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I need to reaffirm that I’m no fan of anyone, except of the beloved Saints of mine of course.  I idolize no one but have respect for many.  I just try to keep my ears to the ground and arrive to my own conclusions, that’s all.

Journalists

I speak from a lay person’s perspective, nothing more.  But, I am sympathetic to all the journalists wherever they come from, their job is generally underpaid, very difficult, delicate and hanging on a string all the time.  Every story, if it has some decent reportage in it, entails that it will be enjoyed or appreciated by some and demonized by others.  Journalism has hardly any allies, little to no friends and good journalism needs to be as blind as a bat when it comes to taking the big decisions on what to write and what to say.

Bondi

Now, Lou Bondi has a way of getting himself in the limelight.

You need to give it to the man, he keeps aging but he is at his best when the focus  turns on him, being a camera lens or other!  I saw him yesterday on NET TV celebrating 20 years of Radio 101…they got some ‘old’ pictures of him when he managed the station.   Wasn’t he a stunner 🙂 ?  (PS Lou it’s just a dig, you weren’t and aren’t no beauty 😉 )

Now, to the crux of this blog

I’ve been following the sad story of these abused kids come men.  It  was a roller coaster of emotions which started years ago with a lot of ‘anger’, got to the stage of ‘acceptance’ and has now turned in one big conundrum of ‘bitterness’ with no ‘healing’ in sight. I think most of us have traveled this long and winding road together with the emotions experienced by these men, all along.

We need to give it to him, Lou did expose a story that most of us in the media would be very hesitant and reluctant to take on, firstly being the culprit was the Church and  secondly it was the first time that such a situation was being scrutinized.  Much as it did him, the story he surfaced could have easily stalled his journalistic career, keeping in mind how affianced he was to the PN’s religio et patria and the position the Church has in our communities.  I would imagine that this story has sapped Lou Bondi dry but the end justified the efforts I suppose, well so I thought.

Lou Bondi, in my humble opinion did it just right.

It  was the right time to expose it all.

It was the right time to help all realize that the Church was sinful and needed to redeem.

It  was the right time to burst the bubble that all the priests and religious do is fine ’cause it comes from God.

By time this story got complicated and everyone got his knickers in a twist.  Now it’s a mess, balbuljata first class. People are getting confused.  The cause in other words has been spun, to nobody’s advantage the way I see it.  Messages are being misinterpreted. People are throwing things at each other through reportage.  But I give credit to the man  – he stood his ground.  Whether one agrees or  not with Lou Bondi, standing one’s ground in this Country is becoming somewhat of a rarity.

I am convinced, even after all that is being said,  when one puts it all in the balance,  Lou Bondi is in the right. I personally wouldn’t have splashed the recent developments all over my blog but would have confronted these men and finally respected their choices, it’s their story after all.

All of this was compounded by a series of imprecisions (or lies as Lou called them) directed at him.  It was his turn to feel victimized. Lou repeatedly claimed that he was there to give them a service.  Now the service he was ready to give contrasted to the victims interpretation of what service they wanted.

It is very clear that  these men are still reeling from the pain they have had to endure and what worries me the most is that they just can’t get heads or tails of the emotions they are entangled with.  It also seems to be clouding the way they are taking this issue forward.

Lou speaks about these people meeting at his home.  He has given them  his time and energy and I am convinced that no money was in the offing.  These are people that on the other hand have given him audiences.  Whatever, life is about give and take – and one is not always in control of that process.  The truth of the matter is that this is a story that has attained its objectives;

1.  Residential homes are under scrutiny and new regulations put into place.

2.  The Universal Church was wrong and apologized.

3.  The Law has by and large brought the abusers to justice.

As I have said in a previous blog, hardheadedness is not of God. If the Church wants to bring closure it must compensate.

If the media has a genuine interest in the pain and suffering this story has caused to these men, it needs to ‘blackout’.  The media needs to be bold.

My take on this  whole affair is that Lawrence Grech and Co. are only being used, consciously or not, like tennis balls.

My judgment:  I give a 10+ to Bondi  for the way this story was unraveled and the role he had to show us  the dire truth, but enough is enough.

See also:

L-arcisqof u l-abbuzati

Il-Marfa, il-Fathers u l-istampa-kollha

https://andrewazzopardi.wordpress.com/


6 thoughts on “Bondi 10+”

  1. I am not as touched by Bondi’s story as other people. I still cannot understand how a critical and analytical person as Bondi is supposed to be, in eight years working with this Lawrence Grech person, never saw anything that made him take a long and hard look at Grech.

    We – as onlookers – are in no position to analyse objectively. What we know of these 8 men is what they and Bondi wanted us to know. So much so, that when I read that one of the accused priests had said that Lawrence Grech is and has always been a scheming little so and so I was thoroughly “scandalised”

    Possibly Bondi knew “everything” about him and thought to himself “Nothing can happen to me because I’m SuperBondi” … Well events put paid to that.

    Another theory I have is that the real agenda was not to help these guys to come to terms with their tragic past, but to pull a quick one on the Church. In that case, contrary to the popular adage, there’s no honour among thieves.(This does not imply that Bondi and the rest are thieves, it’s just a “modified” maxim. I wouldn’t want to get into trouble)

    Whichever way you look at it Bondi is not collateral damage, as Joe Brincat implied. He played with fire thinking he could not get burnt. Of course he did.

    Strategically he could not have left at a better time. He will forever be associated with the men’s fight for justice. People will recall the episode and say “Lou Bondi did the right thing. When things started getting improper he left”

    I read Joe Brincat’s “eulogy” on Bondi’s blog. Unctuousness, if you ask me. A crockful of shite. What did either expect? That somebody embarks on such a crusade and they’d come out on the other side smelling of roses, just in time for tea and biscuits?

    Bondi’s part in all this was commendable, mind you. But I’m sure he didn’t know exactly what he was letting himself into. On a humane level, you feel sorry for the man, but on a tactical level you can’t help thinking that he’s had it coming.

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  2. I cannot but disagree more with what you wrote Dr. Azzopardi. Good job we are not assessing Bondi in a negative-marking exercise as my mark would have obliterated your 10+ points and bring it to a ZERO. Up to recently, I have been following the writings and programmes of this ‘Sociologist’, and it always irked me in the way he projects matters and makes them spin with a vengeance but ultimately for self and PN political gain. He always had and still has his agenda and no one can deny this. To make matters worse, he has a very intimate collusion with DCG and anyone overlooking this would definitely be blinkered. So although I do respect your opinion, I must say that I was surprised by your comments.

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  4. Impartiality or better still the lack of it. No one can deny that Bondi’ has access to prime air time on PBS – the national TV station funded by public coffers. As is quite evident, the management of PBS is breaking all the rules to accommodate Bondi’ and co. This when it is more than common knowledge what is his agenda. But it seems that arrogance has no limits in this blessed country. Irrespective of whether one agrees or not with the regulations quoted in the article, these are being blatantly overlooked, or rather broken. I personally never agreed with the way our national station was used in the past for political gain but I thought that we have matured to the point that the Broadcasting Authority was doing its job as expected being the watchdog and, in a way, regulator. It seems that I was completely mistaken.

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