I’ve been on record as saying that the matter of censorship in Malta needs a long hard look. My idea is not that powers of the censor should be strengthened; quite the contrary, I believe it’s high time the idea that someone, be he or she ever so devout or of high moral standards, should have the power to tell me, apostate or of brutish standards that I may be, what I may or may not see or hear be consigned to the rubbish bin of history.

This is not to say that a free-for-all should reign. Vulnerable persons, whether as participants in the representation concerned or as potential viewers, should be protected with all the vigour that society can muster. Anyone who seeks to abuse children, for instance, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and beyond, with the key thrown away.

Children should also be protected from being exposed to representations that might be harmful and appropriate measures to ensure that proper guidance on what is on show is available and to prevent children viewing it should be in place.

But this does not mean that anything more than this is acceptable in a grown-up society. It is unmitigated arrogance for anyone to tell me, or you, or Joe Blogs down the road, that I, you or he are not mature enough to read, see or watch anything we want to. Frankly, I know that many people are not, actually, mature enough to function in a grown-up society – look at some of the comments that follow columns like this – but the fact remains that, since we don’t live in a totalitarian country, where Big Brother knows all and permits, or doesn’t, all, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Equally, therefore, no one can impose his or her views of what is good or bad for me on me, whether he is the Rector Magnificus or she is the chairman of the board of cinema censors.

And it’s about time this was taken on board once and for all and the Morality Police (and the real ones) told to bow out of our lives. In the 21st century, getting a criminal record, with the added insult of being put on some offenders’ list because some busy-body thought it was his sacred duty to make a report, is ridiculous in the extreme.

Almost as ridiculous as, say, a mannequin in a shop window being the subject of an official visit by the fuzz to the shop owner.

The problem is that, in the same way our MPs seem to be hell-bent on abdicating their responsibility to legislate on divorce, preferring to dump the issue in the laps of us, the great unwashed, thereby opening the door to the question being answered not being the question put, likewise they don’t seem to be prepared to grasp the nettle and legislate to ensure that the busy-bodies and the Thought Police get out of our lives.

As an aside, my point about the question regarding divorce is quite simple. Given the way the anti-divorce lobbyists have been campaigning against divorce as a concept, it is clear that a referendum on whether to introduce a system that allows the dissolution of the civil contract of marriage will be turned into a vote on whether divorce is good or bad. Which means it is more than likely that the point will be missed entirely and the will of those who would not divorce for moral reasons will be imposed on those whose conscience is comfortable with regulating their lives differently.

And this, they tell us, is democracy. According to these people’s interpretation of democracy, their version of morality, their standards of decency, have to be adopted by me, willy nilly and whether I like it or not. This is not, actually, democracy; it’s more akin to the sort of mentality that led to books being burned and Stars of David embroidered onto jackets.

Incidentally, what brought this rant on was the news item about the Front Against Censorship getting all antsy about the amendments to the law taken through the House.

It seems that the amendments weren’t the liking of the liberals but it also seems they don’t seem to have taken the opportunity to make their thoughts known when the time was ripe. This doesn’t excuse the MPs for making things worse, if such was what they managed to achieve, but it’s a bit lame for the Front to moan about it now if they didn’t do that little thing at the right time.

For the people who only read this column to find out where they should have a meal, I shall mention we had a rather decent piece of cooked cow at The Chop House in Tigné. Not a place to go to if you’re one of those veggie people, of course, but the quality of the meat makes it worth the schlep through that rather depressing car park and the almost equally depressing (because it’s deserted at night – I’m sure it’s great when the shops are open) shopping mall and blocks of flats.

imbocca@gmail.com

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