Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1190498
25 OPINION nation founded on the values of 'hospitality' and 'Christian altruism'. I can just imagine how this annual cornucopia of self- flattery must have irked and bristled Daphne Caruana Galizia, as she blogged about it from time to time. But again, I recall no blogpost calling for L-Istrina to just be dismantled altogether, from one day to the next. Daphne would, no doubt, have reasoned that even a festival of hypocrisy remains preferable to no charity at all: especially when the main beneficiaries are tradition- ally Malta's most vulnerable categories… the destitute, the dispossessed, the terminally ill, those with special needs, and so on. Which brings us to those who now argue that – given the 'national mood' (in other words, their own mood: which they very generously project onto everyone and his adopted dog) – L-Istrina should now be either 'cancelled' or 'boy- cotted', in view of the current political climate. Like Confucius' saying about the man who made a mistake in an elevator… this is wrong on so many levels. One of those levels is that it's just plain old nihilistic, at the end of the day. Some people seem hell-bent on stamping out L-Istrina, warts and all, to replace it with… nothing whatsoever. Makes you wonder why they're content only with L-Istrina, come to think of it. Why not cancel Christmas, too? Or New Year's Eve...? I'm not in much of a mood for the Festive Season my- self, to tell you the truth. My natural inclination, right now, is not exactly to put on a fake white beard (not to mention around 50 kilos), and hang around street corners yelling 'Ho, Ho, Ho' at any old ran- dom passing stranger. And I could certainly do without Christmas Carols blaring out from every shop- ping centre speaker-system, 24/7 (I mean, honestly: don't they know there's a political crisis going on?) But then again, I'm no longer that little five-year-old kid who used to write obsequious letters to Father Christmas each year, asking for preferen- tial freebies on the basis of a blatant lie (i.e., that I'd been "a good little boy all year round". I mean, honestly: then we all scratch our heads and wonder where our 'culture of corrup- tion' comes from…) Truth be told, these days I find myself much more aligned with Ebeneezer Scrooge. To me, the 'season to be jolly' really is nothing but a load of humbug. But Christmas is not meant for disillusioned old fogeys like me…. well, let's not be too hasty. Perhaps part of it is: for Christmas is also a time for families to get together; and besides, the word 'spirit' has more than one meaning, you know… Bottom line, however, is that Christmas should not depend on my, your or anyone else's 'mood'. Like charity, it serves a much-needed purpose; and whatever my feelings about the current political situation, I can still perceive and appre- ciate that fact (though I may look forward to it more or less as much as all the turkeys do.) But it's not just L-Istrina that faces the possibility of being wiped out, in this great national drive for self-flag- ellation. When Miriam Dalli announced she would not be contesting the Labour leader- ship race, I saw arguments to the effect that the Labour Party should cancel even that: as though Joseph Muscat should step down instantly – if not just commit ritual hara-ki- ri, and get it over with – to be replaced with… nobody at all. All this, at a time when there appears to be no viable Op- position, either. So if certain extremists (and I do not use that word lightly) get their way, we would be left with: no government; no Opposition; no L-Istrina; no Christmas, no New Year's Eve… no frigging nothing, but chaos and insta- bility as far as the eye can see… with no light at the end of the tunnel, either. But perhaps the most ni- hilistic aspect of it all is that these arguments come at a time when those protesting against Muscat's government have clearly won. The murder investigation has vindicated all their previous arguments that Daphne was murdered specifically on account of government corruption. And while Muscat has (unwisely, it must be said) postponed his inevitable departure by over one month… he nonetheless will inevitably depart; and in ignominy, too. He is now the Prime Minister whose hand no one wants to shake; a pariah on both the na- tional and international stage. But still, the humiliation is not complete. We have to cancel L-Istrina, too… so that Malta's poorest and neediest also get to needlessly bear the brunt of Muscat's irresponsibility as prime minister… you know, just to rub it all in that much more. Having said all this: it would indeed be preferable if Jo- seph Muscat were to likewise acknowledge the sheer extent of his defeat – or, if nothing else, the damage his delay is causing to the country as a whole – and bow out in one fell swoop (instead of only in bits and bobs). But there is a limit to how much the rest of the country should be willing to scuttle itself, to achieve that one goal. And besides: if the argument is that 'Malta is in a state of abnormality' – which it unde- niably is – well, I'll be damned if I can see how 'normality' can ever be restored, by just annihilating everything that doesn't instantly conform to the narrative that… erm… 'Malta is a state of abnormal- ity'… Sort of defeats the whole purpose right there, doesn't it? Ah, but that all depends on what 'the whole purpose' really is, at the end of the day… maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2019 She is now either the 'witch of Bidnija'; or the infallible 'one-woman Wiki-leaks' who could literally do no wrong… with nothing in between. But that simply isn't true, and we all know it. In a very short time, we seem to have forgotten that there was all along a third Daphne Caruana Galizia, midway between those two extremes I can just imagine how this annual cornucopia of self-flattery must have irked and bristled Daphne Caruana Galizia, as she blogged about it from time to time. But again, I recall no blogpost calling for L-Istrina to just be dismantled altogether, from one day to the next