Instant karma’s gonna get you…

So Simon Busuttil got booed at a charity concert, did he? How shocking. How awful. And how utterly, utterly predictable... given that Busuttil has himself contributed in no uncertain terms to what can only be described as national culture of political hatred and division in this country of ours; a culture which (let's face it) can only be expressed in terms of boos and hisses anyway.

But of course, there are different ways to boo and hiss. It's perfectly OK to invest all your political capital in endlessly transmitting the message - from the mass meeting pulpit, on TV, in the newspapers and in blogs (above all in blogs... 'let slip the blogs of war', and all that) - that the entire Labour Party, together with the 56% percent of the population that it represents, actually constitutes some kind of subspecies of semi-human detritus, worthy only of being dumped in the nearest trash receptacle.

But it doesn't work the other round. Labour supporters cannot boo and hiss at their Nationalist superiors, because... um... they'll get terribly upset, you know. And we can't have nice, well-brought up 'puliti' from good families getting all upset on us, now can we?

So without further ado: there are three reasons why I think that... well, perhaps Simon got precisely what he deserved at that concert after all.

1. Yes, of course it is awful and worrying that the above-mentioned culture of political hatred and division has now reached such ridiculous proportions that it even spills over into the realm of charity concerts.

But let's not forget who it was who deliberately fanned the flames of that same political hatred in the first place. Who told us before the last election that all the pretty, 'puliti' Labour candidates had the 'face of a Nationalist'... thus implying that the default "face of a Laburist" was the sort of thing you'd associate with an identity parade for 'Malta's ugliest and most deformed'?

And who was it who delighted in predicting various shades of the Apocalypse, should the country ever be run by (horror of horrors) Labour 'hamalli' who have no clue about the way things work in the real world? "Gas down dritt ghal gol-hajt", Busuttil told us back then. You just can't trust Labour to drive the motor of the economy... not because of any directional problem implicit in their 'road map' (which by the way is identical to the PN's); but simply because you can't trust a Labour driver under any circumstances whatsoever. They can't drive, remember? Only Nationalists have that kind of natural talent and ability.

Admittedly, you can't use the word 'racist' to describe that particular brand of raw, naked prejudice and undisguised hatred, because (contrary to what many Nationalists seem to think) "Labour" does not actually constitute an ethnic group in its own right. But in all other aspects the same prejudice is entirely analogous to racism, and every inch as disgusting and reprehensible.

And yes, it fully deserves to be unceremoniously booed offstage.

2. Simon Busuttil is not exactly your reluctant politician, you know. Like Jonathan Harker, he stepped across the threshold of Castle Dracula freely and of his own will. And he desperately wanted to be leader of that party, too. Oooh, he wanted it, he desired it, his every thought was bent upon it... and now that he's finally got it... well, it's a little late to suddenly discover that a certain degree of nastiness also comes with the territory, don't you think?

Any PN leader will automatically be hated by half the country: and for reasons outlined above, in this case the hatred forms part of a natural come-uppance, for having stoked the same hatred many PN supporters now howl and wail about because it is directed at their own beloved leader (when by rights it should be directed at the other half of the country's beloved leader... in which case it is no longer hate speech, but 'legitimate criticism' and an 'exercise in freedom of expression')

So please: don't come bleating like a sacrificial lamb, simply because you got a tiny dose of the same medicine that you yourself ordered over the counter (note: this is the only type of medicine that is never out of stock in our country).

3. This may come as a great big earth-shattering shock to the Simons and Josephs of this world... but not everyone who goes to a rock concert does so to catch a fleeting glimpse of his country's dear political leaders. Some of us go there for this thing called MUSIC (yeah, I know that's hugely unreasonable on our part, but what do you do? The world's a screwed up place).

Concert organizers would be wise to take stock of this reality in future. People are fed up to the back teeth with Maltese politics, and they made this abundantly clear of a number of occasions. So what exactly were the concert promoters expecting, when they publicly thanked the prime minister and opposition leader for attending a show to which they were most probably issued complimentary tickets anyway... and not, say, the rest of the audience, who paid good money to attend the same event?

That's the equivalent of rubbing your own audience's nose in the fact that some concert-goers are more equal than others. And even if it wasn't for the blatant preferential treatment, there is the simple matter of over-exposure to deal with. Nobody spends 10 euros to hear the sound of vomit-inducing flattery from the main stage. Not when they can get that for free in the comfort of their own living room, just by switching on their TV set.

Having said all this, I wouldn't have booed were I present on this occasion. That's just bad form as far as I am concerned. But nor will I pretend to be shocked or even dismayed by this turn of events, either. This is the culture Simon et al took such an enthusiastic role in creating and inculcating. This is precisely the type of monster they deliberately created in their secret political laboratory... and they'd better get used to the fact that they have no control over it at all.