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Showing posts from July, 2007

Audaciousness and other defects

Some people draw pride from stating that the Maltese are a quiet nation. History seems to prove their case. On the one hand they produce a string of conquerors (Phoenician, Carthaginian, .. French, British), and on the other, a meek and yielding people who suffer it all out with a saint’s patience and endurance. Needless to say, this is a convenient paradigm (and, like most of its type, false) that is generally intended to serve the purposes of projecting an image of our environment as ‘naturally’ and ‘historically’ or ‘traditionally’ safe (for both locals and foreigners). This philosophy seems to believe that, due to our seemingly long track-record of being accommodating and obliging, we are a sort of a breed that possesses this marvellous and commendable quality that makes us submissive, acquiescent and dutiful. Why this ridiculous belief continues to retain its grip on most people’s mind is easy enough: it has always been the way by which the ruling classes preserve their consol