Do you remember the good old days when you would say really stupid stuff to your group of friends and then go home, feel silly but literally never have to hear about it again? Well, someone should tell our politicians that those days are long gone.
The internet is a magnificent, intricate palace of information: it brings us weather predictions (mostly incorrect ones), news from all over the world that has us living in a perpetual state of anxiety, and what Sarah, Sally and Sue were thinking about their ex-boyfriends yesterday.
It also tells us when our politicians really should have heeded their mother’s advice and not said the first thing which popped into their heads (here is looking at you Jason Micallef: no new year, new you for you).
With less than a couple of weeks to go till the prime minister finally unclenches his fists off the arms of his throne (an insult that used to be thrown liberally at Lawrence Gonzi, of all people), it would seem like his two aspiring successors are embraced in a deadly battle over who can make the worst faux pas.
We should be trying to find common ground not alienating even more people
It started with Robert Abela giving us such noteworthy gems about how he would “tolerate” peaceful protests and saying that he does not think that Malta is in a political nightmare, and continued with Chris Fearne’s “tongue in cheek” comment about RIPN being written on his tombstone when he dies, after a string of sane and responsible statements which gave many people hope.
The mind well and truly boggles.
It is ridiculous that in such a time, anyone, let alone two such crucial figures, would be reacting in such an unbecoming way. The country is coming apart at its very seams both on a local and international level and what we should be doing is trying to find common ground not alienating even more people.
This could have been an opportunity to start over, be better and help pull the country out of the muddy trench it has found itself in and instead, it is woefully looking like more of the same in a different suit and hopefully, a better-looking watch.
Gentlemen, seriously, if you have nothing good to say, it would be far, far better for you and your teams, if you said nothing at all.
Maybe it truly is for the best that Abela has to date not agreed to sit for an interview after his catastrophic crash into the leadership race. After all, it is far better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.