As I waited in the derelict blankness of room 101, I pondered as to their next step. I knew I was guilty, of course I was guilty! I was guilty even before I made any half-public manifestation of unorthodoxy, and was unceremoniously dumped into that most fearsome of categories. I was neither here nor there, they couldn't pigeon-hole me, but for that very fact they would butcher me on the grounds of being an enemy of the party, of the government, of the state and of mankind.
Whilst Orwell's dystopia hasn't quite come to fruition 24 years later, there are evident signs in Maltese society of a more intelligent and subtle version. Quite simply, people who even just attempt to think outside the box are considered a dangerous species, because they have no clear allegiances and no predictable plans of action.
Of course they are not killed, maimed, tortured or vaporised, that would be too risky, a citizen's fundamental rights must be hitherto respected. But free-thinking souls are frowned upon, bullied and psychologically emarginated. They are lambasted as a threat to the stability of society, to the future of the country, to our children! They are set up as objects of hate for their indiscipline. How on earth is it that they do not passionately support the party, the cause, life itself? They must obviously be stark raving mad, or at best, stupid.
Does it not bother anybody that politicians know of our every move? That political parties contain databases with information as to what we do and what we think, yet by some stroke of a magical legal pen, allow what is disallowed for practically all other entities? That at a very young age we are brainwashed into believing that our party is our salvation, while the ‘other side' wants to see hell on earth for us? That the electoral campaign is ‘hate month' where we vent all our anger towards the enemy at the mere mention or sight, and omit to remember that bar the fact that we were born into different families and social circles, we are essentially all the same?
By refusing to accept all this, I am guilty as charged. By refusing to fall for newspeak and doublethink, I am a silly idiot. Eco-tax? No, eco-contribution! Reception class? No, repeater class! Let us avoid a constitutional crisis which we created in the first place so as to be able to scare people and manipulate their vote to avoid a constitutional crisis! Let us say that partnership won the referendum and celebrate in the streets! Let us adore Big Brother for all that he has done for us!
Hatemongering and scaremongering should not be tolerated in a free and democratic society. They may be part of the game, yet perhaps we shouldn't stoop to play the game in the first place. Slavery is NOT freedom! War is NOT peace! We've all got the same DNA! We should not be controlled by fear, yet enlightened by hope.
Whilst students will find it difficult to come through victorious in a thought-revolution, they are the closest thing to a possible brotherhood. The thought-police are onto me, but I will continue to flee. I am a thought-criminal, is there anybody out there?
Mark Sciriha is a former editor of The Insiter and is currently completing the final year of his LLD degree. www.insite.org.mt