The horrific shooting in Tucson, Arizona, of Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords at the beginning of last month, which left nine other people dead including a young girl, should, in my view, teach all Maltese politicians, journalists, bloggers and columnists a lesson.

Vitriolic rhetoric can be dangerous. Using brazen violent language and symbols is dangerous and, as the County Sheriff Clarence Dupink said a day after the shooting, in every society there are unbalanced people who respond violently to vitriol that comes from certain mouths.

He lamented that the anger, hatred and bigotry that some people in politics evoke is outrageous. He was probably referring to Sarah Palin and other fanatic right-wing politicians.

Unfortunately, reading some blogs makes me think that we have our own Sarah Palin. We have our own group of frustrated journalists who use their powerful pen to evoke hatred against Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party. I have spent a number of years in politics. I have never hurt a fly. I have never been able to hate someone, not even those who attacked me personally.

But I have been no angel. Sometimes in my speeches I may have aroused emotion and hatred towards my political adversaries. For this I apologise.

Fortunately, age brings with it maturity and a sense of balance which is not always present when you are young and making fiery speeches.

I confess that I usually do not read those bloggers known for their personal vindictive vitriol in their writing. However, make no mistake. They have their own followers. Maybe hundreds if not thousands. The way they demonise people, the way they direct their toxic stream of hatred, terrifies me. The inflammatory rhetoric lays bear their troubled soul.

We have a collective responsibility to expose these people.