Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/384358
19 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2014 to you, too… many innocent people did the Scottish first minister imprison or kill, to deserve a comparison with one of the world's most reviled and hated dictators? None, of course. Salmond's grave crime was to threaten to do what any nationalist leader – of any country, at any epoch in history – would after all be expected to do, and steer his country in a different direction from the one recommended by the Telegraph. And that's a conservative paper, by the way. The astonishing thing about this referendum was how it was covered by even the traditionally more anti- establishment of the British media. The Guardian went positively overboard with endless nightmare stories of what independence would actually mean for the Scots. Loss of currency, the relocation of banks south of the border… price increases in everything from mortgages to supermarket commodities to postage stamps to tartan fabric… the depletion of oil reserves… loss of the NHS… a revolt by the Shetland Islands… even Nessie would abandon Scotland in disgust. And on it went: one headline after another, day after day, week after week, all suggesting that Scottish independence would be the single greatest threat to Life on Earth. And incredibly, the rest of the world followed suit. The European Commission stuck its oar in, too, and generously gave the No campaign a leg-up by suggesting that Scotland's membership in the EU would be automatically null and void should the country choose independence. This all adds up to a remarkable volte-face from the same British press (and the same European Commission) that roundly supported Kosovar independence just a couple of years ago… and which generally champion democracy in all other scenarios except their own backyard. Makes you wonder what it is that frightens the establishment so much… not just in Britain, but also in Brussels and even across the Atlantic (Bill and Hilary Clinton likewise campaigned against Scottish independence too… though strangely, they stopped short of advocating a return of their own United States to its pre-1776 status of British colony). But the one that clinched this extraordinary sentiment – this naked fear of and undisguised contempt for anything that threatens the precious status quo – was a headline in the New Statesman: "Scotland would be selling itself short if it opts for the banality of independence". Got that, folks? The 'banality' of independence. The 'banality' of seeking to emancipate oneself from foreign rule. The 'banality' of a dream that has motivated millions of people worldwide since time immemorial… a dream that men and women have fought and died for, and continue to fight and die for to this day. Personally, I don't think I've ever heard such an outrageous and egregious insult heaped onto all the nations of this world which have tried, successfully or otherwise, to carve out their own destiny throughout history. But then again, insults such as this have been the hallmark of the world media's coverage of this campaign from day one. So I suppose it shouldn't really surprise us that newspapers would now cheapen and devalue the idea that a nation should aspire to such trifling banalities as 'freedom'. The same 'banality' we are all celebrating today as a milestone of our own identity as a nation. And this is where the two anniversaries we commemorate this week start to echo each other. In practice, our attitude towards such issues as 'independence' is no different from our attitude towards such issues as 'normality' when watching The Addams Family. Think of it this way. Surely, you would all be surprised and alarmed to discover that your next door neighbour was in reality a vampire, a ghoul or a werewolf. But if you were living in The Addams Family universe instead of the real world, not only would you expect that to be the case… but you might even be dismayed or disappointed to discover that your neighbour was perfectly normal instead. Well, the shift in global perspective with regard to the self determination of nations is no different. Traditionally, 'independence' has always been viewed as a good thing: a noble aim for any nation to aspire to, and something worth fighting and even dying for. Yet this week we all saw the same concept reviled, spat upon and humiliated: held up as an object of terror and the stuff of nightmares, or reduced to nothing more than a trifle, a childish self-indulgence for the selfish and the spoilt rotten... or as the New Statesman put it, a 'banality'. So what's there left to say? Happy Banality, everyone. Here's to another 50 years of horror and despair… Traditionally, 'independence' has always been viewed as a good thing, yet this week we saw the same concept reviled, spat upon and humiliated, held up as an object of terror or reduced to nothing more than a trifle