TMID Editorial: Embracing the Mundane – The Malta Independent

Over the past few days, The Malta Independent has published two photos on its website that have gone viral on social media.

The first was a picture of a board in Ta’ Qali National Park with a message to dog owners asking them to clean up after their pets. There was a spelling mistake on the blackboard, and the word “respectful” had an “i” instead of an “e” on the first syllable.

The second picture is the license plate of the official car. The GM 23 plate was stuck upside down on the front of the car.

We in the newspaper industry have made our own mistakes. We are all victims of many spelling mistakes in our headlines and body text, and despite our proofreading work and spell-checking exercises, errors still occur. We apologize for this.

Again, compared to the thousands of words we have to deal with every day, it’s far more difficult to spot the mistakes of a board with four words printed in large letters or a board with an upside down license plate. It is easy to

Perhaps more frustrating is that some people justify these mistakes and think nothing is wrong. There were comments on social media ‘defending’ these inaccuracies and there was nothing we could do, which was not news at all and accused us of highlighting these issues.

These comments once again confirm that public commissions have misspellings and that there are people who see nothing wrong with having ministerial license plates. It was something. Upside down.

We have talked many times about the “u iva mhux xorta” (anything goes) mentality that unfortunately has taken root in our society. Here is another example. Too many people have come to accept mediocrity when it shouldn’t be.

It started at the top when those in power threw ethics out the window and made too many mistakes. Those who shamed the country remained in their positions. This encouraged those in the lower strata of our society to imitate those in the upper strata. was a common sentiment.

So now we’ve come to a point where the “anything goes” mentality has become a way of life. The unfortunate thing about this is that this approach has been passed down to the next generation.

And rest assured that mistakes like the ones we’ve highlighted will increase in the years to come. Passing scores in all three core subjects – Maltese, English and Mathematics – are no longer required to enter junior college. Given that, we are on that path.

What about giving college degrees to people whose names can’t be spelled next?