More illiberal thinking dressed up as its opposite – this time on the subject of women
I notice what people really think, what they truly believe and what their real attitude is, even if they are trying to conceal it in other ways, by the nuances in their use of language.
Call it a professional advantage – when you work with words every day, they become your stock in trade and the way other people use them becomes the first thing you notice and home in on.
The first thing a cleaner notices when entering somebody’s home for the first time is the way ornaments are cleaned around and not lifted for a wipe beneath.
The first thing a dermatologist notices when being introduced to a person is the moles on his face, quickly registering whether they show signs of abnormality or not.
And the first thing I notice is the subtext in what a person is saying, which is where the real meaning lies.
Coincidentally, both the prime minister and his wife revealed exactly what they think about women’s role in the family and society last night on television, despite all their talk of progressive liberalism – and it is really not surprising, because their own lifestyle choice is exactly that.
“I go to the supermarket with my wife and so I know what things cost,” the prime minister said at Marsascala. What he meant there was that his wife goes to the supermarket and he goes with her (it’s lost in translation).
A man who is truly contemporary without having to think about it would say, automatically because that is the way he thinks of it, “My wife and I go to the supermarket” or just plain and simple, “I go to the supermarket.”
“Childcare is really important for women because it helps them get out of the house and work,” the prime minister’s wife said on Ilsien in-Nisa. This reveals that she starts from the archaic default position that children are their mother’s responsibility and their father is peripheral to the situation. True, it is the general default position in Malta and many women actually work to shore it up because it gives meaning to their lives (causing catastrophe when the children grow up, and causing mothers to delay their growing up and lengthen their dependency into adulthood) but it is far from progressive.
Contemporary liberal Europe is way ahead of Mrs Muscat on that score: childcare is there to help both parents work properly, and not just the mother, because both parents are equally responsible for them. Mrs Muscat speaks of married women as though they are single mothers. That is precisely the mentality she should be fighting against, where she not that way herself (as I suspect).
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Well, she ranted on about the catechism classes as though her life depended on it.
Mrs Muscat, what happens in our world when we can’t or won’t send our children to catechism is that we don’t, and we don’t bat an eyelid.
These are not issues or problems – they are simple daily decisions that one makes without thinking twice, unlike people like you who faff on about it – god forbid you were faced with an important decision.
Not to mention the whole thing is hypocritical and only there to get votes in the first place.
I think her contempt for the Church, its institutions and those who man them and its teachings have already been shown time and time again.
Shes so fake … ja hamalla minn qiegh ir-Rabat bir-rispett kollu lejn ir-Rabtin.
“qiegh ir-Rabat” phrase totally uncalled for, but otherwise agreed!
MIn qiegh in-Nigret tar-Rabat to be more specific.
Where you come from is not a choice anyone gets to make. Where you go is. Your “min qiegh in-Nigret tar-Rabat to be more specific.” speaks volumes on how far you’ve come in life I’m afraid. That snobbish self justification gets you nowhere and belies the intrinsic insecurity goading the ‘i’m better than them’ outlook which in reality, seeing as it’s wholly based on geographical location of birth, is far from being an opinion steeped in any sort of discerning wit or wisdom. You are the product of a part failure (i don’t know enough about you to feel qualified to comment further) of your raising on the part of your parents, or perhaps your upbringing caused you to have peers which influenced you in a rather distasteful manner. Luckily though, it gives you the unwavering expectation that you can loftily talk down on people because of where they are from, rather than what they do with themselves. I take my hat off to you sir/madam.
Yes, my very recent experience of young PL diehard Mintuffiani is that they talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. They rail against the Church and conservatism but then insist on a Church wedding and the woman staying at home to get fat and complain about the price of tuna.
On a related topic, one can always spot a racist because they will constantly talk the talk. They will continually pass PC comments and denounce people for their racism when in actual fact it is they who are racist. I know you are an anglophile Daphne but I have especially noticed this in the UK, strangely enough more often than not on the Left of politics; the English are still intrinsically racist. Their treatment of their colonies and their scapegoating of the Afrikaaners in SA for example was disgusting.
Then when Italians are outwardly racist it is picked up by the media and the stereotypes are drawn. You will see the same people who are labelled racist show a level of respect towards those foreigners who work hard to earn a living whilst many of the English, in the same situation, would still look upon them as inferiors.
The example I have given above can be applied to sexism too. Tony Abbott, Australia’s PM was accused of misogyny and was really vilified by the former government. But ultimately it was clear that he was not at all a misogynist and that in fact the accusers were the real misogynists – quite incredible really especially considering that they were women.
I too deal in words and I can pick out someone’s bias in an instant.
Tangent.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140515/local/broadcasting-authority-pulls-imperium-europa-political-spot-after-media-concern.519161
Imperium Europa’s founder, leader and erstwhile MEP candidate Norman Lowell was employed with National Bank of Malta/BOV for about 25 years until in early nineties he was requested to resign asap. He always referred to himself as a “banker” not as “bank manager”. In the early years he was a rabid Jew hater, denying the Holocaust and a great fan of David Irving , Nietzsche and Aleister Crowley . And he also dabbled in painting with no great success. After his precipitous exit from the bank, he was not in employment again as far as is known, so much so that people wondered how he survived.
Then when the refugees from North Africa started arriving in Malta, he founded Imperium Europa………
‘After his precipitous exit from the bank, he was not in employment again as far as is known, so much so that people wondered how he survived.’
Could it be from the dubious earnings that were the catalyst for his precipitous exit from the bank?
Whatever Michelle Muscat’s stated views are on the subject of women in the contemporary world, it is pointless repeating them when her own lifestyle is a throwback to the 1950s. I mean, really, WHAT does she do all day?
Her forays into public life consist of propping up her husband, dreadful faux pas – the most recent being presenting herself as Mrs Angelo Farrugia to get to meet the Pope again – and, god help us, organising fashion shows for other women, using public assets as venues and props, including members of the Armed Forces of Malta.
If there is any point to this silly woman’s public role it is as a perfect example of the pointless existence so many women aspire to lead while fooling themselves that they are doing something useful.
If Michelle Muscat thinks the young person’s unit at Mount Carmel Hospital needs a good going-over, she should dump the fashion show posturing, kick that fat slob of a husband out of bed and give him a bollocking from hell for scrounging off the taxpayer by renting out his own car to the government for a fee.
If he really wants to use his car as an official vehicle, he can do so without charging a rental fee and reroute his annual 7,000 euros into the health budget with express instructions for it to be spent on the young person’s unit at Mount Carmel Hospital.
That would be more efficient all round and Villa Francia, Girgenti Palace and the Auberge de Castille can then be put to more dignified use than Michelle Muscat’s Eva Peronesque shenanigans at which her guests generally tend to be, like their hostess, the most fatuous women in Malta.
Your last sentence is the saddest of all.
All this pretence. For what exactly?
“Childcare is really important for women because it helps them get out of the house and work”
A woman who does not want, or cannot, get out of the house and work will not really benefit from this. I hardly think anyone who plans to stay at home with the children would suddenly change their mind.
However, her implication is even worse in my opinion because she seems to be referring to the standard situation of children being born in wedlock and with the father being the breadwinner.
There is no mention of the help to be provided to single mothers who obviously have to work full time (yes reduced hours are technically available but if you want to make ends meet it is not feasible).
Whether we (single mothers) like it or not, we have “to get out of the house and work”. We do not do it simply because we’re bored and need something “biex taljiena”.
We do it because we have children to raise on our own. The extent of their anti-liberalism is such that growing sections of our community are not even included in the equation.
And before I start hearing about all the social benefits available, I pay taxes and I get a pittance in children’s allowance because the thresholds are utterly ridiculous. So, please, spare me.
About this free childcare, my daughter sent her son to a government childcare centre and till today I can say she pays. So where is it free?
In our household, it is my husband who does the grocery shopping whilst I generally do the cooking though that is not cast in stone either way.
We both do what we needs to be done though the line was drawn at breastfeeding.
We both work, both do the school runs, and both try to spend time with the children.
The Muscat family are not a modern family at all but one straight out of the ’50s except that Mrs Muscat is pushy as opposed to demure.
Three cheers for all the husbands and dads who do the supermarket round – my husband has been doing this since I got pregnant with our eldest child and over the years the trend of men taking up the shopping role has really increased
Daphne please, spare me the pain. PLEASE