The breaking news as of yesterday evening is the explosion in Għarb, Gozo, which so far has left 4 dead and wrecked a family. I am fully aware that it is somewhat disrespectful to discuss these matters even as the dead have not yet been buried, but given the subject matter and how long I’ve held my silence, I think it’s high time something was put down.
Fireworks are dangerous. We know this both by proxy and by firsthand experience. 5 explosions have happened in 2010 so far, and although each and every one of them was tragic, I fail to see what the big fuss is about. Let me explain.
Fireworks are built to explode. A controlled explosion, granted, but that is the primary purpose in the short, fiery life they enjoy. Why we act so surprised when a roomful of them blows up beats me.
Much like Jesus, these little bastards were born to die
You may remember what our parents used to tell us when we were younger, something along the lines of “Don’t play with matches” or “You play with fire, you’ll get burned”. Whatever happened to that piece of sensible advice? If you gamble your money away, expect to live piss poor. If you inject heroin, expect to suffer, overdose and die. If you play with fireworks, your expectancy of being blown up to smithereens should be significantly higher than anyone else’s, so what’s the big surprise here?
I’m sorry to hear of the dead, I truly, unequivocally am. I’ve had my fair share of loss this year, and I know that it’s vile to see someone young go. That said, what exactly do we expect? Much like the chain smoker or the morbidly obese, you live and die fully aware of the risks you run.
This is the wrong kind of bang
Another thing I’m sick of hearing is that the patron saint will protect the dead and deliver them straight to the Holy Father’s arms and bla bla bla. Don’t let my religious convictions (see: none) affect you, but I always thought that you sleep in the bed you make. If we’re going to be Catholic about it, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and as such should not be poisoned by use of alcohol, nicotine or other drugs. So how about knowingly risking life and limb on the daily for the sake of the perfect petard?
One way tickets to Jesus
And why don’t we say it like it is? Why don’t the newspaper headlines read “4 dead on behalf of village feasts”?. Because well and truly, that’s what this is all about, people taking huge risks with themselves and with others’ lives and possessions.
You may have forgotten the Naxxar incident which left an innocent woman dead, because her neighbour stored fireworks in his garage. You may also remember that a few days after, fireworks were found stored in the Band Club, across the street from a petrol station. To me, that is not a risk anyone should consider, let alone run without anyone knowing. This apart from the minor fact that you are not only toying with your own life, but also others’. If you have a death wish, fine, end your life, see if I care. I happen to love mine, so please don’t blow me up. After all, that’s the reason I don’t give shit to Muslims.
I know nothing about fireworks, and I don’t care to learn. I think my life is exciting enough as it is, plus, the thought of soiling my pants on the daily doesn’t appeal to me. However I do know something about bullshit. So instead of catching the ball from inside the net and going round offering condolences, why do we not force our bigwigs to proactively come down hard on firework producers? No, fireworks shouldn’t be made illegal, of course not. But yes, we do need more training, more control over where fireworks are made and stored, what chemicals are used and which are banned, and most especially, who is allowed access to firework factories, and how to transport them. Without doing all of the above, we’re just wasting time and pissing in the wind.
Not the standing ovation I hoped for
And of course, it’s up to me to say what we all know, but are too ashamed to say. If we learn nothing from all these accidents, all of these deaths would have been for nothing. If we really were taking this seriously, would we have had 5 accidents in a single year, culminating in the death of a (purportedly) pregnant woman in the end? Didn’t think so.
Novel uses for the words Head. In. Sand.
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Rajtha tard vera imma prosit! Tal-genn int! :) Alavolja mhux dejjem na
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Then you just have to live with it and that's it. Or as suggested befo
5 Reasons why the Malta to Gozo tunnel proposal is bullshit
'if you have a problem living in gozo, then don’t live in gozo' Tha
5 Reasons why the Malta to Gozo tunnel proposal is bullshit
Matthew, it's not the ferry taking 2 hours to cross. Don't be silly. N
5 Reasons why the Malta to Gozo tunnel proposal is bullshit
You bring up many valid points. However, my main objection to the tun
Anonymous
I agreed with you, up to the point where you alluded that Muslims blow shit up. There are plenty of them in my area but so far all big booms came from said firework factories.
Andre
Beats me how if a pregnant woman goes to a fireworks factory it’s a national tragedy. If you ask me, it’s an act of plain stupidity.
mark
You’re completely right, and I’m in agreement with you. I was alluding to the stereotypical, fanatical Muslim about which we have plenty of news coverage on the daily, not the moderate (and in absolute majority) peace loving Muslim we are led to believe does not exist.
Anonymous
Thank you for your reply. It does not help to reference stereotypes, but apart from that the rest of the article was very well written.
Keep up the good observations
Davinia
Well written article. I also can’t understand why people act shocked and surprised when fireworks factories blow up. I do not have it in me to feel sorry for those who died or anybody who encourages people to risk their lives for a few booms which are mainly annoying anyway. And anybody who uses the patron saint or other religious figure as an excuse seriously needs their head examined. I can’t remember that commandment; thou shalt blow shit up in my name.
I can’t feel sorry for them but I feel sorry for their families. How selfish of them to put themselves in such risk when there are people to depend on them.
dave
intresting article obviously your point of view on fireworks is rather biased and i can tell that you dont like fireworks but if handled correctly they are perfectly safe. The accident mentioned above is a tragic one off event not something that happens all the time
markbiwwa
@ Dave: It’s one thing to say fireworks are safe if you only use them on Guy Fawkes, and they’re the tiny Roman candle/chinese cracker variety. It’s another to say they’re safe when they’re able to cause such devastation:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100908/local/gharb-blast-claims-sixth-victim
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100909/local/fireworks-inquiry-detail-not-haste-most-important-minister
(In case of the second link, ignore the voice over if you do not speak Maltese. Just focus on the stock footage, which shows the havoc €50,000 worth of fireworks can wreak.)
And by the way, Malta is only second to China in fatalities caused by fireworks.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/fireworks/malta-second-only-to-china-for-fireworks-fatalities
anonbc
foolishness never surprised me. Your comments besides being arrogant, stupid and idiotic, are also full of lies, (the woman was not pregnant). These people dont go manufacturing fireworks to be blown to pieces, they go to give a spectacle so that you and your idiotic and vulgar and snobbish friends will have somewhere to go and have fun and get drunk in the process. When some of them make a mistake, alas yes it’s the end of the day of them and for their families. Being sarcastic about such tragic circumstances is obscene if not outright scandalistic coming from perverted minds and souls. And dont mention the name of the Lord in vain.
mark
Wow, anonbc, I really rubbed you the wrong way here didn’t I? To be fair though, the female victim being pregnant or not has nothing to do with the danger associated with fireworks. Up to this morning, the consensus in the media was that she was with child. The fact she is not changes nothing.
I fully understand that “These people dont go manufacturing fireworks to be blown to pieces” as you so aptly put it, however, my friends and I have never asked anyone to build us a petard, so your argument is moot.
To be completely honest, I give less than a shit how obscene and scandalous you find my opinions. The fact that you try to censure me, describe people you don’t know in ways you can’t possibly comprehend and bring the old ‘Lord in vain’ elephant into the picture tells me how atavistic you are and how simple your world view is.
My friend, this is not the 1600s. Opinions are aplenty and opinions are for free. If you don’t like mine, there are plenty of Catholic, pro-fireworks, pro-life bloggers around who will give you the truth and salvation.
Karl
Anonbc, it should be obvious to everyone that hobbyists involved in pyrotechnics don’t do it to blow themselves up. Nor was Mark, at any point, implying that; it’s a risk they run, and one which they are aware about, as should be amply clear from the analogy to smokers. We do not generally smoke so that we can get lung cancer, but we are aware that it is a risk.
With regards to the ‘lies’ you refer to in the article, I beg to differ. Early news reports concerning the incident mentioned that the woman was pregnant, though this was later denied. In addition, the post above states that she was *purportedly* pregnant, which is not the same as saying “Believe me! This is THE one and only truth!”. I’m not sure what your definition of lie is exactly, but it does seem that you’re a hardliner or the subject.
Third, could you point out where the name of the lord is being taken in vain above. “Another thing I’m sick of hearing is that the patron saint will protect the dead and deliver them straight to the Holy Father’s arms and bla bla bla.”? Is that it? Does that offend your sensibilities? If that is the case, you would be better served directing your complaints to the people who say that, rather than those quoting them. “One way tickets to Jesus”? Same thing, different wording.
Fourth, good sir or madam, if you are really of the Catholic persuasion, should you really be insulting random strangers under the cover of anonymity? We don’t bite, and most of us enjoy a good argument. If you are really of the Catholic persuasion, would you be more worried about what you perceive as arrogant, sarcastic and idiotic posts, rather than the truth, which is to say, that life and limb are being lost unnecessarily?
Joseph
Brilliantly put, my good chap! Aside from the fact that your comments have absolutely no sense of arrogance and stupidity within them, I would also like to point out, that at the time the article was written (there is a date at the bottom, it shows when the article was published) it was indeed reported that the woman was pregnant. Furthermore, you may want to look up the definition of ‘full’. You provided one example of one lie which really was the fault of the false reports circulating around the country.
Now, pardon me but this man here is arguing against fireworks and so I highly doubt that these people are really going to work at fireworks factory to appeal to him or his ‘snobbish’ friends because as far as I know, neither Mark, nor I, being one of his supposedly idiotic and vulgar friends have attended any of the feasts for several years because I cannot for the life of me fathom the correlation between praising a saint and getting drunk and watching explosions in the sky, so please don’t accuse me him or myself of anything which you know nothing about. The way it stands, festa fanatics create fireworks for festa fanatics and more festa fanatics defend the production of festa fireworks by festa fanatics.
Finally, I would like to add, that being sarcastic in such tragic circumstances may be considered obscene, there is nothing more scandalous than going forward with a feast after what has happened happened. The lack of respect by the very same people whom these people died trying to please did have the decency to halt the festivities. Why don’t you look at your own comment before accusing anyone else’s of being full of lies.
Andre'
Luckily, or regrettably, depends on how you look at it, I don’t need feasts to have somewhere to go and have fun and get drunk. Indeed, in my vocabulary fun and feast couldn’t be more far removed.
Feasts are, to put it mildly, a nuisance. I can’t park in front of my own house, and sometimes I have to take ridiculously long detours because they block off all the roads. Besides, I hate being woken up at 8.30am on a Saturday morning to the sound of what you call a spectacle and to what I call a senseless and moronic display of useless noise pollution.
And btw… you are a jesus-loving idiot!
DPC
The woman was only slightly pregnant. Anyone saying she was or wasn’t is clearly exaggerating.
Andre'
Since when is there a distinction between pregnant and slightly pregnant? Is it a new medical development?
Brett
I’m not a blogger nor do i actually read these kind of things but i gotta say to you guys it makes fantastic reading.
Im English living in Malta and i share the same views as Mark so please please keep writing and i for one will keep reading.
Consider this page now firmly attached to my favorites! 10/10
mark
Thank you Brett! Rest assured there’s more where this came from. Have a great weekend!
Kevin
I don’t know why you lot are arguing about this fireworks issue. Let them blow themselves to kingdom come. At some point Homo “Pyrotechnicus” will learn and stop manufacturing the damn things and we’ll start enjoying a petard-free Sunday and the IQ level in the country will rise above that of anonBC, anonAD and anon, in general. Evolution comes in baby-steps (oops, I hope I haven’t offended the creationists here)
Adrian Camilleri
Amen, Mark.
John
x’buzz niehu naqra dawn il blogs mann
John
il lalla kemm andi saqajn lol
hahahahah
luciano A.
I read your comments… I am Maltese and also a catholic….. I am sure that your comments and more are shared by many intellectual people in Malta…personally I think the Muslims part was out of context….it is there believe and has nothing to do with our fireworks!
…basically all this boils down to a saying I think fits us well “action speaks louder than words
The problem here not just for this but for many other things,,,people are full of words but unlike
the rest of the world..very little action is taken..the only time when people go to the streets is
on the result of an election….. or after a football match…. plenty of fireworks there
Anon.
FemaleFireworksLover
i couldn’t not comment about this.
i found your site by chance and your article caught my attention.
i started reading until the paragraph before the aerial view photo… where you say you don’t know anything about firework neither you want to, and the mind-blowing part, in bold, where fireworks shouldn’t be made legal!
do you think the number of people in the scattered factories around malta would stop with their production?!!! who would seriously think that!!! i was born in a family of feast animals who as a young girl would go with my dad to produce his pieces and i would be picturing the final results of that tall monster lighting the night skies…
why does the ignorance of the maltese people especially the northern ones and with this i don’t mean to be a racist or whatever the word is… why do they have to say fireworks should stop, people are dying bla bla bla…. of course there are there families but risks are everywhere… fireworks are our tradition just like il pastizi u il bigilla. let it be like it is just because you don’t appreciate it and neither interested in it except for writing another article about it…. we [re: fireworks and feast lovers] will NOT stay quiet about these crappy opinions!!!!
and yes this is the longest comment i ever written and possibly the longest one in your blog too.
see you all in our feast in june and our mezmerizing festive summer season.
chris grillo
I came across this post accidentally, so I said, WTF, I’ll throw i nmy two cents worth.
I happen to agree with 100% of what Mark said. I can appreciate spectacular displays that light up the night sky, and are largely silent. But tragically, just like my mother-in-law’s farts, silent CAN be deadly too.
As to why any idiot would appreciate petards shaking every living thing within usually ILLEGAL limits (I live in Tarxien, where this year, the PAOLA feast bombs were let off not more than a 100 metres (if that!) from where I live)… and for what? There were 10 food stalls, 18 old men picking their noses, and err…. that’s it. Cue hosing down of green sunhshade due to falling embers. Sunamabitches!
This is not tradition, this is a nuisance. A petition for the abolishment of these hazards?
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Mario Zammit
Mark,
Im sorry you went too extreme, Fireworks are part of our culture and pls. We make sacrifice because this is our hobby and from our hobby We are keeping one of our culture and tradditions alive. Malta is known as the Best in the World for Fireworks. Pls. live and let live. And learn to admire and appreciate this art.
Mark
“Live and let live”; I think that’s a central tenet of my argument. When’s the last time you heard a firework fatality of the unwilling kind say that? I’ll give you a hint, never.
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