Probably it is already December 22 in Australia meaning that the world has survived the Mayan prophecy – or its misinterpretation – that the world would end on December 21. The Australians enjoyed a day by the sea instead. Remember that Santa’s photos over there are taken on sandy beaches and not on snowy planes!
Over here it is cloudy and a bit cold. Nothing to write home about considering that our 17 centigrade is quite a warm type of weather when compared to the minus twelve centigrade prevailing, for example, in parts of the Ukraine. I pick this country as this morning the BBC World Service reported that in recent days three dozen people died of the cold in Ukraine.
Autumn has ended and we today hail winter; a season which I hate.
The stupidities uttered and the hype inflated during the last year about this supposedly Mayan prophecy are incredible. The pure fantasy bordering on hallucination was the daily fare fuelled as it was by the media’s ever-growing frenzy to publicise sensationalist news. It seems that we are living in a culture which glorifies and feasts on inane ideas. The more stupid an idea is the more media coverage it will engender. Media coverage begets media coverage which in turn begets business. Stupidity, besides money, it seems, make the world go round.
Few realise that this hullabaloo was not just a harmless prank. People were hurt in the process. A local psychiatrist said on television that several people consulted him because of the tension this hype created. For many this is not of major concern as only people were negatively affected. Had a cat or a dog or a cockroach been affected by this stupidity the animal rights groups would have declared war on the media presenters and pundits who made animals suffer because of their shows. However, it seems it is ok if people are made to suffer.
This type of attitude which frames journalistic coverage in an entertaining garb blurs the line between the serious, the bizarre and the banal. People will find it problematic to know what the heck is really going on.
On the local level the end of the previous Mayan era was characterised the unexpected resignation of Dr Anglu Farrugia from the post of Deputy leadership of the Partit Laburista. The letter of Dr Farrugia to Dr Muscat, published this morning on TVAM, already sheds new light on the drama which was unfolded yesterday. Dr Muscat did a Barroso to Dr Farrugia. The manifest reason given is Farrugia’s criticism of a magistrate Farrugia judiciously preferred not to mention by name. The letter of Dr Farrugia stated that Dr Muscat congratulated him following the speech which is now labelled as the cause of the resignation. The mind boggles.
On the international level the coverage of the fiscal cliff issue in the United States is just another example that there will not be a dull moment in the present Mayan era. Now that the world has survived the Mayan prophesy we are being told that it can go over a cliff! More prophesies of doom and gloom are being spewed.
Let the circus go on. The panis et circenses syndrome did not end with the fall of the Roman Empire. Postman was right to point out that we are amusing ourselves to death!