Don't attack him; just pity him
Someone asked me whether or not I will be rebutting the gratuitous accusations the Hon Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando once more made against me. However, this time the honourable gentleman upped the ante by attacking me in the august chamber of the House of Representatives. I thank him for the honour. He did not bother to bring forward any proof. The eminent politician probably believes that he is the truth personified and consequently producing proofs of what he alleged would be infra dig.
The Romans used to say that quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur. A free English translation would be: Don't waste time on bile spewed irresponsibly.
As a result I do not think there is any need for an answer. But I will give another reason for not answering, doing this in an attempt to persuade people not to attack Dr Pullicino Orlando for voting the way he voted in Parliament. People should refrain from attacking him even though they feel outraged at what he committed last Monday.
Dr Pullicino Orlando speech, to which I listened with the level of attention it deserved, reminded me of a verbal diatribe he indulged in some time ago in my regard. Let me share with you the incident.
During the divorce referendum campaign I accompanied Dr Arthur Galea Salamone, one of the leaders of the No campaign, to the Where's Everybody studios for a debate with Dr Deborah Schembri. Dr Pullicino Orlando was there. I tried to do the decent thing that is usually done in civilised environments among gentlemen. I approached him to shake his hands. As soon as he saw me approach he went into a fit. The man was beside himself. He started shouting and insulting me at the top of his voice. "Get out from here", he bellowed repeatedly.
I stayed calm. "I accept your insults since that would compensate for Lenten sacrifices", I said. "But can I ask with what authority you are ordering me out from a building you don't own?" Chucking people out of building you don't own is normally called arrogance. He did not answer except to screech more spicy insults. He made veiled but vile allegations about me. Once more he did not attempt to provide a shred of proof. He is The Truth, remember? As a courageous politician he refrained from saying specific things. I guess even in his fit of frenzy he was attentive not to open himself to a court case.
What struck me more than the content of his invective was his demeanour. He was hysterical. As one colloquially says, he had lost it completely.
Then I understood why a member of the Yes campaign had told me that they considered Dr Pullicino Orlando as a liability and many in the No campaign considered him to be their greatest asset.
At one point Dr Pullicino Orlando gave me the reason for his hissy fit. In 2008 I had the cheek to take the mickey out of him in a short piece in this blog. I must have been a miserable and awful creature to have the gall to poke fun at such a noble gentleman. He decreed that I had to do penance for my writing.
Last Monday I listened to the same JPO. He was not hysterical but he showed the same level of anger, bitterness and vindictiveness in his speech attacking Richard Cachia Caruana. Last Monday I pitied JPO just as much as I pitied him when he attacked me in the studios of WE. A man who carries inside him all this anger and bitterness must be a man who is suffering a lot. His pain must be excruciating.
Don't attack him, just pity him and move on.
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Stephen Galea
Jun 23rd 2012, 00:12
Don't attack him;
The other time I heard this phrase was way back in 70's by a union leader during a meeting at the yard. That time HIM was Furtu Selvatico. As soon this phrase was uttered, a small group of people attacked Furtu. The phrase seemed as a signal then. Eventually he lived some more, but did not live to old age.
I may not support what one or the other does or say,
But,To be objective, dear reverendo, you are also accusing without producing proof.
Patrik Larsson
Jun 26th 2012, 09:24
Ah, so to accuse someone of baseless accusations demands evidence. Then of course you need to provide evidence, as you are accusing Fr. Joe of accusing JPO of accusing Fr. Joe without any evidence. And of course I need to provide evidence of accusing you of accusing Fr. Joe of... I could go on.
JPO have made numerous accusation over the last few days. Fr. Joe, ABC, DCG (why doesn't Fr. Joe have a traditional Maltese three-letter abbreviation? FJB?) and many others. Are we supposed to take this hysteria seriously? The man have turned into a complete joke, but unfortunately a joke which had consequences for the whole nation.
Mark Said LL.D.
Jun 22nd 2012, 11:38
Fr. Borg,
I do pity the poor fellow......and I will certainly move on!
J E Micallef
Jun 22nd 2012, 11:25
I think you mean "Don't attack him, just forgive him".
Jonathan Zammit Lapira
Jun 23rd 2012, 11:03
Hekk suppost jippridkaw dawn li jpingu lilhom infushom qaddisin u min ma jaqbilx maghhom huwa demonju!!!!
Alex Ellul
Jun 21st 2012, 16:40
Fr. Joe, a very apt Japanese saying: Wait long enough in front of the river and you will watch the bodies of your enemies floating by.
The local version would end with ".... watch the bodies of your 'friends' floating by."
JPO was caught in the act doing the wrong thing just days before the last elections and then expecting the Prime Minister to give him a ministership. Failing this he goes for Dr. Gonzi's jugular. For sure JPO's political corpse will soon be seen floating by carried to the ocean, while Dr. Gonzi may still have a slight chance of making it out of the political operating theater.
Eddy Privitera
Jun 21st 2012, 15:56
PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULD NOT THROW STONES !
Antoine Vella
Jun 23rd 2012, 16:00
Well, edyjoyce, why are YOU throwing stones then?
Alfred Vassallo
Jun 30th 2012, 09:40
@
Antoine Vella
Perhaps because; If they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.
George Cutajar
Jun 21st 2012, 15:56
A man who carries inside him all this anger and bitterness must be a man who is suffering a lot. His pain must be excruciating.
Well said - Guess it applied to Debono and Mugliette as well. They are all angry and bitter at having been looked over for a ministerial post while most of their peers made it. What a striking difference between the way these three MP's ( for that read Miserable Persons) acted since the 2008 election and Francis Zammit Dimech's stand.
Mario Scicluna
Jun 21st 2012, 15:38
'As a man of the church, you should stay out of matters of the state.!' How true, but this might not be balm for our dear blogger.
It will be very very difficult for our Joe Borg with the Fr in front(no disrespect of course) to stay out of politics, then whom else besides his chummy bloggers ABC and their ilk aka PN apologists to vilify and start the character attck on JPO! It is quite obvious why and these cowardly attacks aimed solely at JPO and Onor Mugliett consolidate my reasoning as to why all this sudden ferocity and concentrated broadsides on them.
As I said earlier on other articles on TOM online, the Divorce Referendum result, and the subsequent implimentation of the Divorce Bill, has not yet gone smoothly down the throat of certain factions and the Church itself! A sour pill indeed Fr. Joe Borg, better get used to it. Perhaps the Theory of Evolution by Darwin shook the very foundations of the beliefs within Christian Church, but the Maltese are not gullible nowadays either Fr.
Andy Farrugia
Jun 21st 2012, 15:48
As a matter of fact and to be quite honest, the divorce referendum issue (with all the insults, dirty tricks, lies and denigration of honest people conducted by assorted members of the YES campaign) did not go down my throat either smoothly or with difficulty. Just like potential future issues related to the destruction of the traditional family, abortion, euthanasia, legalisation of drugs and other abhorrent attacks on the Church and believers will be equally indigestible and unacceptable for me.
Alfred Fenech
Jun 21st 2012, 15:25
Cant take the heat !!!
Joseph Camilleri
Jun 21st 2012, 15:24
I agree so wholeheartedly with the last paragraph. Particularly the last line. Trouble is, he is visiting his pain on others.
d. attard
Jun 21st 2012, 14:56
Disgust is a disruptive emotion that drives people apart. This valueless and unpleasant behaviour robs emotions of their positive values and can become a habitual response whenever a person showing disgust is denied anything, or his dominance of personality is threatened. To JPO and others I salute for their efforts to bring democratic sanity to a country that seems to be managed by a cluless oligarchy as people of great abilities are left lurching in nothingness as our Nation moves from mediocrity to a state of the art mediocrity...There is now indeed an honest hope that real positive change, that needs many years to right things, is in the offing. People like JPO, Farrugia, Debono, Arrigo, Mugliette Dalli, Falzon and others will hopefully be given their dues as being prime catalysts leading to this positive hope of an honest Society.
Andy Farrugia
Jun 21st 2012, 15:07
Your notions of "honesty, values, and democracy" are far removed from mine!
Andy Farrugia
Jun 21st 2012, 15:31
And the "catalysts" that you list as exemplars of these qualities are even further removed!
Franco Farrugia
Jun 24th 2012, 19:55
Do you have any inkling as to what moral values are?
C Agius
Jun 21st 2012, 13:35
As a man of the church, you should stay out of matters of the state.
David Farrugia
Jun 21st 2012, 21:27
Just a wolf in sheep's clothing, C. Agius. We know him well by now. He is part of the clique we often hear mentioned in parliament. Maybe blogging provides some sort of relief to a poisoned heart.
Franco Farrugia
Jun 22nd 2012, 09:42
Here, you are mistaken - very mistaken!
I, for one, have been very active in commenting in favour of a YES in the Divorce campaign, even and more so in this blog page.
However, never did I, for one, deny members of the clergy or indeed the Catholic Church in Malta, the right to express themselves as they wishes in such a matter.
What I always objected to was their expecting that the country's MPs should be coerced in any manner into following the precepts of the Church's hierarchy, come what may, and without question.
Now, you speak of 'matters of the state' and that 'as a man of the church', Fr Borg should 'stay out'. First, what do you mean by 'matters of the state'? Certainly if you mean the divorce referendum, then you are waaaaaaaaaay out of line, here - it was a subject that the Church more than anyone else had a right and duty to 'stay' in! If you mean that Fr Borg, being a clergyman, should have bowed his head low because he was being verbally abused by an upstart of a pseudo-politician, or any other MP, for that matter - to me, most if not all MPs in Malta are upstarts - then, again, you are way out of line, and very wrong!
So, that brings us to the question: what did you mean by 'matters of the state'?
And, remember that Fr Borg is also a citizen, not just a priest. He has every right to 'stay in' in 'matters of the state', why not? I mean, if fools have the right to express themselves in public - as we see here in this medium - why shouldn't intelligent people such as Fr Borg stay in?
If only people would PONDER on what they are about to write in public, there would be less idiocy in these pages.
Mr Andrew Camilleri
Jun 22nd 2012, 13:03
Mr Agius, you got it wrong. It does not matter is a priest gets involved in matters of the state. But it does mattera lot if he gets involved in the politics of the state/ Joe Borg has made very clear that he is very much against the Labour Party, clearly criticising the LP at any chance. But then he gets upset when he is accused of this. Sorry, Joey, its not your place to meddle in politics. Let the pharisees do this - but not a priest of the Catholic Church. And let me remind you that not only nationalists are catholics- labourites are catholics too.
Andy Farrugia
Jun 22nd 2012, 18:56
@ Andrew Camilleri
So, you think that you can decide how other citizens should behave? What sort of political apparatchik are you? Do you trace your roots back to the KGB by any chance?
Marco Farrugia
Jun 21st 2012, 12:57
So true!!
Andy Farrugia
Jun 21st 2012, 12:51
I beg to differ... if that particular MP, who has a tendency to suddenly burst into tears as comic accompaniment to his dissolute behaviour, had to make similar accusations about me outside parliament, I would open legal proceedings against him. And I would do this not merely on a personal basis, but also because of the station and mission/profession that I occupy. But then this is simply my view of things. I would never allow a character (described by an opposition MP, ex PM, and leader of the OPPOSITION, as "morally bankrupt") to tarnish my reputation and that of a much greater body than myself by association.
Please choose the reason of your report below: