This column first appeared on Malta Today

This winter it feels like we have storms all around us, both literally and figuratively. In fact, there is a quote which pops up periodically on my feed that seems to be resonating more and more:

“Sometimes it feels like 2019 was the last truly normal year. Ever since then it’s like we slipped into an alternate version of reality where nothing quite adds up, everyone’s tense, time feels both rushed and frozen, and the world we knew no longer feels the same.”

I’m not a person who usually indulges in melodramatic statements, but this has a ring of truth in it. Every time I listen to an interview with someone, whether they are well-known or not, who has experienced a life-changing event or a turning point in their lives, they inevitably refer to the pandemic and how it affected them. 2020 and the surreal years that followed are like a benchmark which delineate how we viewed the world and our own lives.

Many actors, writers and musicians turned to their art form, developing new ideas for screenplays, pouring their energy into a novel or writing and recording songs. Some, like actress Kate Hudson, unlocked a long-held secret dream to be a singer and decided to take the plunge and make her own music which she released last year. She explains in interviews the emotions which were churned up by Covid: “Are we all going to die? And if so what do I want my legacy to be? Do I have any regrets?”

A whole slew of celebrities, needing and craving an outlet or some kind of connection (and maybe even validation) from their public, launched themselves into the world of podcasting. Today, six years later, almost every famous person has a podcast in which they are virtually all interviewing each other on a wide range of themes, but the one thing they have in common is that they started it during lockdown. What began only as audio episodes from their homes reminiscent of talk radio, have now turned into more sophisticated audiovisual shows from proper studios. The impact which podcasts have had on those who consume media is so significant that this year they introduced it as a new category during the Golden Globes.

If podcasts were an uplifting result of the pandemic, then conspiracy theories and a refusal to believe science and experts have been a depressing byproduct of that time in our lives. Of course, conspiracy theorists have always existed (there are those who still believe the moon landing was fake, for example) but there is no doubt that this phenomenon grew exponentially during the lockdown. Scientists and doctors were mocked and scorned, the Covid-19 virus itself was labelled as being a global hoax and governments were accused of wanting to control their populations via the various pandemic measures: wearing a mask, social distancing and shutting everything down. Many refused to comply and flatly turned down getting the vaccine, claiming they did not want to be injected with this “poison” (despite the fact that so many inject themselves with other toxic chemicals all the time in the name of beauty). Six years down the line and the vaccine is still being blamed for triggering a myriad of illnesses and disease, even though illness and disease have been with us forever and will always be.

The mounting suspicion which arose during the pandemic was the first indication that the world would be split into two factions: those who trusted scientific facts and the professionals in their field and those who preferred to “do their own research”, which basically meant Googling everything without verifying the source. This also coincided with the rise in social media use (we were all stuck in our homes and there was not much else to do) and here is where I think people became even more entrenched in their opposing views. Between seeking out those who are like-minded, blocking those who disagreed and FB algorithms which only show you content which agrees with your mindset, it is very easy to end up with tunnel vision.

The foundations of collective mistrust and paranoia were laid during those weird, very scary, few years and today we are seeing the result. There are constant arguments on FB about what is happening in conflicts all over the world, whether it is Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine or Trump with his own country. We have come to the point where even video footage showing what is happening right before our eyes is denied, excused or twisted in a way which makes you wonder whether you need your eyes checked.

80 years ago we might have been excused for not knowing what was happening during WWII, but that all changed with Vietnam. It was that footage on the evening news of American soldiers killing innocent women and children which sparked the flames of civil unrest, as those back home started asking: what is the US really doing there? Protests erupted and continued to grow, young men burnt their draft cards refusing to join the army, and there was a distinct shift in the national psyche about the real purpose of sending American troops to foreign lands. Since then, no war zone (or any other violence) can escape public scrutiny, with civilians streaming what is happening in real time with their phones.

If history has taught us anything it is that it is crucial for us to keep fighting back against authoritarian rule by governments. It is ironic that so many fought back so hard against wearing a mask, which was intended to protect us during an international health crisis, yet have no qualms about seeing fascism on the rise in a country which was always considered to be a beacon of democracy. The US at the moment is a frightening example of how easily people can be brainwashed, parroting their leader, his acolytes and the media which fits their narrative and denying what is staring them in the face. Equally frightening is how this narrative has filtered down to us here in little Malta, a dot which barely appears on some maps, where you have those who keep insisting that Trump is the best thing since sliced bread. Or perhaps we should not be that surprised, since we have our own history of making politicians into cult leaders who must never be questioned.

As if to underscore this grim reality, we have a PM who is toying with the idea of pandering to Trumpism. The news that Robert Abela is even remotely considering joining the so-called Board of Peace is not only alarming and goes against the neutrality clause in our Constitution, but is truly insane. He can speak all he likes about deciding what is best “in the national interest” but ultimately he would be simply caving in to a bully.

Let us not try and justify it as an attempt at diplomacy either because they tried that with Hitler – and we all know how that turned out.