While Lawrence Gonzi was busy promising students to give them whatever they want (ah, that youth vote!) and Joseph Muscat was making his own set of dubious promises, it occurred to me yet again that this country will continue to wallow in ignorance as long as people continue to believe that politicians have the magic key to their future.

The truth is no one can open the to gates to success but yourself, but this is not the message we are passing on to the young. The common belief is that it’s who you know and how many behinds you are willing to kiss which will determine your destiny. And because this belief has been perpetuated for as long as I can remember, there are those who will keep using their connections and political patronage to get ahead. And let’s face it, it does work for some.

Look around you and unless you are completely deaf, dumb and blind you will admit that we are right back to where we left off pre-1987 when it comes to contracts, tenders, lucrative appointments on government boards and even top positions in priviate companies. “You take care of us and we’ll take care of you” is the unspoken but very loud mantra. And indeed, lots of people are being very well “taken care of” …they are easy to spot because they are usually the ones who object the most to even the slightest criticism of their precious party in government.

Meanwhile, the ignorance in the country has now reached appalling levels. I’m not speaking of qualifications, degrees or the statistics we try to inflate to impress the EU. It’s a scary combination of rudeness, arrogance, bad manners, vulgarity and a complete inability to think with one’s own mind. Add to that a bit of money which makes some people think that they
have class and you have yourself a recipe for an unmitigated national disaster.

Now there are some political pundits who enjoy pushing the myth that the above description only applies to Labour supporters, but the fact is that, unfortunately, no one has a monopoly on ignorance; it’s quite democratic and is spread right across the board, both politically and socio-economically. If you don’t believe me I need only point you to certain pro-PN groups on Facebook. Whether left-wing or right-wing too many people persist in being sheep and merely repeating what “the leader” says.

No matter which party one supports I read arguments which are half-baked and which attack the person rather than the issue (a sure sign that you have no argument to speak of). There is a shocking, gaping chasm when it comes to writing either Maltese or English properly. The standards plunge the deepest in the under 20 age group…that demographic so beloved of politicians. Someone, somewhere has screwed up big time – how else to explain that our educational system is churning out young adults who are barely coherent at the best of times? Indifferent parental attitudes towards education just compound the problem especially if they themselves have “made it” financially without the need of good schooling. Others simply have no ambition or desire to improve themselves, content to just “get by” and have passed this belief system on to their kids.

Add binge drinking and smoking pot on the weekends and we are ending up with a generation whose brains have been soaked in alcohol and fried with chemicals. Who cares? Daddy will pay our bills and buy us the latest gadget, or failing that we can always mug an old lady.

Then they hear politicians telling them not to worry because they will give them whatever they want rather than working for what they want and the stage is set for yet another lazy generation which grows up with a sense of entitlement, expecting “their” political party to set them up for life.