Reading most of the online comments to a recent Times of Malta article entitled ‘English language schools close as industry faces severe test’ (July 21), I am not sure whether to laugh out loud or to cry and tear my hair out.

One person commenting rightly pointed out that many such comments were “puerile, sweeping generalisations...”

He may also have wished to add “narrow minded, bigoted, selfish, shallow, pontificating...”

I cannot believe I waded through all those comments to find so few of them that have shown an effort to see the bigger picture, to show a little consideration for those who are losing their jobs, taking massive cuts in their incomes, closing down businesses they have worked so hard at building up, wondering whether they would have enough to pay their rent and their children’s running costs.

Are the commentators even trying to understand the most basic principles of macro-economics and the long-term consequences on society that will ensue from what has been happening as a result of how the world has tackled this recent crisis?

We have been seeing international health agencies and the medical community worldwide pressure governments into implementing policies that effectively have been butchering the global economy and curtailing people’s rights to work and move about freely; in the same way a quack would treat an infected finger nail by cutting off an entire arm with a kitchen knife, and then probably going for the other arm as well just in case, you know, for good measure.

Yet, all the people could think of when reading about the language schools closing down was “oh, I am so glad that the unruly teenagers are not around (since when are teenagers not unruly?) to bother me in my ivory tower”.

The whole handling worldwide of this recent crisis that fell out of the firmament from nowhere like a meteorite will, in my opinion, go down in history as the sinking of a global Titanic. And this as a result of unimaginable incompetence, short sightedness, paranoia, vested interests, hidden agendas and stupidity in global policy making, in our brave new globalised world.

And all this, furthermore, while passengers aboard that global Titanic fretted about how cold it was outside, preferring to remain in their luxury lounges (for lounges, read ivory towers) rather than head for the lifeboats. Yes, that really happened too aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912.

International health agencies and the medical community worldwide have pressured governments into implementing policies that effectively butchered the global economy- Rodolfo Ragonesi

Even the crew had initially advised them for so long to head for the safety of their cabins (for cabins, read lockdowns) rather than the lifeboats, until they finally realised that the ship was, well, sinking.

And yes, this is my opinion, as I stated. We are all entitled to one to be sure, including those of us who may think that we should wreck the global economy, while ordering people not showing signs of illness to stay home in their caves.

They may think it is wiser to insist that people try to run away from a pathogen rather than face it, as we always have done in the past, with a naturally boosted immune system and healthy lifestyle, while holding the fort of the economy that sustains the lifeblood of society.

Whenever a fort was under attack in human history, the policy was always to protect the vulnerable who cannot fight by sheltering them from the salvoes of the enemy, while having the strong go out to protect and defend the fort.

Never were the strong and healthy ordered to retreat deep into the bowels of the fortress, to cower and shake in fear, while the enemy launched its salvoes against its walls, and raised ladders to scale them. And if they ever were, one could rest assured that such fortresses would have fallen like a house of cards.

The fortress of the global economy has taken a massive beating while people were told to seek the shelter of their homes rather than face a pathogen by following a healthy regime and defeating it on the ground, through natural immunisation. Though severely battered, that economic fortress has not yet fallen after the first assault.

There has been talk worldwide of adopting the same policy of once again locking down and thus shutting down economies in a so-called ‘second wave’. If this policy were to be implemented again, despite what we should have learned by now, including that the statistics provided were unreliable and misleading, and that the health crisis was blown way out of proportion, the fortresses of the global and national economy will not survive the second assault. Of this, I am absolutely certain.

Only time will tell how accurate my opinion is, as a portrayal of events, public attitudes, and the formulation and handling of policies here and across the globe, in the year 2020. But if I am right, it would be no consolation to tell the authorities and citizens of the island that have been warned, “We told you so”.

As for the pontificating commentators in their ivory towers, who seemed so happy that the life blood of the language school industry in Malta was sucked right out of it in the past weeks, with the blissful absence of all the teenagers donning their mini-skirts, flashing their tanned legs, and holding up their beer bottles, good luck with that.

The reality of what has happened this year, and is still happening, on a macro-economic as well as on a social level, will, I feel, hit them pretty soon, a little like a freight train. But then again, I guess they have never been hit by a freight train!

Such is the false luxury of living in a well-insulated ivory tower, in a little island economy.

Rodolfo Ragonesi is a lawyer and researcher in international affairs.