Freedom of expression

I read The Times on a daily basis, however one of my favourite contributors is I. M. Beck. It is probably the column I look forward to the whole week through as it always affords a good laugh free of charge. I can't miss his VivaMalta website quotes and, especially, the Norman Lowell quotes. How naïve can a person be today to simply believe a single quote out of a whole article?

We have been going on like this for ages in Malta. The Nationalist Party says everything is positive and the Malta Labour Party says everything is negative. I. M. Beck is saying all right wing ideas are bad. When a person writes in this manner it is clear he understands nothing about politics.

I am impressed by I. M. Beck's democracy when he describes forum users who do not have his same ideas in politics as bigots, idiots, etc. I think he is the one who needs a lesson in true democracy. In a democracy one is free to voice one's opinion, even if that opinion is a dissident one. After all every single person in this country knows that the media is closed to right wing parties and also to people who militate in big parties that are of the opinion that illegal immigration should stop. Thank God Alfred Sant has now, at last, declared we cannot keep on going like this.

I. M. Beck's opinion seems to be that the disaster that is ruining our country is just the fault of two men by the names of Alfred Sant and Norman Lowell. This is patently ridiculous - the disaster in this island is attributable directly to the policies of Lawrence Gonzi and it is obvious that his results in the first months of his administration are simply abysmal. We probably have the worse recession Malta has had in the last 40 years.

I will surely respect I. M. Beck's opinion but he should try to start respecting others who do not agree with him. He is a simple citizen, like any other Maltese. He is not God's gift to our island or to humanity, with powers to dictate what is right or wrong. Right or wrong is decided in an election by every citizen.

Yes, I am one of those 97 per cent of the Maltese who do not want certain people as my neighbours. I would certainly prefer to be called a racist by the do-gooders rather than be remembered as a traitor of this island in the future.