Calling it by its proper name

Neville Gafa is not an eccentric mad man. He is simply a right-wing extremist who has no hang up saying horrible things about people.

And Prime Minister Robert Abela is wrong to embrace him once again. We do not need to be reminded by the Nationalist Party that Gafa is a Putin lover, a homophobe and cruel online blogger.

The PN could be easily reminded that when certain pro-PN bloggers spouted venom they were nowhere to be seen. On the contrary they relished the moment many of their opponents or dissidents were torn to shreds and even dehumanised.

But back to Gafa. He was ostracised by Abela in his first days as prime minister in 2020 in one of the earliest bold moves. It was the right thing to do. Neville Gafa is a Joseph Muscat man with very close connections to Keith Schembri.

Gafa has a jihadi approach to politics—for him its an ‘us’ and ‘them’ game.

The ‘them’ he treats with utter disdain, showing no respect for their personal lives or the privacy of the people who orbit around them. His discourse is full of hate despite his calming voice. He is very bad news.

The worst bit is that Robert Abela believes that by bringing people like Gafa into the fold, he will neutralise him. Gafa was until last year rabidly calling for Abela’s blood, even trying to drive a wedge between the prime minister and his wife, Lydia.

Unfortunately, this is Abela’s way of thinking—trying to neutralise critics who can embarrass him by ‘buying’ them.

He applied the same yardstick with yet another blogger—Mark Camilleri. Based in Spain and with a history of spiteful and fake news reports, Camilleri was awarded a direct order of €25,000 by Castille to draw up a report.

The direct order was the proverbial olive branch to encourage Camilleri to be less critical of Abela himself.

The truth is that Gafa and Camilleri do little to bring back the people that have abandoned the party—middle of the road voters. This cohort of voters are fed up and very likely to stay put come the next election.

On the contrary, Gafa is like a whiff of cow dung in a small unventilated room. His presence puts you off.

Not only because he adores dictators like Putin or because he derides gays, but because he does not fit in modern day politics and has no place in the prime minister’s office.

Gambling, gaming… preying on an addiction

Why do we call gambling by the word gaming?

Very simple, because we want to give a semblance of acceptability to the age-old ugly habit of risking one’s money.

In truth, all the gaming companies are doing is taking advantage of an inherent human weakness. The urge to throw away money in the belief that they could lead to more earnings.

I laugh when I see all those serious people at talk shows and conferences attempting to make this obscene activity appear like some very serious and profound economic activity.

Malta’s situation with gaming even goes a step further by offering the industry fiscal advantages which are way out of line. It has a special place in the heart of all local institutions because of its contribution to the economy directly and indirectly.

The argument gaming is not a noble activity is conveniently forgotten.  Indeed, it is a big taboo to raise any questions about the morality of this activity.

Gaming or gambling is all about making money on the weakness of people. It’s nothing else. There is nothing utilitarian about this economic activity.

The last time I made an argument like this I was festooned with abuse from those who have long benefitted from this industry. They called me all sorts of names. Some of my critics never talked to me again.  But gaming or gambling is as bad as any other addiction. And the amount of money people lose on these activities is shocking.

Everyone in the business tries to give the impression that gaming is an important component of every economy. It is not. So much so that many countries impose strict and restrictive measures against these gaming companies because they call it by its real name—gambling.

Alternative words

Other curious terms which seem to be impressed on us are the words ‘special operation’ as an alternative to ‘war’ and of course ‘the war on terrorism’ as an alternative to ‘genocide’. But that is an argument for another day.