Desperately Seeking Marmara'

Even here in Italy there is Internet, which means that the citizens of the so-called Belpaese will not have been deprived this sensationally foolish article by Desmond Zammit Marmara'. Because, as is always the case with columns this exasperatingly ridiculous, it is impossible criticise the article rationally and coherently, I have chosen to merely substitute Marmara’s references to teenagers with his own name. The result makes for much more enlightening reading. Though for legal reasons, I should probably add that it makes for enlightening reading that has no absolutely no basis in fact. Probably.

"Criticism of the lifestyle of Desmond Zammit Marmara' has become very common here in Malta. This is rather worrying because most contributions on the issue that appear in the local media usually target the symptoms and not the causes of the problems associated with Desmond Zammit Marmara'.
Desmond Zammit Marmara' is criticized for his iconoclasm, for his violent rejection of authority, for his amoral sexual life, for the way he succumbs to vices such as drink and, even worse, drugs.
Yet, do we stop to reflect on what is causing Desmond Zammit Marmara' to act as he does? Do we stop to reflect on whether Desmond Zammit Marmara' is the victim of the society he has grown up in?
One has to keep in mind that Desmond Zammit Marmara' lives in a globalized world where he is exposed to values and lifestyles which often come into conflict with the traditional values and lifestyles of a formerly insular society such as Malta's.
Through the Internet, films, magazines, foreign travel, or contact with tourists, Desmond Zammit Marmara' is continually bombarded with the message that there are no absolute values and that he should live as he desires without any reference to moral yardsticks as these are in themselves relative and no longer relevant in the times we are living in. A message which is, of course, incorrect, but that is the reality that Desmond Zammit Marmara' lives in!
Take sexual lifestyle as an example. Why are some people scandalized by the sexual lifestyle of Desmond Zammit Marmara'? Have we stopped to think about the way Desmond Zammit Marmara' is bombarded with the message that unfettered sexual activity is perfectly normal and one of the joys of being Desmond Zammit Marmara'? Today, not only films convey this message, we even have magazines distributed with respectable local newspapers read by the whole family which contain advertisements with pictures sometimes bordering on soft porn!
Which is why it is our duty as more mature adults to do something concrete to help Desmond Zammit Marmara' to live a better quality of life. Condemning his lifestyle without doing anything positive to help him is worse than doing nothing!
We need to use the resources available through the media to present alternative, more wholesome lifestyles to Desmond Zammit Marmara'. This can also be done through further developing the personal and social development aspect of education.
Of course, this should not be done in a patronizing manner to show that we, the more mature adults, know better than Desmond Zammit Marmara'. Rather, it should be done in a spirit of solidarity with Desmond Zammit Marmara' because it is our responsibility to provide him with a better future, with models of wholesome lifestyles and not ones which lead to a dead end."