I’ve come to the conclusion that there are three ways to cope with the onslaught of hysteria, evangelical dribble and plain pomposity that flows unabated into the Maltese public space.

And that does not include picking an argument with the authors of the cack, for purveyors of this sort of nonsense are invariably armed with a book of readily packaged quotes or platitudes. Certain reactions also lead me to lose hope that the “reasonable politics” approach, supported by people like him, will get us very far (truth be told, he too has a sense of humour).

The three options?

1) One of these is to simply ignore the cack, or to pretend that it doesn’t exist at all. I know many people who’ve chosen this path. But it appears to me that only the very thick-skinned or the incredibly pragmatic can get away with this approach successfully. And let’s face it, it does take a certain “I couldn’t give a flying fuck” attitude to pull that one off and ignore anything that’s happening outside your cosy niche. Even the Maltin ta’ barra can’t seem to make this work for them.

2) Another way, I suppose, is to fling your laptop, television or newspaper out of the window.

3) The way forward, I think is humour. As Vlad shows, the pages of Malta’s favourite daily offer a gold-mine of opportunity for anyone who’s willing to wade through the mass of nonsense and pomposity. For the problem isn’t that Xarabank is still chugging along or that The Sunday Times will soon complete its transformation into L’Osservatore Romano. Or even that the ANR exists, I hazard to add. Arguing that it’s bad TV or bad journalism or bad politics won’t get us far and can be just as pedantic and boring.

What we really need is Les Guignols de l’Info, the cult puppet-show on Canal Plus in which talk-show hosts, politicians, pundits, sportsmen, TV presenters, singers and ‘the general public’ are given a daily run for their money. When I lived in Rennes, the French even had the Journal de Moustique which was a send-up of the news in which France became a tiny country called le Groeland. A bit like Not the Nine O’Clock News in the UK.

I’m not sure that arguments are always enough. Humour just might be. And it will certainly be worth the ride.

Oh. And while the beginner navigates the slopes and he downs the Black Gold we hope to have a good laugh at everyone's expense from our rainy outpost.

¶ 5:43 AM