REPETITION IS INDEED VERY POWERFUL

Repetition is very powerful, Joe Borg tells us on January 15.  Indeed, it is, as evidenced by the institution he represents with its countless absurd teachings that could only be believed by the gullible through repetition. I assume that's also the point of reciting the Rosary, and not that God is hard of hearing. But let’s not go there and stay on topic lest this article takes me at least a whole year to finish.

The man who constantly whines that he is “being silenced”, yet again got an opinion piece published in Malta’s leading newspaper, this time telling us in its heading that abortion is a web of deceit. And yet, Borg devotes his whole article to criticising the real or perceived deceit of politicians and does not even devote one sentence to explaining how and in what way abortion is “deceitful”. What he does instead is express his own deceit which he knows that, if it is repeated often enough, will be believed by the gullible and by those too lazy to read and learn the facts.

I will not waste any time on any of his views on local or foreign politicians, since after all, the moral permissibility of abortion (or of anything for that matter), is not in any way affected by who holds one position or another. I’ll simply devote my time here to one significant blunder of Borg’s that clearly shows that what he says of others in respect of repetition and believing lies, clearly applies to himself.

“How can one explain that there are people who do believe what is manifestly untrue?”, Borg asks.  Indeed, how can one explain to such people that the being inside a pregnant woman’s body, especially prior to the 23rd week of gestation, is a foetus and not a baby, and moreover a foetus with no capacity to feel or be consciously aware of anything – not even of its existence? Which brings me to Borg’s blunder.

Borg tells us that “a closer look at what the health minister said shows that the government is still determined to legalise abortion. The only ‘concession’ seems to be that abortion will be legal just short of 24 weeks. Babies under that age can now be aborted if there is a danger to a woman’s health. Google an image of a 23-week-old baby to see who will be binned”.

Yes, you read that right. In his zeal to repeat a lie often enough to make his flock believe it – the lie that a foetus at any stage of gestation is a “baby”, Borg tells us to Google an image of a 23-week-old baby, when he evidently should have said 23-week-old foetus given that abortion cannot be performed on born babies. As someone commented beneath his article, we don’t need Google to see what a 23-week-old baby looks like. We’ve all seen one. I’m sure even Joe Borg knows the difference, and if he doesn’t, perhaps someone should explain it to him. It would spare him further embarrassment.

If one tells a lie often enough, one will start to believe it himself. Specific words have specific meaning for a reason. By ignoring the obvious difference between a foetus and a born baby (the most important being that prior to at least 23 weeks gestation a foetus, unlike a baby, does not experience anything and is not even aware it exists), and by habitually repeating the same mantra, Borg ended up confusing even himself. But perhaps that’s all part of his "holy" plan.

Borg is however spot on when he says that “we prefer to believe things that are in consonance with our established positions. Having them challenged would create dissonance; something that we do prefer to live without. In addition, confirmation bias plays an important role – we tend to look for information that supports what we suspect and discount what contradicts what we want to be true”. 

This applies perfectly to him and the institution he represents, and explains their clinging to irrational positions and beliefs even when faced with contrary evidence. But let’s keep calling (even early) foetuses “babies”. Repetition is indeed very powerful, especially when you have an audience that has been conditioned throughout their whole lives to believe anything you say, including the most absurd and evidently untrue propositions.  Just make sure that if you want a picture of a foetus, you don’t Google “baby”, or you’ll get the wrong result. But perhaps, in this post-truth age, that would not even matter anyway.