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Majority of readers agree that the Maltese 'do not think a lot'
The majority of respondents to an online poll on MaltaToday.com.mt agree that the Maltese "are not people who think a lot"
19 May 2012, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
2 min read
Novelist Immanuel Mifsud claimed the Maltese "are concerned with image, not with content"
The vast majority of the 1080 respondents to an online poll on MaltaToday.com.mt have agreed with novelist Immanuel Mifsud's claim that the Maltese "are not people who think a lot."
Up to yesterday at 8pm, over 83% of the respondents expressed their agreement with the novelist's assertion that the maltese do not live in an environment which encourages them to make use of their grey matter. 807 of the 1080 said that mediocrity, provincialism and the Xarabank-isation of television is proof of Mifsud's bold claim while another 81 respondents said they agreed that the Maltese do not exactly have critical minds.
Speaking to The Times last week, Mifsud said "How can you think when you have Net and One? How can you think when comedy dramas on television want to make people laugh with the obvious? When the comedian is always portrayed as an ignorant, chavvy idiot? Like that, what's his name on Xarabank, Kajboj? How can you think in an environment like this?"
The author who has recently been awarded the EU Prize for Literature for his book In the Name of the Father (and of the Son), was highly critical of the highly politicised society we live in and added that Maltese literature was void of political references because people fear taking a stand.
The rest of the respondents disagreed with what Mifsud said with 5% saying Malta's so called provincialism guards the island from so called European, liberal 'values' and 13% saying they accept the Maltese for what they are; islanders in a zero-sum political scene where you have to choose to sides.
Mifsud blames the lack of reading in Malta on the fact that the form is given precedence over the content. According to the 2011 Culture Participation Survey published by the National Statistics Office (NSO), 28.5% of the Maltese did not read a complete book of the span of a year. 71.5% of respondents read at least one book with just over two thirds of these respondents reading more than one book.
The same survey shows that 77.1% of the Maltese watch television for at least half an hour every day.
The NSO survey also indicates that only 30.5% of the Maltese read one whole news article every day with over half of these preferring articles which feature current affairs.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
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Giovann , sorry to disappoint you , but I will not contest your appointment . Or if you prefer it in the only language that you understand ,and in a very simplistic manner , Baaa,Baaa,Baaaaaaa.
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Giovann , sorry to disappoint you , but I will not contest your appointment . Or if you prefer it in the only language that you understand ,and in a very simplistic manner , Baaa,Baaa,Baaaaaaa.
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Kif jisparixxu l-lejburisti.
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My comments are finding it more difficult to get through, so I try again.
How does Petruccio know that I am a super idiot, you may ask? Because Petruccio happens to be the President of International Idiots Association.
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The poll offered 4 possible answers, ALL OF WHICH AGREED WITH IMMANUEL MIFSUD'S PREMISE. I'm afraid you cannot draw conclusions such as this from the poll, only whether the readers think that this is a good thing or a bad thing.
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Petrucio easily recognizes an idiot when he sees one. As a President of Idiots International he often meets them at their weekly meetings.
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Three friends were having a drink at the gonzipn club in Mosta when one of them was about to tell a joke about Joseph Muscat. One of the others said "Wait look who walked in, it's Giovanni DeMartino let him hear the joke he will surely love it"... and the guy about to tell the joke said "Shit forget it I hate to repeat it three times".
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Three friends were having a drink at the gonzipn club in Mosta when one of them was about to tell a joke about Joseph Muscat. One of the others saiud "Wait look who walked in, it's Giovanni DeMartino let him hear the joke he will surely love"... and the guy about to tell the joke said "Shit forget it I hate to repeat it three times".
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Petruccio does recognize an idiot when he meets one! No wonder. Being the hon. president of idiots himself.
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It is not only the two-party system which is to blame, it is also the educational system. Most of us grew up in schools were independent thinking was punished and "parrot learning" was rewarded.
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Mr.Demartino , by reading most of your comment posted you are a good example of how stupid a person can be . To say to someone that he is ignorant when you are the must idiotic person on this planet,is a proof in itself.
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See! Franco was so quick to prove me right. In fact he found the reason why "the Maltese do not think" Because words like shit, ass, ecc get moderated. Because no one is allowed to insult the beliefs, any beliefs of others. Our plays are censored. We are very backward and we rarely, if ever, think. Not Franco, sure. He does think!
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50 years of political independence has allowed our lawyer/politicians, in pure sicilian mafia style, to create a complete sway away from the rigid strictures prevalent under foreign colonisers. This resulted in a tit-for-tat, football club style, political and social environment abhorred by all well wishing citizens, but adored by politicians and their hangers on.
Rather than developing Malta into a maturing nation, this fact together with the advent of mass, global communications, has catapulted the Maltese nation’s inbuilt insular mentality, for centuries grossly assuaged by the local Catholic church, into what we have today, as so callously exposed by our under forties’ generation.
An overbuilt, no maintanence, live for today, grab what you can culture evidenced everywhere, whether in the road network, Paceville, binge drinking, exploding number of single parents. Oh yes, then along comes some charity do and collections are stout. I suppose we believe that we would still go to heaven, concurrently clearing our conscience and buying our redemption by a €10 donation, perhaps even twice over, especially over a glass of whiskey or two.
WHEN WILL THE MALTESE DISCOVER AND VOTE INTO POWER A REAL LEADER!
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Even the local media helps in this regard, make a post that has maybe a couple of No-No words, like ass or shit and it gets moderated, ie not published. Make a pun or a play on words against a politician and again get censored.Too many sacred cows that must not be offended we are still colonial minded except instaed of a foreigner overseeing the country you get a bunch of clowns who consider themselves GOD's gift to Malta.
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I can assure you, Sir, that all those who said so believe that while the Maltese "do not think a lot", THEY DO think a lot. They are superior. Like those who are continually exclaiming that stupid phrase "Only in Malta". Corruption? Pickpocketing? late arrivals of buses, arrogant persons....anything negative...Only on Malta! How stupid we can sometimes be.
