Everyone will click this post. Locals will click on it because they're already feeling defensive after reading the title, and foreigners will click out of curiosity. I’m glad you clicked, because I’m about to have a little rant. Just a small one. About some big issues. I dare anyone to call me a liar. But most of all, I dare my Maltese counterparts to prove me wrong - I wish they would! These are three frustrating behaviours demonstrated by my fellow Maltese that I find hard to live with, day in day out.
Everyone has an opinion... about everything
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having an opinion. But being opinionated about everything, even subjects one knows little or nothing about, is plain ignorance. You simply can’t have an opinion about something that you have not researched properly. Both sides of the story must be considered before you form an opinion... usually. Not in Malta. The Maltese hear something they don’t like and immediately resort to an “U ajma!” (“As if!”) and proceed to come up with whatever they can think of in the moment to bash it down. They tend to forget that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason: listen twice before you speak!
We tend to see things in shades of red or blue
Malta is characterised by a political partisanship akin to supporting a football team. You support the team avidly, even if they are failing miserably. And the same happens in Malta when your preferred party is making a boo-boo or something rather more serious. The fanaticism is such that most people see current affairs purely through red or blue tinted glasses (the colours of the major political parties), a bias which makes it hard for them to stay objective. Add to this the trait of being opinionated and the resulting frustration on the receiving end may just make you want to slam your head against a wall.
We have a sense of entitlement
We have all experienced this one, time and time again: ‘As long as I’m sorted, everyone else will have to wait, adapt, etc.’ From double parking to removing a tree in your street because it drops leaves (duh!), many Maltese people can’t see beyond their own personal needs and interests. Who cares about the long line of cars waiting behind yours while you double park to buy your cigarettes? Or the dire need of oxygen-producing trees in urban areas in a country that has the second highest incidence of CO2 in Europe? Extend this to the trait of opinionated political bias and you just want to kill yourself because it would be less painful.
Have I touched a sore spot?
Probably. If you’re Maltese, you are likely (although not absolutely) guilty of at least one of these, if not all. It’s a strange mentality, to say the least. The Maltese are generally such a lovely bunch - welcoming, generous, friendly and truly a whole bunch of other nice adjectives I could throw in. Until you step on their toes, then you see a Maltese cross and it’s not the pretty eight-pointed version, but the selfish, careless version.
Perhaps this is not an all-Maltese characteristic, I’ll admit - you find all kinds of people everywhere. However, as a Maltese-born myself, I would enjoy more common sense, objectivity and altruism. Wouldn’t you agree that it would make Malta a tad less frustrating and much more pleasant to live in? Or perhaps you simply don’t care, as long as your personal bubble stays intact?
Rant over. So sue me.