The silence before the storm?

Am I the only one who has been bored stiff by the political campaign? It seems that the chat shows, debates, love fests in igloos or tents, inaugurations, press conferences and meetings have all merged into irritating background noise that most of us are doing our best to ignore.

It has got to the point that you cannot go anywhere without encountering a dozen billboards along the way. Switch on the TV and there will be some politician telling you that all your dreams will come true without your having to pay a penny (in fact I am starting to believe that both parties know something about oil reserves or have a euro-minting press that they will not let the rest of us know about, because judging by their promises, money grows on trees). Log on the web and you will be inundated with political messages - and I am not talking about Maltese sites or Facebook here, but practically any site that accepts adverts. I was browsing through a photo gallery of dresses worn by actresses at the Oscars the other day (on an American website), and suddenly Joseph Muscat popped up as photo number 8 - a paid advert! I have not seen it myself but I am told that cinema goers have also been subjected to political messages screened before the movie, while I am sure that I am not the only one whose letterbox is full of junk mail and photos of candidates every day.

There is no way to get away from Malta Taghna Lkoll or Futur fis-Sod. Big Brother is following you around and wants to nag you non-stop and you just have to listen, whether you like it or not! The answer is to mentally switch off and try to ignore it all - after all, there is nothing that is being said that is of particular substance at the moment.

Admittedly, it is possible that the political propaganda has ended up sounding insignificant simply because it fades in comparison to the other extraordinary events that have unfolded in the last couple of weeks - the oil bribery and ship rental scandal, the pope's resignation and the chaos resulting from the electoral result in Italy are all issues that immediately spring to mind and which are infinitely more interesting than the goings on of Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat.

The corruption cases relating to Enemalta clearly shocked the nation - obviously, nothing has been proven and everyone has to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, but it is still a bad feeling to think about money being siphoned away from a beleaguered utility company whose financial problems have impacted each and every one of us over the last few years. The story leaves an extremely bad taste in everyone's mouth.

At this stage, however, I cannot help but wonder if this eerie situation is going to continue all the way up to the 8 March, when we should supposedly have a day of quiet and reflection (amusing, that one).

The grapevine is ripe with rumours that the shit is going to hit the fan next week, with parties flinging "scandals" like frisbees at each other. Some people have approached me and warned me in hushed tones that next week certain politicians will be outed whether they like it or not, while others have told me that finally the truth will come to light regarding other politicians' marital woes, with a couple of affairs and maybe even an illegitimate love child or two thrown in to spice up the story.

I was appalled and immediately replied that I hoped that the parties would do nothing of the sort - in fact it was quite reassuring to hear that the PN had issued a statement to disassociate themselves from these rumours and to state that they had no intention of getting involved in such allegations.

It will truly be a disgrace if the level of political discourse in this country descends so low. We already do not have the cleanest of track records when it comes to campaigning, but if our prospective leaders stoop so low as to end up lobbing such stories and accusations at each other (or allowing others to do so on their behalf), then we really will have reached the depths of depredation.

After all what purpose would the disclosure of such "scandals" serve other than to feed the voyeuristic frenzy of those of us who really need to get a life?

I guess that I should not be surprised that politics are so petty in this little country of ours. One need only think about the Obama birth certificate conspiracy theories and the success of comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo to deduce that people all over the world are not exactly rational when it comes to their political sympathies. To hell with thinking about policies and what the parties stand for - at the end of the day most people support a political party just as they support a football club...

Well the end is in sight: a week from today we will have voted and hopefully it will all be over. We will have to endure a carcade or two, but hopefully come Monday, 11 March we will be back to normal. I am looking forward to having all the billboards taken down, and to having something else to watch on TV other than debates and inquisitions. I am also looking forward to logging on to Facebook without having to endure endless statuses with political statements aimed to aggravate and get a reaction out of people. Bring on the 11 March!