Hype, Habit and Breasts

Meanwhile, the rest of the world - people who may be hearing the words
"blog", "wiki" and "podcast" for the first time - will begin to use these new media as they become simple and ubiquitous, just as e-mail became truly simple and ubiquitous when Hotmail made it so in 1997. Slowly but surely, these technologically unpretentious people will spend less time vegetating in front of the box and instead become their own television and radio programmers, listening to and watching their chosen entertainment on their iPods and other screens as they please. They will gradually lose interest inthe mass media and defect to "personal" media.

- Andreas Kluth, When the hype dies down
- The World in 2007, Economist Publication

The New Year is round the corner. Soon your favourite publication will be thrilling you with lists of highlights of the past year and even more lists about what to expect from the next. The Economist's annual "The World in..." publication has been a regular purchase of mine since around 1996. It is a highly recommendable assessment of current trends and political and social developments that includes "prophetic" projections of what to expect from the year ahead.

This year's edition includes interesting arguments about the authority vacuum in the world, the ever-increasing importance of the climate change question and the temporary crisis of democracy. The above quote is from one of the articles that deals with the development of the web phenomenon. It should come as no surprise to regular J'Accuse readers that I am in agreement with the general gist of the writer. J'accuse would add that the defection away from the mass media in Malta will be much more gradual than elsewhere notwithstanding the efforts of such projects as espresso. As we have already said... old habits die hard.

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Speaking of habit, J'accuse notes the appointment of the new archbishop. Unlike most others we do not have much to say about this event. Unfortunately it means one less Gozitan at the helm of a leading institution on the islands. Gone are the days when being a big-head required a bit of Gozitan DNA. On a more serious note, we were more interested in Cardinal Hummes of Sao Paolo and his declarations regarding celibacy. The Brasilian Cardinal returned from the Vatican discussions and immediately proclaimed to his flock that celibacy is not a dogma, that it is more like a form of discipline imposed by the church. He reminded everyone that some of Jesus' closest associates were married (like Andrew and Peter). We like the way this guy thinks...

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Victor Galea, Secretary General of the Green Party, was one of the first to congratulate Fr Paul on his appointment as Archbishop. J'accuse has often commented on this weird habit in Maltese politics. A bit like the Local Council of Bubaqra announcing its position on abortion. Or the Curia commenting on the election of a party leader. What is the point? true, the church is a social participant with its own role in society. But why should it be so important for AD or any other party to publicly congratulate the new prelate (is he a prelate?)? A private letter would have done no? My guess is that AD are trying to shed off the green commie anti-church image that was cast on them from the PN quarters - read the abortion issue pre-EU elections. If so this is a rather naff way of going about it. Anyways, at least now I know the name of the Sec-Gen of the Greens.

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And now for the picture.

It would seem that Malta has not yet ratified the Maternity Convention. Shame. Especially after all those Breast is Best posters.

Please note that I refrained from low jokes about bunches of tits being able to pass such a law without any trouble.