One thing which has become painfully obvious is that if one spends enough money, then one can bend reality itself.

Propaganda does not require a huge marketing budget, but it almost always has that sort of investment and coordination behind it. In Malta, fact and fiction seem to be determined by the amount of money spent on radio, television, social media and billboards. The government can afford gigantic spin campaigns and twist the obvious evidence of corruption into appearing as simple speculation.

At this point, with the latest 17 Black revelations, we are no longer dealing with speculation: we are dealing with facts. In absolutely no version of events have I come across a single real argument regarding why Konrad Mizzi or Keith Schembri opened their Panama accounts and their accompanying structures that did not involve money-laundering. Did they open these accounts for the fun of it, perhaps? Were they planning on a long holiday in Panama and wanted to use local credit cards, or something of the sort? Despite the fact that a huge number of people are being fooled into thinking that there is no evidence, I have yet to hear a proper story from the government about why this entire shady structure was created in the first place.

So, my conclusion is that reality itself may bend before the right marketing budget. I simply cannot believe that anybody is still defending Konrad Mizzi or Keith Schembri. It has reached the point where there can hardly be any fear of libel, for the courts would surely judge in favour of the person making the allegations. It would probably backfire to open a libel case. In fact, we have to keep asking ourselves why the Prime Minister is appealing against an inquiry being held in the first place into the Panama papers? There is no legitimate argument that I have heard to date. I am the sort of person who tries to see both sides of every story, but there is no longer any ambiguity about this case.

What I urge voters to think about is the extent to which they are being taken for a ride – and I do not only mean regarding 17 Black in particular. What I mean is, be weary of the power of propaganda itself. Do not think you are above being influenced. The strength of a political message is determined by many factors, but we are way past the days when ideas triumphed according to merit. No, we have reached a point where politics has become a reality TV show, as evidenced by Donald Trump and many others. Politics is about putting on a good show, twisting a story with the right appealing spin or having the right marketing team or budget. 

People should indeed be worried, because it means that any fool with the right marketing team or budget can be dressed up and paraded around as the next champion of the country. I bet that practically anyone in this country could end up the next Prime Minister, with the right interest groups, lobbies and marketing team behind him or her. It is about time that political parties were prevented from controlling their own media: that would be a good start to moving back towards independent thought.

The world is experiencing people who are dressed up with the right slogans, banners and camera angles to look as if they have all the answers. Digging a little deeper will often show that there is not much substance to be found. I therefore – as always – urge people to become active as citizens, fulfilling their responsibilities to their country. Stop expecting others to do all the research for you. Start actively trying to improve the country, while keeping an open mind. The rest will take care of itself.