From: Rodney Charles, Trinidad & Tobago Ambassador to the UN.
I often wonder what is it about our Trinbagonian psyche that permits an unthinking, almost instinctive but calculatingly destructive and callous excess when it comes to describing our fellow citizens, our country and especially our leadership.
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| Ambassador Rodney Charles |
We delight in pulling down one another - whether in calypso, in everyday fatigue, in Minty Alley style cuss outs, on radio talk shows on both sides of the political divide, and among some of our columnists.
I have followed one columnist in particular who has never had a good word to say about this government - not a single good word. How's that for objectivity? And he considers himself journalistic, balanced, reasonable, and "bright".
It is done almost as a reflex action and in a way that our Barbadian or Jamaican brethren are not able to do with such consummate ease. Americans always accorded the office of the President a measure of respect - at least before Obama assumed office.
Not here in T and T.
That is why many of our leaders have in my view “pre collapsed" in office.
Eric Williams it is alleged refused to take his medication when confronted with the vituperation, condemnation and vilification of all and sundry including columnists. I witnessed his suffering up front. It must have been soul destroying for him. I can only imagine how he felt in his final days after giving what in his view was his life for his people.
George Chambers, Eric's successor, once confessed to me in the back seat of a car while finalizing a speech that he had stopped reading local newspapers or listening to local talk shows. It was too much for his soul to absorb. He sought refuge in foreign news especially BBC radio. I am advised that the calypsonian who sang "Chambers duncee" later apologised - albeit too late (it was offered after Chambers had died) the damage was already done Trini style.
Former President Robinson is seen as a hero today but there was a time just before and during the Muslimeen coup when as Prime Minister he was called all sorts of mercilessly, unkind names. Was he supposed (falsely of course and early in his political career) to have stolen all the two dollar bills if my memory serves me correct? It is even alleged that soldiers were salivatingly contemplating his death while he was held hostage in our parliament.
I have worked with Mr. Panday and I was witness to some very, very unkind, even racist comments many of which were uncalled for, should not have been uttered, or could have been said with more taste. Today punch drunk he may be suffering from the effects of too many Trini uppercuts to his spirit and soul. At least so it is alleged.
And we have Mr. Manning. I watched his return recently - broken in body, spirit, and soul - the ultimate end product of a Trini Prime Minister. And I thought about Eric, and Chambers, and Robbie when he was our PM, and Panday and I wondered if all these men were wicked, malevolent and evil as we were repeatedly told in the media, in calypso and by some of our revered columnists. Was there any good in them?
I have followed one columnist in particular who has never had a good word to say about this government - not a single good word. How's that for objectivity? And he considers himself journalistic, balanced, reasonable, and "bright".
It is done almost as a reflex action and in a way that our Barbadian or Jamaican brethren are not able to do with such consummate ease. Americans always accorded the office of the President a measure of respect - at least before Obama assumed office.
Not here in T and T.
That is why many of our leaders have in my view “pre collapsed" in office.
Eric Williams it is alleged refused to take his medication when confronted with the vituperation, condemnation and vilification of all and sundry including columnists. I witnessed his suffering up front. It must have been soul destroying for him. I can only imagine how he felt in his final days after giving what in his view was his life for his people.
George Chambers, Eric's successor, once confessed to me in the back seat of a car while finalizing a speech that he had stopped reading local newspapers or listening to local talk shows. It was too much for his soul to absorb. He sought refuge in foreign news especially BBC radio. I am advised that the calypsonian who sang "Chambers duncee" later apologised - albeit too late (it was offered after Chambers had died) the damage was already done Trini style.
Former President Robinson is seen as a hero today but there was a time just before and during the Muslimeen coup when as Prime Minister he was called all sorts of mercilessly, unkind names. Was he supposed (falsely of course and early in his political career) to have stolen all the two dollar bills if my memory serves me correct? It is even alleged that soldiers were salivatingly contemplating his death while he was held hostage in our parliament.
I have worked with Mr. Panday and I was witness to some very, very unkind, even racist comments many of which were uncalled for, should not have been uttered, or could have been said with more taste. Today punch drunk he may be suffering from the effects of too many Trini uppercuts to his spirit and soul. At least so it is alleged.
And we have Mr. Manning. I watched his return recently - broken in body, spirit, and soul - the ultimate end product of a Trini Prime Minister. And I thought about Eric, and Chambers, and Robbie when he was our PM, and Panday and I wondered if all these men were wicked, malevolent and evil as we were repeatedly told in the media, in calypso and by some of our revered columnists. Was there any good in them?
How did we reach the point where we have the best educated citizens in the Caribbean, two gold medalists, a reasonably sized heritage fund, a better than average social safety net, a country where by Commonwealth standards we are the 3rd best place for girls to be born; a Prime Minister held in very high esteem globally (this I have witnessed personally), and an economy that comparatively speaking has not experienced the negative impacts of the global financial crisis; or where we must be the only country in the world today to give 5% plus increases in wages across the board despite flat State revenues - the US, England , Greece, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Italy and many others have cut, or are cutting, wages and numbers of state employees. We fortunately did not.
They must have had their faults. They were only human; sinners like the rest of us; but were they all evil demons and a blight on our nation's 50 year history of independence as some would have us believe?
And it is not only our Prime Ministers whom we treat with contempt.
They must have had their faults. They were only human; sinners like the rest of us; but were they all evil demons and a blight on our nation's 50 year history of independence as some would have us believe?
And it is not only our Prime Ministers whom we treat with contempt.
The list of fellow citizens includes Albert Gomes whom we literally chased out of the country despite a significant and as yet unappreciated life of service to TT, Butler and C.L. R. James who were demonized and literally rescued by the OWTU in their latter days, Roy Joseph, Cola Rienzi aka Krishna Deonarine whose sin was to accept a senior legal appointment with the State, Gene Miles, Eugenio Moore, Patrick Solomon, Learie Constantine, Richard Toby, a whole "grappe" of politicians who were labeled millstones-Carlton Gomes never understood what hit him, APT James, Dom Basil Matthews demonized during his debates with the father of our nation.
These were all our fellow citizens who stood up to be counted, most likely tried to make a difference, but suffered during their productive years the inevitable, merciless, and going for the jugular onslaughts.
If in the fullness of time the leader of the opposition ever becomes Prime Minister he, like his predecessors, will not escape the merciless, soul destroying vilification that we reserve especially for our leaders. He too may come to rue the days he ever accepted leadership in this beautiful land of ours.
And today it all clicked when I read Michael Harris' article- "a line in the sand".
I will not accept for one moment that there is a racist, gender, or political agenda on Mr. Harris' part - far from it. He is too erudite for that. But what devastatingly factual evidence could Mr. Harris bring to the table to justify, to a balanced audience, a comment such as....."I am satisfied that this Government is a pestilent cesspool of corruption and iniquity presided over by a High Priestess of shamelessness and controlled by the Prince of Perfidy".
That is going straight for the jugular. That is not a principled disagreement. It reads more like a Godlike judgment from the mountaintop. It is a judgment apparently made after analyzing the "inner" motivations and the "outer" manifestations of the persons referenced. But was it Shakespeare who said that there is no art to know the mind's construction in the face?
Can Trinis not disagree without always going after the jugular? Can we not hold vastly different perspectives about Trinidad and Tobago's future and remain friends? Why do we automatically spew venom on our opponents? Listen to the talk shows. Why it is that those who are not for us must by definition forever be our enemies? And how does all this square with the benefits of diversity, divergent thinking, and thinking outside the box which developed countries are fine tuning as a value added approach to policy formulation?
A statement like that written with such authority demands evidence not high sounding utterings more suited to rum shop or stand pipe deliberations. After all we are an advanced democracy and the purpose of the fourth estate is to provide facts upon which an informed citizenry can make sound judgments.
If in the fullness of time the leader of the opposition ever becomes Prime Minister he, like his predecessors, will not escape the merciless, soul destroying vilification that we reserve especially for our leaders. He too may come to rue the days he ever accepted leadership in this beautiful land of ours.
And today it all clicked when I read Michael Harris' article- "a line in the sand".
I will not accept for one moment that there is a racist, gender, or political agenda on Mr. Harris' part - far from it. He is too erudite for that. But what devastatingly factual evidence could Mr. Harris bring to the table to justify, to a balanced audience, a comment such as....."I am satisfied that this Government is a pestilent cesspool of corruption and iniquity presided over by a High Priestess of shamelessness and controlled by the Prince of Perfidy".
That is going straight for the jugular. That is not a principled disagreement. It reads more like a Godlike judgment from the mountaintop. It is a judgment apparently made after analyzing the "inner" motivations and the "outer" manifestations of the persons referenced. But was it Shakespeare who said that there is no art to know the mind's construction in the face?
Can Trinis not disagree without always going after the jugular? Can we not hold vastly different perspectives about Trinidad and Tobago's future and remain friends? Why do we automatically spew venom on our opponents? Listen to the talk shows. Why it is that those who are not for us must by definition forever be our enemies? And how does all this square with the benefits of diversity, divergent thinking, and thinking outside the box which developed countries are fine tuning as a value added approach to policy formulation?
A statement like that written with such authority demands evidence not high sounding utterings more suited to rum shop or stand pipe deliberations. After all we are an advanced democracy and the purpose of the fourth estate is to provide facts upon which an informed citizenry can make sound judgments.
That is what I was taught in my master’s degree programme in journalism more than three decades ago in Canada. I am still waiting for the kinds of facts - not ole talk, nor pedantic opinions, nor stand pipe outbursts, not selectively applied data - that will justify such opprobrium delivered with such finality.
We diminish our democracy when we do not equip our citizenry with quality information, reasoned arguments, balanced discourse and more so tempered language.
Being a columnist is in no way an exercise in elevating standpipe opinions and robber talk to the published columns. In that case only the medium has changed. David Brooks' opinionated pro democrat articles and others in the New York Times for example do not stray too far from facts. They also give due consideration to other perspectives in arriving at balanced conclusions.
Until someone proves to me otherwise, I will assume that this article is merely one more high profiled example of a Trini penchant for excess, denigration of one another and our leadership, based primarily on some malady of our collective psyche, or lack of patriotism (a Barbadian view), or our deep seated lack of self esteem which makes us incapable of seeing value in others, or a need for recognition by being ultra critical and anti establishment.
It may not be so but I stand to be corrected with reasoned arguments.
It may even be an unfortunate hang over from the plantation when we reveled, in most cases justifiably so, in bringing down and ridiculing, by calypso, carnival and picong, the planter class and those in leadership positions.
Perhaps on reflection - and looking at the bigger picture of the fourth estate - Mr. Harris may wish to rethink his article, the motive behind it; and even his choice of words. It showcases a disturbing aspect of our society which we must analyze fully and which we must not allow to continue in the second half century of our nation's existence.
Criticize yes; disagree absolutely; argue your case stridently. But please let us respect one another while doing so.
(Ambassador) Rodney Charles
PS: I await the inevitable vilification, condemnation and venom which after all is the thesis of this article.
We diminish our democracy when we do not equip our citizenry with quality information, reasoned arguments, balanced discourse and more so tempered language.
Being a columnist is in no way an exercise in elevating standpipe opinions and robber talk to the published columns. In that case only the medium has changed. David Brooks' opinionated pro democrat articles and others in the New York Times for example do not stray too far from facts. They also give due consideration to other perspectives in arriving at balanced conclusions.
Until someone proves to me otherwise, I will assume that this article is merely one more high profiled example of a Trini penchant for excess, denigration of one another and our leadership, based primarily on some malady of our collective psyche, or lack of patriotism (a Barbadian view), or our deep seated lack of self esteem which makes us incapable of seeing value in others, or a need for recognition by being ultra critical and anti establishment.
It may not be so but I stand to be corrected with reasoned arguments.
It may even be an unfortunate hang over from the plantation when we reveled, in most cases justifiably so, in bringing down and ridiculing, by calypso, carnival and picong, the planter class and those in leadership positions.
Perhaps on reflection - and looking at the bigger picture of the fourth estate - Mr. Harris may wish to rethink his article, the motive behind it; and even his choice of words. It showcases a disturbing aspect of our society which we must analyze fully and which we must not allow to continue in the second half century of our nation's existence.
Criticize yes; disagree absolutely; argue your case stridently. But please let us respect one another while doing so.
(Ambassador) Rodney Charles
PS: I await the inevitable vilification, condemnation and venom which after all is the thesis of this article.
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