Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1487971
I will preface this article with a disclaimer: I too have been guilty of wondering why people are not as outraged as I am about certain causes which to me are very im- portant. And yet they have melt- downs on things which, to me, are inconsequential. This week it happened again: a young man dies, buried under rubble as a building site collaps- es, and yet there has been more angst about the 10 cents levied on plastic bottles, and the fact that you have to recycle them to get your money back. In fact, I was strongly tempted to reply to all the anger and gnashing of teeth about these reverse vend- ing machines on Facebook and had actually typed out the fol- lowing paragraph: I still think that this scheme is a good idea. After all, the whole point is to cut down on the use of plastic which was not hap- pening, and we were drowning in plastic which is the cause of so much littering ...so if you don't want to pay the 10c, and if you think this is a scam, or a tax, you can use your head and invest in filters for tap water, Reverse Osmosis and other options (as so many people are already doing). No one is forc- ing you to keep buying all those plastic bottles of water. Unfor- tunately, unless you hit people's pockets it is now very obvious that they won't bother to choose environmentally friendly solu- tions. As for the the infirm and the elderly, one can always do a good deed and take their bottles to be recycled for them, and use the voucher for their shopping, so what's the problem? But instead of pressing 'post', I saved that reply for this column instead, and pressed 'delete'. The truth is that throughout the years I have learned to refrain from voicing certain thoughts on social media because the probability is that I will fall in- to a rabbit hole of never-end- ing comments and replies, with people tagging you until you look up from your PC or phone and a whole day has gone by. It is really a bottomless pit, and so not worth the time and the ag- gravation especially when some comments descend into rude- ness (because it is so very easy to be snarky when you are not looking a person in the face). And yet, in contrast to the 'rage against the machines', the rage against the unnecessary death of 20-year-old Jean Paul Sofia from the general public does not even begin to com- pare. I still cannot understand the comparative over-reaction about the former and can on- ly attribute it to the fact that people being literally killed by the construction industry is a tragically recurring situation which is now so out of control that most feel helpless to do anything about it. We get an- gry at the Government, the de- velopers, the architects and the OHSA, and yet nothing chang- es, year in, year out. In contrast, maybe the recycling scheme is something more tangible to get livid about, especially since the fury can be targeted at a spe- cific entity, namely the private company which is operating the scheme and pocketing the mon- ey. The "what about?" or "where were you …?" question has also prevailed on other topical is- sues. Tens of thousands of peo- ple showed up to protest against an amendment to the abortion law, and yet only a fraction of that number showed up to pro- test against yet another murder of a woman, the umpteenth vic- tim of domestic violence, thus prompting those who are pro- choice to conclude that pro-lif- ers don't really care about life at all. I've seen the same ques- tion repeated about the plight of refugees, especially pregnant women, out at sea: "where are all the pro-lifers?" Similarly, the question is often turned on its head by pro-life advocates, who ask, how can those who speak up for refugees and other vulnerable people be so ready to dismiss the life of a foetus? It is becoming increasingly clear that this comparison of 'whose cause is more worthy of outrage' is an exercise in futility and the reason should be obvi- ous. No one has ever changed anyone's mind on a deeply con- troversial issue simply by de- manding that they should care equally about everything that goes on. We are all different, and so are the causes close to our heart so by trying to use emotional blackmail or manip- ulation, it just does not work. It is also highly unfair to try and tighten the screws and put into question someone's moral con- victions (no matter how much they may jar with yours) by painting them out to be heart- less about other moral dilem- mas. Even if we may not understand the reasons ourselves, it is pa- tently clear that not everything that happens is on the radar of every single person with the same intensity or carries the same weight. It is a fact of life that people are usually mostly interested in what affects them personally and it is those issues which will get them all worked up. And, from the arguments I have been witnessing online, there is not much one can say to badger others into coming around to your point of view - on the contrary, the tendency is for them to dig their heels in even deeper. Can we please stop allowing criminals so freely into our country? Another day, another murder it seems. Only this time the victim was a hardened criminal of dual Brit- ish-Romanian nationality, Joseff Rivas (who was also known un- der another name), and whose violent past finally caught up with him. He was stabbed to death in broad daylight in Pace- ville by three other Romani- an men over a dispute about a prostitution ring they were run- ning in Malta. According to news reports: "the victim has had several brushes with the law in the UK and Romania. For some time he was on Interpol's wanted list and a European arrest warrant was issued in connection with a homicide in the UK. In Ro- mania he had served a prison sentence after he came to blows with a colleague and killed him, while more recently he was al- so involved in a robbery during which the victims were tor- tured." It is rather redundant to have to say it, but I suppose I must. How are these criminals being allowed in the country to roam around freely, when there are warrants out for their arrest? It is not of much comfort to read that "…Rivas, 44, had been a person of interest to interna- tional intelligence services due to suspected ties to organised crime. The Malta Police Force had reportedly been working together with the UK and Ro- manian police forces on the in- vestigation." It is not clear how long Ri- vas had been living in Malta… a year, six months, a month? Whatever the time period I find it impossible to believe that someone who is so wanted just slipped through the net, and started mingling (and work- ing) in Paceville's underbelly of crime just like that. It makes one wonder how many more wanted criminals we have allowed into the country. Freedom of movement within the EU was never meant to give a free pass for criminals. What is even more worrying, howev- er, is that once again we have a Great Wall of deafening silence from the authorities who are not forthcoming about how this man ended up living here. 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 DECEMBER 2022 OPINION The subject of my outrage is greater than yours Josanne Cassar Joseff Rivas was stabbed to death in Paceville last Monday