Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1490058
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 COMMENT Fair value for farmers' land MIGUEL AZZOPARDI PAGE 11 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON Rivers of tears PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN The nanny state for you PAGE 5 EDITORIAL Back to censorship, under 'progressive' Labour PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASAR Singing people's praises after they've gone PAGE 6 We cannot let speculative interests jeopardise the farming sector by turning agricultural land into something to be bought and sold to the highest bidder What are we skinning? The boys in blue feeling obligated to come after satirist Matthew Bonanno (he of 'Bis-Serjeta') for his suggestion that the evangelical religious group River of Love be relocated to Bugibba so as to be carpet-bombed in a less picturesque location than its former HQ in Zebbug. Why are we skinning it? Because it's an absurd legal non-starter, for one thing. More than that though, it's because a case like this ends up with us having to go through the whole 'what am even sat- ire?'; 'what be hate speech' rigmarole all over again... Why do people still trip up over words whose definition can easily be found by flipping through the nearest dictionary... online, too! I think it has something to do with how our brains are generally a mess that will prevent us from taking a linear route to 'clean' knowledge at every opportunity. Yeah. That, and the ten- dency of emotion to trump (!) all rational discourse either way, solidifying pre-existing prejudices all the while. But I thought we were done with this whole censorship lark. We are, in some ways. Technically speaking, Bonanno's fallen foul of the 'misuse of elec- tronic equipment' law, and for 'hate speech'... But hate speech should be actionable in some way. Hey, who are we to say that Bonanno can't have a flo- tilla of fighter jets stashed away somewhere? The police certainly seemed confident about it. 'Misplaced efficiency' should be carved onto the sleeves of their new- ly-minted uniforms. Though the Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms set up a press conference to announce that the fight against gay conversion therapy will be strength- ened even further... And we all know which group gay conversion therapy is associated with... A total coincidence, though, right? Or a mas- terstroke move by a gov- ernment that's become an expert in public relations saves. Do say: "While online hate speech is indeed a serious matter – and not just ironically serious like the Bis-Serjeta' monicker will have you believe – a clear distinction needs to be made between hate speech which signals and real and present danger and delib- erately inflated comments made with satirical intent and with no basis in the real world out there." Don't say: "The suggestion that Bugibba be razed to the ground is a serious offence indeed, as that would result in the con- tainment field that keeps all the British tourists and expats in to burst, unleash- ing them on an unsuspect- ing island ill-equipped to deal with their misplaced colonial superiority com- plex and irrational urge for fried fatty foods, 24/7." No 174 – Carpets over Bugibba