I.M. Beck quote unquote

The headline in l-orizzont or It-Torca on some day or other last week (what do you expect, I'm going to dig up the back-numbers or something?) was revealing, if nothing else.

The headline referred to yet another protest by the fundamentalists against The Da Vinci Code movie, this time apparently one on the more passive side, lighting a candle in the window or something like that. I've nothing against this, of course, as these people have a right to express themselves and, at least by doing it this way, they're not trying to tell me what to do all the time.

The thing is, the headline read Night Of Repression Against The Da Vinci Code - Families Light Windows In Protest. Of course, what the sub-editor meant was "night of reparation", rather than repression, but, sadly for him, he mixed up "ripressjoni" (repression) with "reparazzjoni" (reparation) conjuring up images thereby of jack-booted Christians goose stepping around shoving The Da Vinci Code readers into the gutter and piling up copies of the book for a bonfire.

There are those who believe there are no accidents - everything happens for a reason. If this is the case, and frankly I am not a subscriber to this school of thought, since there can't really be a reason for politicians, then the headline reveals the mentality of its composer and the nature of its subject. Is there a Freudian in the house? Do we have a crisis of identity?

I haven't seen the movie, yet, incidentally, and it seems to have been panned by the critics. I'll have to watch it, naturally, if only to annoy Mr Vince Marshall and his cohorts, but I'm almost not looking forward to it any more. If it turns out to be good, I'll have to start thinking that the world's movie critics are Fifth Columnist Fundamentalists, which would be quite a horrific thought.

Surf on over

While on the subject of jack-booted thugs, I was sent an e-mail purporting to come from "Norman Lowell", which, of course, it hadn't.

The address on the mail was maltanaziparty@zoomshare.com so it was pretty darn clear to me that it wasn't Mr Lowell who had seen fit to communicate with me: I don't imagine he's actually dumb enough to use "maltanaziparty" as a moniker.

What was interesting about the e-mail, though, was the web page, or more correctly, series of web pages, to which it directed me, http://www.maltanaziparty.zoomshare.com (timesofmalta.com dissociates itself from contents on this site)

I clicked on the link, not without some trepidation, since I have engendered in myself some healthy paranoia when it comes to dealing with the Revoltingly Rightist Ringworms, but I was emboldened by the fact that I have quite a decent anti-virus, anti-spam and anti-bigotry set up.

It was an interesting diversion, I must say, full of allegations, assertions and observations.

Now, there will be those who will believe that I have set up this site myself in order to besmirch the good name of Mr Lowell and his buddies. Well, in the first place, doing that little thing would be quite an achievement in itself (work it out) and in the second place, I don't have the techie skills to set up a website, so that's me out of the frame.

And if you want further proof that the hand behind the site isn't mine, I'd invite you to consider the prose-style employed and compare it to this.

Now, far be it from me to suggest to you that there's any truth whatsoever in the allegations made on the website. You mustn't believe everything you read on the World Wide Nitweb.

On the other hand, if the serious press (such as, say, the competition on Sunday, last Sunday, where one can find Ms Daphne Caruana Galizia's rather fine exposè of Mr Lowell and his dear, dear friends) uses the same facts, there are those that argue that their credibility is thereby increased.

Judge for yourselves, why don't you?

Déjà vu (ecoutè)

Pardon my French, but I got that sort of feeling when I read on di-ve.com that "on his part, the president of MAM Dr Stephen Fava said that one of the problems being faced by the sector that could also get worse in the future is the fact that many Maltese doctors chose to practise in another country, leading to a lack of doctors..."

The good doctor was expressing this thought, which is, indeed, to an extent, a worrying one, in the context of his association's colloquy with none other than the man himself, come on down, did you think I'd forgotten you, Doctor Alfred Sant.

A sense of irony and humour is not, I find, one of the more developed attributes of most medical gentlemen (cfr. the one from Ta' Xbiex, who still hasn't apologised) and Dr Fava, who is no doubt an excellent physician, seems to have failed to comprehend that people of my generation would shake their head in awe at the sight and sound of the Medical Association of Malta sitting down in all its glory with the leadership of the Malta Labour Party to bewail the abandonment of our shores by exemplars of the medical profession.

All I can say is, at least this time around, the brain drain, if there is one, is happening because people are choosing to earn a better living elsewhere, not because they are being forced to leave their country by the vicious policies of the government of the day.

Who's the fool?

Allow me to pose just a small question, to which I have no doubt that I will not get an answer. Not one that will satisfy me, anyway.

Who is the traffic planning genius (sorry if that came out a bit muffled, my tongue is firmly lodged in the time-honoured place) who imposed a 70 kph limit on the Zebbug-Rabat stretch of the CHOGM highway, when the national speed limit is 80 kph?

What conceivable reason is there for the marginally lower limit on this stretch, which can safely be negotiated at 100 kph and higher by a competent driver with a roadworthy vehicle?

Yes, I know, that's two questions, the latter of which was not a small one, but the spokeslady for the Malta Transport Authority needs something to get her teeth into.

From my mail

On a correctorial note (and I know the word doesn't exist) it's not Sliema Tower towards which you head to get to the Kitchen, it's St Julians, as a reader took pains to point out to me.

Another reader, a Dane (unsurprisingly) correctly pointed out that my reference to "there's the rub" was from Hamlet, and he went on to thank me for standing up to the rightist bigots that are infesting the country.

It's nice to know we're not alone, us columnists, even as Mr Lowell threatens to string us up from a convenient lamp-post.

While I was writing this bit, serendipitously the e-mail thing pinged and there, lo and behold, was a mail that married my two favourite themes of the moment.

The mail told me about this bloke who refuses to watch The Da Vinci Code because it is against the Church's teachings, but who attends Norman Lowell's meetings and expresses the thought that his ideas are not all that bad.

How's that for a fine example of consistency? Isn't it about time, I ask for the nth time, that the Church took a stand on the incipient racism that infests this so-called Christian country? The rub lies in the fact that too many people in this country fail to take a robust view about such things.

It's all very well trying to deny freedom of expression to movie makers who are in Hollywood, counting their money, oblivious of the fact that on a rock in the middle of the Mediterranean, fundamentalism is alive and well. People who are perfectly happy about this turn their principles on their head when it comes to denying - perfectly correctly - any freedom to express views that are nothing short of revolting and, some say, downright illegal.

No, on such things, the concept of freedom of expression comes to the fore, allowing otherwise insignificant pipsqueaks such as Norman Lowell to stand on the steps of the law courts and spout ludicrous inanities about repression and tyranny, for all the world as if his own ideas, expressed for all the world to behold, and pour scorn on, were not themselves expressions of tyranny and bigotry, repressive of the most basic of all rights, the right to a decent life.

Would the bleeding heart so-called liberals for whom it is convenient to allow Mr Lowell and his ilk to be portrayed as a news item finally take on board the simple stark fact that this man's ideas are condemnable and contemptible?

On travel

I have never, if memory serves, travelled by rickshaw, but last Friday, I travelled to it.

To the Rickshaw, I mean, and the travel was not particularly onerous, since it involved, basically, crossing San Anton Gardens. It was a journey that would have been worth taking had it been one of many miles, too, because the food was really rather good.

We'll be back.

bocca@waldonet.net.mt