The habit of quotations

We have reached the end of the academic year. It is the time for corrections and grading and I always smile when I encounter students’ work that is suffused with quotations. I am not referring to vital scholarly references but to those quotations some like to place on the first page of a dissertation or just beneath their chapter titles and even subheadings. Very often, they are tiny quotes by big names that actually add very little value to their core arguments.

Mine is a nostalgic smile. It was my wonderful advisor during my doctoral research, who treated me from this addiction. “You are such a good Catholic!” he once exclaimed. Observing my incredulity, he added “you seem to love kissing relics!” And voila'! ... my cure from an infectious Maltese affliction. I now suspect that the habit of quotations is linked to many students’ reluctance to ask questions (as aptly observed by Jeremy Boissevain about a decade ago) and many people’s inability to articulate their thoughts convincingly.

There is nonetheless one quotation which a dear London-based friend likes. Eleanor Roosevelt once asserted that small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas. In a postmodern world this may sound patronising and pretentious. Yet, I am opportunistically borrowing her words in support of more media debates that revolve around events, processes and ideas.

In my view, the personal experience should mainly be used to facilitate greater public understanding of wider issues. It also needs to be raised when the private deeds of public figures impinge on their work. Prying on people can be fun and personally gratifying even when it happens at a village level. We have long become accustomed to dirt-throwing as a tactic to confuse public perceptions. Moreover, we have long experienced scattergun attacks on critical voices.

But in an increasingly cynical society we are encountering more and more occasions where opponents are thrown into the arena for the bloodlust of the masses. Some media exponents enjoy preying on personal matters knowing full well that character assassination is a weapon that causes severe lesions. In a small country gossip-mongering is a form of control that does not merely scare the faint-hearted.

I also strongly suspect that some shocking claims and innuendos are used as bait for bigger audiences. Healthy debates are unlikely to ensue in this dangerous scenario. I do not wish this blog to take that path and I do not intend to engage with commentaries that lead me into such a dead-end. Personal experiences and stories will illustrate reflections about wider social, political, economic or cultural processes and also to explain my observations on the Maltese media scenario ... and I will now resist the temptation to resort to the habit of quotation to support my position.