind that the people making those absurd remarks are going to be deciding my future.
It’s hard to be relaxed about that.
The latest such mad reasoning is below the news report on the latest ‘scandal’ at the VAT Department. I put that in inverted commas because it isn’t a scandal at all, except that readers’ expectations had been built up towards one by an initial news flash report which said that the police had been called in to the department, and then went on to rehash details of the real scandal a couple of years back.
Now it turns out that an individual offered a VAT officer a bribe of 100 euros (really swish, eh) to hurry things up, the VAT officer sent him packing and reported the matter to his superiors. His superiors informed the police.
That’s it.
But maddeningly, crazy-makingly, there’s a stream of comments beneath the story calling for the resignation of the finance minister, the head of the VAT department, the official concerned, and Jesus and his mother and their pet dog.
They don’t seem to understand that the only criminal act here was by the person offering the bribe. The official didn’t accept it, nor did he let the matter go. He reported it to his superiors, and they didn’t let the matter go either.
That’s not a resignation matter. That’s COMMENDABLE, you fools.
I just can’t take it. Thank heavens I have low blood pressure, because by now it would be through the roof.
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I read the article and the comments and I concluded that these people are either pretending to be or are plain stupid.
So, when Labour get into government, I’ll just take a 100-euro note, offer it to a public officer with a request for a favour, and Joseph Muscat resigns the next day.
They must think a VAT officer is, by default, a junior oligarch.
Blame it on timesofmalta.com and its PL elves in its newsroom, who created the hype.
It is deplorable that sections of the press expect that the police divulge all the information about a crime as soon as a journalist asks for it.
An essential element of the police interrogation of a suspect is for the suspect to show that he has “guilty knowledge” of details known only to the police and the criminal. That line of investigation is destroyed if those details have been published in the press.
I thought I was the only one to read and understand the story. Thanks, Daphne
The timesofmalta.com should be the one to ask those who “contribute” their wisdom on its comments-board for a 100 euros each, per comment. Plus VAT at 18%, of course. That should sanitise the comments-board.
They are not interested in commenting on or even acknowledging the facts. They merely want to spin the story so that they and fellow Laburisti are reassured that Gonzi is bad and Muscat is good.
Timesofmalta.com’s comments board has become something of a joke. Most of my comments, and these have become less frequent as I have given up, are not accepted. While others that are pro Labour and libellous/racist are freely accepted. What standards.
Yes I read the story and I thought, “big deal, he did the right thing”.
Then I saw the comments.
And I actually went back and reread the story because I thought to myself “hey dude, they want the resignation of everybody bar the pope. There must have been something you missed.”
Then I realised that the only thing I missed was that most people are stark raving mad and I resolved that I should start treating their ramblings as such.
They are not mad; they are Mintoffjani.
“They are not mad; they are Mintoffjani”.
I fail to see the difference.
The whole timesofmalta.com comments board brings to mind the mob in Monty Python’s ‘Burn the witch’ sketch.
No one knew what and why, but as long as there was a crowd yelling ‘Burn the witch!’, the bystanders joined in.
And then there was a very significant story yesterday re funds to private schools and support to parents which somehow The Times failed to pick up on.
May I ask if the editor of the print version is reponsible for the TRASH that appears on line? I plead with him to take a good look and see what can be done as it appears that The Times is fast sliding into laughable status. Ray, take care.
Do you really think there’s a significant difference between the two?
If you’re only referring to the online comments boards, I don’t think that censoring or editing the comments posted is going to change anything about the people that post them. They give a true picture of the people that we are, and hiding that picture won’t make us a better people.
I’m all for leaving them as they are, open to all. Readers are free to scroll past the comments if they’re not to their taste.
I’m more concerned about the poor content of the paper itself.
@ FP
There is a significant between the two. My comments frequently elicit massive hate and personal attacks against my person. Very often crucial replies in my defence, in defence of the government or of the church are either emasculated or suppressed.
If for no better reason, I should be allowed to defend myself in a civil manner at the same time elevating the level of The Times correspondence to that enjoyed by it in days gone by.
What was once Malta’s newspaper of record is being gradually reduced to the now defunct Union Press daily – Malta News.
Only fools and horses, and yes, people who post comments on timesofmalta.com.
All those comments about the above item have been inspired and inflamed by ‘jb’ and Gandalf Laiviera who seems to have nothing to do all day but to write comments on timesofmalta.com. You find his comments in most of the items reported on that newspaper.
I would change ‘fools’ to ‘idiots’.