‘Oh my Malta’ is not as shallow as it may seem - it has a deeper meaning and can be used negatively especially when it encourages people to think, says Nuseir Yassin (Nas), a famous social media vlogger with a following of millions.
Nas garnered a massive social media following through his daily one-minute Facebook video blogs (vlogs) on his page ‘Nas Daily’. In thevideos, he tackles a wide range of issues while travelling the world, some charming, and others a little more complex.
He arrived in Malta roughly ten days ago and has been publishing his daily one-minute videos on many issues and quirks related to the island.
In response to a controversial caricature using the tagline ‘Oh my Malta’, Nas says that the idea behind the line is not to promote some false sense of positivity, and that it can be used to depict genuinely positive things as well as negative aspects of the island which make people stop and think.
Nas came up with the tagline in his first Malta video, which immediately went viral within the local scene. He went on to describe and portray the eccentricities and charming elements which Malta has to offer from the perspective of somebody who had never visited the island before and likely knew very little about.
Following the response from the now popular tagline, Nas launched an event called the ‘Oh my Malta festival’, encouraging people to head to Valletta this Saturday with the hope of getting 1 per cent of the population to attend. Part of the description reads: “We [want to] make Oh my Malta an official country tagline”.
Nas’ tagline has since been used by local artist Seb Tanti Burlo in a sketch depicting Monday's double-decker crash, which killed two tourists and injured 50 others.
The artist, who is known for his thought-provoking satirical cartoons, published an image on his Facebook page of two tourists sitting on the top deck of a sight-seeing bus with their heads cut off, blood spurting out of their necks and the now famous tagline ‘Oh my Malta!’ written beneath them.
The cartoon has been labeled by many as being insensitive towards the victims and their families, offensive or distasteful.
Others argue that the image is not offensive to anybody involved, but rather depicts the message that powerful people are happy to latch onto positive marketing concepts when in reality, there are more pressing issues gripping the nation, such as health and safety and law enforcement.
In a short interview with The Malta Independent, Nas spoke at length about the ensuing controversy.
“What people are forgetting is that, in doing [the cartoon], as graphic, inappropriate and irresponsible as it was, it is good because this tagline is not just a way to get people to be happy and cheerful, and say that Malta has no problems.”
“Oh my Malta can be used to show something good, and it can also be used to show the bad stuff. To the artist, I want to say thank you because in a way it is an appropriate use of the tagline in a sense that it has gotten people to think, and that’s a good thing.”
“As shallow as the tagline may seem, or overly positive hyped as it may seem, it is not. It has a deeper meaning, it can be used negatively and that is a good thing. Please, use it negatively, use it pessimistically and use it aggressively like the artist did. It encourages thought and that is good.”
“Oh my Malta belongs to everybody; a local could say it, an immigrant could say it, anybody could say it. Malta seems way more inclusive than many of the other countries I have been to.”
Nas Daily from The Malta Independent on Vimeo.
Saturday’s event
Just one-day away from Saturday’s big event, Nas says that he always keeps his expectations low whenever he organises a meet-up.
“I don’t know how many people will show, but I’ll be so happy if we reach the one per cent”.
Nas’ girlfriend, present for his adventures and for the interview which took place in his hotel room , dutifully chimed in to say she is confident lots of people will come due to the great location, at the Valletta Tritoni Fountain, and because the Maltese love parties.
Nas revealed that he is nervous about the whole thing, adding that he believes the President might just be coming to the event. He confirmed that he has been in communication with her team.
Asked whether there has been a meet-up with any other politicians, Nas quickly said he does not want to be, and cannot be, associated with any politicians.
Yesterday’s one-minute video was about Nas’ visit to Gozo, and the need for more youth and children to reside in San Lawrenz due to the rapidly aging population.
For his next video, Nas will delve into Malta’s role during World War II. He comments that many larger countries like France and the United Kingdom comment on the hefty price they paid in the war, but actually small countries such as Malta paid a huge price during the turbulent times.
“I did not know about Malta huge role in WWII and so I want to make a video focusing on that.”