Humans devalued

This article is not fresh. It scarcely says anything that has not already been said. The predicament of our nation is such that the Cassandra-like warnings that opinion columnists emanate from their worried lines have become cyclically repetitive. I’ve already written an iteration of this article somewhere before.

The news of Pelin Kaya’s horrendous death at the hands of the worst specimen society can produce has been yet another reminder of the devaluation of human life in Malta. Human Capital has been gambled with and we have become a society that is prepared to sacrifice the quality of life and the safety that should come with it upon the altar of progress.

“Abbiamo alzato la posta, ci siamo giocati tutto, anche il futuro dei nostri figli. E adesso finalmente ci godiamo quello che ci spetta.” (We have raised the stakes, we have gambled everything, even the future of our children. Now we finally reap what we deserve).

That’s a quote taken from Paolo Virzi’s ‘The Human Capital’ – a film worth watching. It encapsulates this idea of a society that prioritises progress above the future of its sons and daughters.

PM Abela said in an interview that he does not consider the streets of our capital safe enough for his daughter to walk freely. That comment came in the wake of Malta’s equivalent of a baby gang attack in the capital.

I also watched an interview with Aaron Farrugia, the man of many ministries, and was appalled by his refusal to come to terms with his incompetence. It’s not that the man is unrepentant of his ‘let them eat cake’ style jibes (an attitude that spans the Labour Cabinet in many ways) but that he is acutely unaware of where his priorities should lie.

Farrugia and Abela are products of Muscat’s progressive Labour. That is the Labour that created the fertile ground for criminal impunity and ruthless progress. That is the Labour that gambled our future on the creation of a fantastical “middle-class”.

It has spawned a generation of self-entitled citizens ignorant of any sense of civic duty and solidarity.

The social fabric of the nation has been shaken irreparably. The gamble might have succeeded in creating a sense of materialistic satisfaction, but the end result is a horrible devaluation of the human capital. We do not care about future generations. We do not even care about the current ones. It is a savage world of survival of the connected.

Ironically, we illude ourselves in debating the right to life and the right to choose. In truth, we have long resigned ourselves to the idea that one can only survive with our rights and expectations being eroded gently every day. Quality of life. What quality? What life?

Aaron Farrugia was asked whether he would consider introducing a tax on car use. His reply? “A progressive Labour government would not consider that.” He would not consider parking meters either because, “I cannot charge people for using their cars when they have no alternative.”

It’s right there. In his answers. The calculations have been made and we prefer to invest in the future of cars on this ever so claustrophobic island than to try, just for one second, to invest in human capital.

“You gambled on the ruin of this country. And you have won.” (Human Capital, Paolo Virzi).