Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1459407
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 MARCH 2022 OPINION 15 Ten years of soul-searching later, we are ready to govern ROBERT Abela has been dodg- ing a debate for years. This week we finally understood why. Even when the odds are stacked against Bernard Grech, he comes out on top. To lack the ability to see be- yond that which you were brought up seeing, that which you are used to, and that which you have been exposed to for years, is not a sign of loyalty, but a sign of blind faith – and unless we're talking about religion (the general election is in less than a fortnight, so we're talking about politics) then honestly – blind faith has no place within our dis- course. Unfortunately, critical thinking has never been given the impor- tance it deserves in our educa- tional system. As a child, asking "why?" was often discouraged, because it's annoying or because there is seemingly no end to the amount of questions a child can come up with about even the most benign things (my little brother once spent a full car ride asking me about grains of sand. This ended with a lesson in how to do research – to cover for the fact that I had absolutely no idea whether there are more stars in the sky or grains of sand on the beaches). Our schools seem more con- cerned with how much we can remember and regurgitate rath- er than how we can apply the underlying principles of what we are learning. This does nothing to promote critical thinking. I truly believe that the no- tion of critical thinking strikes fear in the heart of Robert Ab- ela because a critically-minded electorate will be more likely to catch a government out, and put a stop to that which is unjust, corrupt or wrong. And what about the existence of confirmation bias? 'Confirma- tion bias' has been defined as the tendency to process information by looking for or interpreting in- formation that is consistent with our existing beliefs. This is not necessarily done in a conscious manner, but rather it is our default setting as hu- man beings. When you have a hypothesis, for example, "dogs make the best pets", you look for a multitude of confirmations of this statement to prove your point. You research the term "dogs make the best pets", put that in a Google search and find a number of articles written by people who agree with you. You cite those articles and sudden- ly your narrative becomes the unimpeachable truth, because "look how many people agree with this hypothesis!" But when we do this, we completely ne- gate the opinion of anyone who might be allergic to dogs, anyone who might be afraid of dogs, or anyone who might be a cat per- son. The important thing to note is that once we become aware of this tendency to look for infor- mation supporting that which we already know, it will allow us to broaden our horizons, change our perspective and begin to an- alyse critically. The Labour Party subscribes to the notion of giving out as little information as possible in order to avoid the possibility of crit- icism. This is demonstrated in the absence of a published man- ifesto on the part of the Labour Party. Robert Abela only pub- lished his electoral manifesto a week before early voting began, clearly afraid of public scruti- ny. He has successfully avoid- ed interviews, debates and has dodged questions by journalists for months now, and yet he ex- pects you – the voter – to cast a vote for something you've barely had enough time to read (espe- cially if, like me, you also work on the weekends). The notion is in itself beyond reproach. Why would someone with nothing to hide and noth- ing to be ashamed of continue to dodge journalists' questions and delay the electorate's ability to analyse their proposals? As the election is fast ap- proaching, let's broaden our horizons. If you usually get your news online, try a different web- site. If you usually watch one particular news station, watch a different one. If you listen to one radio station, maybe switch it up a little. Let's try to find our way out of the echo-chamber we've built for ourselves and entertain a differ- ent point of view. We might find ourselves pleasantly surprised as to what the future holds for our country. Labour like to spin the narra- tive of a lack of għaqda" within the PN, because we dare to ask questions, because we have a dif- ference of opinion, because we don't all ask "how high?" when told to jump and because we're not all yes-(wo)men. We aren't muzzled – we're encouraged to form our own opinions, to come together and discuss and build upon our different experiences to ensure that the final product is something that can truly bet- ter the state of our nation. The Nationalist Party has spent the past ten years soul-search- ing, listening to the electorate and mapping out a clear vision for our country. We are now ready to govern. Remember that it's always easy to clap for the incumbent, but it's a lot more fun to celebrate the underdog. Emma Portelli Bonnici is a lawyer and PN candidate on the 9th and 10th districts emma@emmaportellibonnici.com Emma Portelli Bonnici