Here’s a quick list of recent headlines I’d like you to think of in succession. Humour me by trying to think ahead of what is wrong with this list before reading the rest of this commentary.
– 23 April: Partit Laburista announces programme of activities for Workers’ Day
– 28 April: Councillors to get €1,000 annual raise
– 28 April: Abela dismisses Electrogas inquiry findings as ‘recycled story’
– 29 April: BREAKING – Malta’s golden passports scheme violates EU law
– 29 April: Gozo’s Victoria parking lot to transform into open space and underground parking
– 29 April: Contract signed for Malta’s second energy interconnector
– 29 April: Visits to the Blue Lagoon need to be pre-booked online from Thursday
– 29 April: Woman contradicts new claims about supplier of bomb that killed Caruana Galizia
– 30 April: Joseph Muscat named in bomb testimony in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial
– 30 April: Joseph Muscat slams ‘heinous lies’ in Daphne bomb trial
– 30 April: ‘Bomb victim’ Kevin Ellul says he is being ‘framed’ for Daphne murder
– 30 April: Drones to be deployed to locate waste sites
– 30 April: ‘Military grade’ TNT found at Daphne bomb site, post mortem details blast impact
– 30 April: Labour Party celebrates Workers’ Day by visiting inclusive workplace for the visually impaired
Forgive me if reading through that list gave you an aneurysm this morning.
This somewhat masochistic exercise does serve a purpose though. Bear with me.
Given the deluge of information that is available to us, it comes as no surprise that people struggle to join the dots between one headline and the other.
I don’t know about you, but as a journalist who reads the news every day, I do struggle with processing everything. Not in the strict sense of parsing ongoing events and writing about the implications as they happen. It’s more of a mental/emotional struggle.
Trying to reconcile all the disparate streams of partial truths and outright lies is extremely difficult. I do it because it’s what I must do to survive as a journalist and, most importantly of all, so I can do my job well.
But for the average individual out there who is not too keen on politics and just wants to live a decent, normal life? It’s like stepping into a warped nightmare that never ends, where everything you thought was supposed to be one way turns out to be the opposite.
Daphne herself had given an interesting explanation of the term ‘cognitive dissonance’ in 2014:
‘Most people want to hold the belief that they make good choices. It’s important to us and central to our sense of self.
When we buy something or make a decision that turns out badly, this conflicts with and challenges our faith and trust in our own good judgement and decision-making skills. So we act in such a way as to minimise the discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance, by:
1. doggedly sticking with our original bad decision and finding reasons to convince ourselves that it was the right one, to the point of repeating that bad decision (voting again for Labour in this EP election, for instance, even though we suspect it was a bad choice in 2013);
2. coming to terms with the fact that we made a bad decision and then working from there, by admitting to ourselves that we were wrong and doing what we can to rectify it, or
3. insisting that our original decision was the correct one, but the consequences are wrong and the consequences of our decision are not are fault, but still we can see there’s a problem and we will do something to help redress it…’
So many years after she was murdered, the conflict she described in this example has become a chronic feature of our daily lives.
Cognitive dissonance feels like a splinter at the back of your mind. You know something isn’t quite right and, although you may struggle to put your finger on what it precisely is, you’ll know it’s there without a shadow of any doubt.
What that long list of headlines should do to you is the cognitive dissonance equivalent of getting roundhouse kicked in the face.
While one of the most significant criminal trials in Maltese history is ongoing, the Labour Party got studiously busy ignoring it, undeterred from its annual self-congratulatory parade on Workers’ Day.
Last year, they did the same exact thing while the hospitals concession case was brewing in the distance: pretend like nothing earth-shattering is about to happen. The show must go on.
While Daphne’s family and the rest of the nation that still has a soul reels in horror from reliving the gruesome details of her murder, the government seamlessly moves from one ‘positive’ policy announcement to another, its representatives all smiles and handshakes everywhere they go.
When they announced their five day smorgasbord of celebrations, the Labour Party’s executive announced the main theme for this year revolves around the idea is that the country’s economic expansion led to a boom in wealth, which then trickles down to the needy through the sheer strength of Labour’s magnanimity. Praise Robert, let’s party.
Effectively, what the Labour Party does is live in its own reality where inquiries don’t exist, where credible evidence of extreme, deadly corruption can be simply dismissed, and where court judgements are added to the pile of others that will be “studied” and then swiftly ignored.
Are people constantly worried about the cost of living? Throw them a party and tell them they’re a part of our success story.
Are local councillors angry about how central government usurped their functions? Give them a paltry raise.
Are people pissed off at the fact that the government is signing off on Comino’s death warrant? Tell them they’ll need to book now.
Are people worried about our croaking power grid? Tell them we’re finally buying another interconnector, but save it for when we need good press.
People complain about inefficient waste disposal services? Tell them we’ll start using drones. That ought to ease their concerns.
Oh, you wanted to talk about the murder case and the fact that a witness named a former prime minister midway through her testimony?
Please save your questions for a later date. We’re not doing that around here, not while our annual cult festival is in full swing. We’ll leave that one for another time.
Welcome to the hallucination.