The shocking story of Sandro Chetcuti beating up GRTU president Vince Farrugia was just the culmination in a series of unsettling, distasteful events.

Violence, whether verbal, psychological or physical, has been escalating over the last few months. As a result of this, there is an uneasy, unsettled feeling in the country which is felt most acutely among those who don’t relish this sort of thing. Call it a premonition if you like, but the atmosphere being created makes me edgy; I keep waiting for something really bad to happen.

What is worse is that the culture of hatred is slowly being brought back to life after years when I thought intense political hate had been long dead and buried. Now I’m realising that it will never really be allowed to die, because it serves a higher purpose. If we really had to think about it, the hate is based on such a ridiculous notion as well. Why should I hate someone simply because they vote for a different party than the one I do? Even seeing it written down like that in black and white, and re-reading the sentence to myself, it sounds absurd to my ears. But that’s what we are dealing with.

Of course, we can all choose whether we want to let ourselves be swept away by this current of antagonism and aggression, or whether we can be better people and analyse and dissect news for ourselves, shorn of any political blinkers.

When something is wrong, it’s always wrong, irrespective of who does it. A man ended up in hospital because another man flew into a rage – the injuries don’t hurt any less because of the victim’s political inclinations. We don’t need to first check whether it’s a Labour or Nationalist supporter who has committed the violence in order to gauge our feelings about the subject. Should I even need to say this in this day and age?

Yes, apparently, as long as incidents such as this one keep being reported in a way which always makes the story centre around a person’s political tinge. It wouldn’t be so wearying if the reporting was at least consistent. If so much as a speck of violence is associated with a Labour Party supporter then the heavy-duty spin artillery clicks into place and we hear the usual 1980s-thugs-and-violence-these-people-will-never-change mantra.

But then we had someone who got killed, an unsavoury character who had clear ties with the Nationalist Party (as did the man who committed the crime) and whose weapon was actually hidden in the PN club, and – wonder of wonders – there’s barely a murmur. One TV continues to report the story, it’s true, but for spin to be really effective it needs to be picked up by other media until the story grows and grows in the public’s imagination. But then, little old me hardly need hardly tell the Masters of Spin how these things work, do I?

Then there was that case of the government-employed driver who crashed while driving Mario Galea’s car, but pretended it was vandalised by Labour supporters by scratching “MLP” on it, so that he wouldn’t get the blame. It’s a relatively minor incident but it is even more telling. I’m taken aback by what he did, but even more taken aback by how people were so ready to believe his story. “Ah, because Labour supporters are the type to do these things,” Nationalist supporters insist.

It is sweeping statements like this which have held this country back, because as long as people swallow hook, line and sinker the fallacy that left-wing voters are basically law-breaking savages, then we will never be able to discuss partisan politics rationally. Just when you think we have moved on, the door is slammed shut again and further intelligent debate proves impossible.

The reality is that ill-mannered ignorance and bullying, thuggish behaviour has become prevalent across the political spectrum in this country and, unfortunately, the ‘might is right’ phenomenon seems to be raising its ugly head once again. That is the issue we should be discussing, rather than using violent incidents to score political points.

Why is it still so hard for us to judge people by who they are and not by whom (we assume) they vote for? I understand that for some people the two are inextricably linked, but that’s like saying my judgement of a person depends on whether he’s gay or straight, or whether he’s black or white, or whether it’s a man or a woman. We are no better than ethnic tribes when it comes to the never-ending, and boring, ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality. I can’t stand it when people ask me about the politics of others, first of all because I don’t think of people in those terms, secondly because I often don’t know and thirdly, because I honestly don’t care. What difference does it make which party one votes for – does it make the person nicer or nastier as the case may be? Will I enjoy their company more or less; will I trust or mistrust them depending on their voting preference? Perhaps there are those who go around with this kind of political radar – in fact, I know for a fact that some people define their entire social circle on these criteria. It’s like they spend their entire existence focusing on that ballot box.

With people crossing party lines at every election, however, it must be very exhausting to remember all the details, unless they have a special filing cabinet where all this valuable information is stored.

Maybe someone should invent a Facebook application whereby a little red, blue or green dot comes up every time you click on someone’s profile. It could be linked to the respective parties’ headquarters for constant updates. (“Field agent to HQ Report # 951, do you read? …I heard him talking in favour of Astrid Vella’s environmental campaigns, quick, cross him off that PN list.”)

That way, we can all congregate in our safe little corners, only mixing with those who are the same colour as we are, ensuring that we remain as pea-brained and insular as ever, while the country slides even further into mayhem.

What year is it anyway?

Did someone press the fast forward button and take us all into the year 2013?

Sometimes I feel like we are already in election mode but I’m the only one who didn’t get the memo. The election (God help us) is still three years away, so why is there all this mounting tension already? The backbenchers have been thrown a bone and kept quiet for now, so it seems that everything has been kept in check.

You would think that everything is running smoothly and according to plan, except that there is always that imperceptible feeling that it’s all a house of cards, and the slightest gust of wind will bring the whole thing tumbling down.

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