Things that irritate me

I take life as it comes but, being human, there are things that bother me too. These are some of the things that, at present, I find really irritating :

The Eurovision Song Contest

When this time of the year arrives, I get a fright because I know that so much precious time and space is going to be wasted by the Maltese media, and by those who have nothing better to do with their lives, on the nonsense that is the Eurovision Song Contest.

When will we learn the difference between petty trivialities and issues of national importance? It is pathetic that so many people become experts in a couple of weeks on a song contest that is totally irrelevant to our daily lives and then know next to nothing on such important things as our nation’s history and culture, economic matters, social issues and current events concerning the European Union of which we form part.

Noise pollution

I always thought that once we became members of the European Union, a beneficial consequence would be a campaign to eradicate noise pollution from the Maltese Islands.

I was proved totally wrong. Now let’s be honest about it, which citizen would not award the Nationalist Government a round zero for its efforts to eradicate noise pollution? It’s incredible but we still have cars going round the streets at night with their stereo full-on and invading the privacy of citizens’ homes with the vibration of their music as they pass by. This in 2009! And why do we still allow hawkers and gas-cylinder distributors to wake up the dead with the continuous blaring of their horns to signify their arrival? This uncivilized racket should be stopped once and for all.

Political intolerance

How I hate it when people involved in politics refer to other people with a different political opinion as “our enemies”! If we aspire towards improving the quality of politics in Malta, we have to first understand that we live in a democracy and we should, therefore, celebrate different political opinions and not behave as if we wish to live in a totalitarian state where there is only one single political ideology which everybody has to adhere to.

When supporters and members of one political party show respect towards the supporters and members of other political parties, that is already a first and significant step towards better-quality politics in the near future. Lack of respect and intolerance towards those with a different political opinion denigrates and cheapens Maltese politics.

Offensive columnists

I find it unacceptable that some newspaper columnists, albeit, fortunately, quite limited in number, offend the sentiments of many readers and write derogatory things about certain social groups and people in order to make their column more interesting and appealing to those in search of the sensational.

On the other hand, I find it ludicrous that people who feel offended by such writings rush into print to condemn the columnist in question and, in so doing, provide the very publicity that such a columnist is seeking and for which he/she wrote in that offensive manner in the first place. When a writer offends your sentiments, the best and most effective way to show your contempt for his/her writings is simply to ignore them. The more publicity you give him/her, the more you are encouraging him/her to continue writing in an offensive manner!