It is not often that the whole country is united in one voice, but Sunday’s reckless and blatantly untrue comments about Malta by an Italian TV presenter have managed to ignite a fervent patriotism in us in a way which few incidents ever do.

As a nation we are, unfortunately, usually too quick to bad-mouth this island of ours, criticising it constantly and relentlessly. Nothing is ever good enough, functions well enough or is done professionally enough. When we do get something right we are almost astonished. Keenly aware of our small size and population when compared to other countries, we often find it difficult to be patriotic which is why some prefer to embrace other cultures and nations rather than our own.

One of the cultures for which many Maltese have an undisputed affinity is that of Italy. The language, the food, the football teams and the television programmes of our boot-shaped neighbour are almost second nature to a large swathe of the Maltese population.

It is within this context that the vociferous reactions to Massimo Giletti’s remarks during Rai Uno’s L’Arena Sunday afternoon programme which discussed asylum seekers have to be taken. His outrageous claims that Malta’s armed forces were “shooting illegal immigrants” out at sea, forcing them on to Lampedusa, were pounced on by Maltese viewers immediately. They demanded an apology and a retraction and called upon the Foreign Affairs Minister to deny the claims. Although the Maltese ambassador to Italy Walter Balzan was given time to rebut the allegations during the programme, Giletti did not retract anything and continued with his insinuations, which infuriated people even more.

As the news of Giletti’s comments spread throughout the island, the anger and fury increased, leading some to wonder whether this was now turning into a typical hot-headed over-reaction.

Facebook groups against Giletti sprouted up within hours and the insults directed at the Italian journalist became progressively worse.

Given that the entire Mediterranean region is embroiled in a potentially explosive situation, however, the reactions are completely understandable. Perhaps Giletti spoke so carelessly because he did not realise just how many Maltese people watch his programme, or perhaps he under-estimated the grave implications of what he was saying. Either way, his very serious accusations are completely unacceptable and cannot be simply swept under the carpet.

If anything good has come out of this negative incident it is that, for once, the Maltese people have shown that they are truly proud of their country and won’t allow its name to be dragged through the mud simply for the sake of television ratings.