“Ignoramus Pestis” or very loosely (Google) translated “The Ignorance Epidemic”.

Yep. Confirmed. Malta (and more broadly, the world) is full of savagely ignorant people. It’s a FACT. I witness, on almost a daily basis, acts of absolute stupidity and shameful ignorance whilst making my commute to and from my places of work, and to be quite honest the shit is making me furious. I am having to use all of my willpower to stop myself from exiting my vehicle and giving people the “hairdryer treatment” (a famous act of shouting associated with Sir Alex Ferguson). You may be asking why would I allow myself to get all wound up by these things? Well I will tell you why. It’s because there are repercussions to the stupid things we all do, repercussions that can sometimes be of the tragic nature and sadly its all avoidable by just using a little COMMON FUCKING SENSE.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

This past week while stopped at a traffic light in Marsa I saw a 4 or maybe 5 year old girl in the back seat of her mothers car hanging out of the back window. I mean this girl’s entire top half was outside the window with only her legs and hips still inside the car. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? How is it humanly possible that this mother, who has been blessed with the responsibility of caring for another human life, has not been firm with the child making absolutely sure that the youngster is safely buckled into her seat belt? HOW? It has to be IGNORANCE, it just has to be. I cannot believe for a second that any parent would intentionally put their own child’s safety, and lets be honest potentially their life, at risk for something so simple as making sure a child is wearing a seat belt. So IGNORANCE it must be. But in saying that I still can’t wrap my head around it and it really and truly grinds the fuck out of my gears. Think about it. An accident can occur at any moment, especially with the driving mindset we see here in Malta. It doesn’t even need to be the mothers fault, another car can speed up trying to beat a red light and before you know it…. BOOM. Result… DEAD CHILD. A family ruined.

Here is another example for you, which was forwarded to me from an actual post on Facebook featured on newsbook.com.mt this week. This post shows a picture of an adult riding a motor scooter, riding pillion is a very young child, I would offer a guess maybe 5 years old or so. Now, I would already say that perhaps it’s not a good idea to have a child that young on the back of the scooter as a child of that age could easy lose concentration, let go and then a disaster strikes. But I accept some may argue that its acceptable. Fine. The problem with this is that the child HAD NO FUCKING HELMET. Surely it can’t be. Perhaps you don’t believe me? See below.

IGNORAMUS MAXIMUS.

I don’t care what anyone says, this person needs to be found and his children need to be taken away from his care. He is unfit for parenting. GRRRRRRRRRR.

OK maybe that punishment is too harsh, maybe my dismay and anger at such a blatant and unnecessary risk of his child’s life is sending me to extremes. But surely the child’s safety needs to be the primary focus here. Am I wrong? At the very least the authorities need to find this individual, attempt to educate and enter into a set monitoring period until it can be ascertained that the child’s safety is no longer an issue. I can understand that as parents we can all make mistakes, its not an easy job after all and one that comes with a lot of responsibility, but there are certain things that are just common sense whether you have a PhD. in Astrophysics or were snatched from school by a pervert at the age of 16, locked in a basement as a sex slave for 4 decades and then released. COMMON BLOODY SENSE.

There is one other thing worthy of mention here today that I am sick and tired of reading. It upsets me greatly. Every life lost on the roads of Malta and around the world is a tragedy. Families are destroyed by such events, loves are lost and grief can change the course of ones life for eternity. Truly devastating. In light of this, whenever I read an article in which it states that an accident was caused by someone “losing control of their vehicle” it makes my GOD DAMN BLOOD BOIL. Why? Because it is absolutely, positively avoidable. There is the old adage “SPEED KILLS” and never was a truer statement created. Driving a vehicle is a responsibility, not a game, not a joke and not a RACE. There is not one justifiable reason that I can think of as to why anyone should at any point “lose control of their vehicle”. Now, as always, in the interest of being completely candid, I once lost control of my vehicle many years ago. Why? BECAUSE I WAS DRIVING LIKE AN ASSHOLE. I was lucky, I did not crash, only spun and came to a standstill. But I could have very easily killed myself or some other innocent that night. Thankfully I did not. Unfortunately their is a growing trend for persons behind the wheel to think its cool to drive recklessly. Kids grow up wanting to emulate their heroes, Paul Walker or Vin Diesel of Fast and Furious fame, or Formula 1 LEGENDS Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton and think that their vehicle and the public roads are the place to do it. I can assure you they are not. I could start a rant about the growing trend of 18 year old children (spoilt silver spoon brats) getting a brand new, sometimes sporty fast car from their parents, but that might be the one that tips me over the edge having me bolt for the bathroom cabinet to indulge in some self medication…

Everyone just needs to slow the fuck down. SIMPLES.

So as a final point, I don’t just like to raise an issue or two (or five hundred) and then walk away. I believe that the offering of a potential solution should also be a part of my journey. It may not be based on any specific research or genius, but just on my pragmatic approach to life and personal thoughts. Lets address the situation here in Malta alone. Policing? I think this is a dead issue. The simple fact of the matter is that there aren’t the resources to build up the necessary forces to be able to police effectively enough to make a difference. That is unfortunately the way it is in small countries. Education? This is what we are left with, and unfortunately the efforts in this area fall way short of what it would take to actually make a difference. This is where it has to start. Massive educational campaigns across all platforms of media and social media. Make them a reality check. None of this fairy ass don’t do this or don’t do that shit. I am talking about SHOCK AND AWE. And it needs to reach absolutely everyone. Along with this we need to start to educate children from a young age. It needs to be a part of the curriculum in schools up there along side sexual education and FCS (Food consumer studies). And for God’s sake, parents please, I beg of you, start drilling it into your children’s heads at a very early stage both by setting the right example and taking the time to sit down and educate them in the hope they will one day understand this current and obvious social problem.

If we all make the effort to do this and spread the word we will ultimately save lives and hopefully stem the ever spreading IGNORAMUS PESTIS.

Safe travels to all….

Oz.