Labour’s propaganda machine was in full swing again. Doing what it does best, creating a false narrative, dehumanising perceived critics, fomenting hate and inciting abuse or worse. And we all know where that leads. So does Labour but it does it anyway, with reckless abandon.
This time, I was the target and not for the first time.
The trigger for Labour’s manufactured outrage? I dared point out the truth. I outlined facts robustly supported by evidence. I did not invent those facts, as ONE News suggested – “according to him” (“skontu”) – in its news item dedicated to my humiliation. The sources were referenced.
What were the facts?
1. The level of education of the Maltese population is worryingly low. And it got worse between 2018 and 2019. I didn’t invent that. It was documented in the 2020 European Commission Education Training Monitor: 36.3 per cent of 15-year-olds in Malta underachieved in reading in 2019; 33.5 per cent of 15-year-olds in Malta underachieved in science in 2019.
2. The lower the educational level, the higher the gullibility. Those with lower education are more likely to be manipulated. They are more likely to believe lies and to refute established facts.
I didn’t invent that either.
Alcott and Gentzkow’s paper in the Journal of Economic Perspectives (2017) proved it.
3. In Malta, Labour enjoys the support of the vast majority, 60.8 per cent, of the most poorly educated. Its support is lowest (24.7 per cent) among the most highly educated. I didn’t make that up. I quoted the findings of a scientific survey by Malta Today. This is no “interpretation”, as ONE News suggested. These are results of a scientific survey.
Another survey conducted by Polar, on behalf of Illum, showed an identical inverse relationship between the level of education achieved and the likelihood to wish for Joseph Muscat’s political return. Only a minority want him back across all educational levels. Just 46 per cent of those with primary education want him back. Only 14 per cent of the tertiary educated do so. This is not an opinion. It is the result of another scientific survey.
These are not insults, they are facts. For some, unpalatable facts but facts, nonetheless.
Highlighting facts is not an insult. It is a warning, an eye-opener. Pointing out the truth is not hate but concern. Concern for fellow citizens; concern for the nation and its future. It is not an insult, it is a glimmer of hope for a better country built on choices made by a better informed, more discerning electorate.
But Labour detests the truth. It detests even more those who highlight the truth. For them, Labour has one response: dehumanisation, demonisation and persecution. The shocking and accurate conclusion no. 13 of the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry stated: “The political reaction was a sustained campaign of personal attacks, of denigration, hate, verbal abuse and worse”. This contributed to the culture that facilitated her murder. But Labour still uses the same tactics. Why change them if they’ve worked so well?
The lower the educational level the higher the gullibility- Kevin Cassar
ONE News dedicated a full news item to my article, resorting to lies and ridicule. ONE claimed I demanded the Labour Party disband. I never did. Malta needs Labour, a much better Labour. In Malta’s current context, Labour is essential for the democratic principle of alternation of power.
ONE ridiculed me by photoshopping a pigeon on my right shoulder. This was a reference to the word Maltese word ‘beċċun’. Maltese lacks a word for gullible, the closest to it is ‘beċċun’, which also translates as ‘pigeon’. So ONE seized the opportunity and unleashed its henchmen.
The baton was taken up by too many to mention. Labour’s heavyweights were fighting for it: Andy Ellul, Karl Stagno Navarra and, worst of all, our own MEP Alex Agius Saliba.
He uploaded a manipulated photo of my face. The image was altered to black and white with dark shadows giving a sinister dehumanising effect, with his inciting comments.
He then sat back and quietly relished the torrent of abuse and intimidation that inevitably and predictably came my way. The dehumanisation tactic worked. Among the 380 likes and 152 comments (at the time of writing), one stood out: “What is this?” (Dan x’inhu?) not “Who is this?” (Dan min hu?). Most other comments were too obscene to repeat.
These were Nazi tactics used against Jews, depicting them as sinister, ugly, hateful, and subhuman. Caricatures were used to depict them as dangerous enemies of the people. Agius Saliba was doing the same.
Glenn Bedingfield and Luke Dalli did the same to Caruana Galizia, depicting her as an old witch on their Tanatnejn ONE programme.
And Caruana Galizia had claimed that Agius Saliba himself had a track record of insulting her. Agius Saliba knows what insults are. He knows what intimidation is. He’s used them before and managed to elicit that rare response in the formidable Caruana Galizia – anxiety and fear.
He still uses those tactics, not as Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti general secretary but from his privileged position as an MEP.
Agius Saliba, Ellul, Stagno Navarra and ONE feign shock and outrage by pretending to take offence. Their only objective is to harass, intimidate and silence any critical voice, deploying reckless force and resorting to incitement. They are not remotely interested in discussing real issues, like the poor level of education that exposes so many to exploitation and manipulation.
Their only objective is to preserve their own privileged position – such as the fake job at the ailing Air Malta and their MEP seat – by suppressing dissent through a truly chilling effect. Free thought and critical analysis are their biggest threat. And there is nothing they won’t do to stop it.