Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1493176
13 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 FEBRUARY 2023 OPINION EVER wondered how such things as 'religions' even came into being, in the first place? With all their myriad components of 'faith'; 'dogma'; 'ritual worship'; 'ances- tral prophecies'… and above all, the eternal promise that a 'Messi- ah' will one day come, to 'deliver us from all Evil'? (Including, pre- sumably, the 'Evil' that the same Messiah will surely inflict upon us… if we choose NOT to actually be 'delivered from it', after all?) Well: if such imponderable questions have ever troubled you, in the past… trouble yourself no further! All you need to do is take a close look at what's happening in the Nationalist Party, right now; and, just like that – mirac- ulously – 'all your prayers will be answered'. In fact, you could almost de- scribe the entire PN leadership dispute, in itself, as a handbook entitled: "How to start up your very own Religion, in three, very simple steps." Step 1: Engineer an artificial sense of 'hopelessness', or 'de- spair', among Nationalist Party voters… to the extent that they no longer believe the PN can even survive the next couple of years; let alone, actually win any more elections in future (forever and ever, until the end of Time, Amen!) Step 2: Conjure up a dazzling vi- sion of a new, all-powerful 'Mes- siah': who represents – not un- like Obi Wan Kenobi from that other religion, 'Star Wars' – the Nationalist Party's 'only hope' of salvation; Step 3: Deliver a series of 'Divine Prophecies', which accurately pre- dict the fruition of all these 'salva- tion' promises– as a CERTAINTY, please note (and within a deadline of 2027, no less!) – but only on a couple of small conditions. Namely, that: a) Nationalist Par- ty supporters must relinquish all former allegiance, to any other 'false idols' they may have wor- shipped in the past; and b) they must prostrate them- selves humbly at their new Mes- siah's feet; and implore Her, incessantly - through prayers, exhortations, and various other acts of online 'self-flagellation' – to "take pity upon us poor sinning Nationalists, in the hour of our utmost despair…" Now, in case you think I'm making all this up; this is what it sounds like, in the words of the actual Prophets and Patriarchs of this new religion (which already has a name, by the way - 'Met- solism' – as well as its own 'cult following' on the Internet). Talking to this newspaper 'on strict condition of anonymity', a small group of veteran Nation- alist parliamentarians said that 'they are pinning their hopes on Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, to take the PN's lead into 2027." "Roberta Metsola has her own political ambitions – we know that it will be her victory, and not the party's, in 2024. We think she can be Malta's next prime minis- ter if she takes over in 2024…" "[…] Only Metsola is the best- placed to help the PN make a quantum leap in time for 2027. Bernard cannot bring the party together nor attract new blood. Metsola, on the other hand, will be a formidable opponent to Robert Abela, and her success story will galvanise new voters and bring back others to the Na- tionalist fold." There, see what I mean? Just count the number of times those Nationalist MPs used the Future Tense, to dangle their 'Messianic vision' before our eyes. "Metsola WILL be a formidable opponent to Abela"; "Her success story WILL galvanise new voters; it WILL bring back others to the fold", etc, etc… … for all the world as though Roberta Metsola's future success, as the pre-ordained 'leader of the Nationalist Party', were practical- ly GUARANTEED from before- hand; despite the fact that… Well, do I even need to go on? For starters: there is no indica- tion whatsoever that Roberta Metsola herself is even remote- ly interested in abandoning her stratospherically-successful (not to mention infinitely more glam- orous) international career… for any reason at all, I would imagine: but least of all, for the sole pur- pose of 'cleaning up the ungodly mess that those same Prophets have already made of the Na- tionalist Party' (whilst they them- selves just sit back on their lazy arses, of course; and watch her do all the hard work…) No indeed: I certainly know what MY answer would be, if I were in Roberta Metsola's place (and I'll give you a hint: it would be too impolite, to even repro- duce in print). But I don't want to make the same mistake myself, of predicting future events that may not actually materialise, as foretold. Because this, as I see it, is the main problem with this new cult called 'Metsolism'. Like all other examples of religious 'dogma', those prophecies hinge directly on a rather large number of as- sumptions, and pre-suppositions: all of which could just as easily turn out to be… well, WRONG. Let's start with the most glaring of the lot: "we know that it will be her victory, and not the party's, in 2024"… Erm: sorry to ask, but… what 'victory in 2024' are they specif- ically alluding to, there? Robert Metsola's own personal triumph, in next year's European elections? Or – because the sentence can also be interpreted this way – a 'victory for the Nationalist Par- ty, as a whole'? (Perhaps because Metsola's landslide will be so ut- terly earthshattering… that she'll even win the PN a couple of extra seats, over and above her own?) In the latter case: I am told that Psychiatry has made significant advances, in recent years… so who knows? Maybe those peo- ple can be cured, one day, of the psychotic delusions that clearly afflict them…. In the former scenario, on the other hand: it suggests that those Prophets must possess some kind of 'crystal ball', which gives them pre-emptive insight into the re- sults of any election… a full year before a single vote has even been cast! And not only does their crystal ball magically inform them – be- yond any doubt - that Roberta Metsola is cruising towards com- fortable re-election, in 2024…. but she is also expected to 'sub- stantially increase her own share of the vote' (for THAT is the on- ly outcome that can realistically qualify as a 'personal victory' for Roberta Metsola: an improve- ment over past performance). Now: to be fair, I concede that such an outcome remains fully within the realms of possibility (and yes: it may even be a 'like- lihood', all things considered). But… is it really as 'guaranteed', as those Nationalist MPs seem to believe? I doubt it, myself. For starters, because Metsola's meteoric as- cent, in European politics, also came at the cost of some of her own domestic support. For in- stance: by promising to sign the [pro-choice] Simone Veil Pact, as one of the conditions to become European Parliament president… Roberta Metsola may have al- ienated (in some cases, PERMA- NENTLY) a sizeable chunk of her own voter-base, within the Nationalist Party's pro-life camp. Admittedly, it is difficult to pre- dict just how seriously this will impact her 2024 performance – on its own, my guess is 'not very much' – but it also has to be viewed in the context of all the bitter infighting that the PN has been experiencing, over the past couple of years. For better or worse, Robert Metsola 'took sides' in that con- flict: she was even named as one of the 'Blue Heroes', whose ac- tions led directly to the downfall of Adrian Delia (which, in turn, precipitated so much of the PN's current, woeful situation, to be- gin with). All that, by the way, happened AFTER the last European elec- tion she herself contested, in 2019; and so – as with the abor- tion issue – it remains to be seen whether (or to what extent) it will dent her otherwise 'pre-ordained victory', in 2024. Put it all together, however, and the picture that emerges is rather different, from the one an- ticipated by all those 'Metsolist (Metsolian?) Prophets'. Not only might Roberta Metsola actual- ly end up STRUGGLING, next year, to 'improve over her past performance' (and possibly – al- beit not probably – even to 'retain her EP seat')… but she will almost certainly face considerable re- sistance, when it comes to Phase Two of the operation: i.e., suc- cessfully installing her as the next PN leader, after Bernard Grech. For that, her acolytes will have to do a little more than just 'sit back, and hope (and pray) that Roberta Metsola might one day descend from her dizzying heights in Brussels; and use all her magical, mystical powers to 'deliver the PN from yet another humiliating defeat, in 2027'. They'd also have to engineer yet another farcically-uncontested 'PN leadership election', to guar- antee the 'pre-ordained result' they so clearly desire. And failing that, they would have to mount a 'whispering campaign' against any other leadership-hopeful – which may-or-may-not include both Bernard Grech, AND Adri- an Delia – who dare commit the 'heresy' of actually challenging Metsola's 'divine claim' to that same position. In other words, they would have to resort to precisely the same tactics, that have already caused so much of the 'predicament' they themselves are supposedly trying to solve. But that only brings us to the biggest flaw by far, with this en- tire "Holy Metsola, pray for us" approach. The predicament we are talking about here is, after all, a POLITICAL issue… and NOT a religious one. As such, it clearly requires a POLITICAL solution… instead of just encouraging "blind faith in the supernatural capabilities of any one, individual human being" (especially when you also con- sider that – when it comes to the crunch - it would be a 'miracle' indeed, if Robert Metsola actual- ly accepted that offer, in the first place). After all: there must be some kind of limit, in the end, to how many 'miracles' you can actually pray for, at once… 'Holy Metsola, pray for us…' Raphael Vassallo