It is claimed that all religions are built around dogmas that lay down beliefs. Though these cannot be verified or endorsed “scientifically” they must still be accepted without reservation. Certainly, as it openly declares, the Catholic faith is one such religion.

There is no argument that can be “absolutely” valid against or for  one’s belief in a given dogma. The personal freedom of all individuals should cover as well the right for them to accept any dogma that is presented for their consideration. However, it is appropriate (though more tricky) for people to be provided with the means (which they may choose not to employ) that allow them to understand how what is being proposed to them as a belief is based on dogma.

Indeed this is where the Catholic church stands out for it honestly recognizes where the claims it makes are dogmas. In other areas of activity, this does not happen. For instance, it is not recognised how the following claims are or could be dogmas:

--In Putin’s war against the Ukraine, Russia carries all the blame;

--By joining the EU, Malta reaped huge benefits and bore practically no disadvantages;

--The Maltese are anti-racists and have no tolerance at all for racism.

***

WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER

That these islands are tiny is self-evident. That as a result, when living here, one does feel a certain sense of dissatisfaction never amazed anybody. This state of affairs was always in existence “under” all regimes.

It certainly has a bearing on the story we get told about how young people wish to go live abroad as soon as possible. Or not?

For in some versions we get fed, it seems like the young people who in responding to questionnaires they receive say they wish to quit, do so due to the present circumstances of life “under” a Labour government.

It’s the spin given by opposition apologists to the reality of our situation in which everybody knows everybody else, and where young people aspire to live in a society that is not overloaded with social controls that are excessive or feel like so. That also happened when I was young.

***

REPEAT

I was intrigued by a friend’s reaction as I told him how surprised I was when something I had stated three years earlier and restated later, on my repeating it now was treated like some emerging “news”.

“Are you being serious?” he asked. “Don’t you know that something strange happened when we got this wide spread of communication channels we now have?  Instead of reaching everybody, information about what is going on has become splintered across diverse channels. Only a small fraction of the society is really getting what is being said by the government or the Opposition. A good part of the country knows or remembers only a slice of the messages, no matter how important, that are being laid out. And what remains in people’s memory of what has been heard is quite likely contaminated.

--So what should be done to get a simple message across?

--Repeat, my boy, repeat and repeat, he urged.