The tragic loss of life this week arose not only out of greed, but also out of chronic denial. In Malta and Gozo, it is quite easy to make problems go away if enough money is available - whether that problem is a pesky journalist or some nuisance of a policy or another. With enough money, one can exist above the law.

The false reality which people live inside of in Malta, where up is down and 2+2=5 is only possible thanks to glitzy marketing campaigns. Taxpayer money is spent to boost ministers' popularity on Facebook, and television is an echo chamber to reinforce the two-party hegemony. However, this week, we saw the limits to which money can cover up reality.

Minister Ian Borg's reforms failed to prevent the loss of a life, despite his promises and marketing campaign to make the problem of collapsing buildings go away. The problem of corruption in Malta is quite similar - everyone knows it exists - and everyone who benefits from it denies it in public and in the media. That fragile illusion that everything is fine was disturbed by the sheer force of a car bomb. Yet for the most part, people went on living in denial thanks to an effective and expensive public relations game by government.

Reality has a price tag, but only to a point. Eventually, something happens to put the narrative of the authorities into question. When that happens, and everything is put to the test and the house of cards wobbles, we get a brief glimpse of reality. Afterwards, however, there is always more money to afford spinning a new fiction, within which people can have some "peace of mind". Then the charade goes on. Only when we address the re deficiencies in our democracy, however, will the problems actually go away.