With apologies to Dr. Chalkdust for the “borrow” of his line from a calypso of the 1970’s, I reluctantly return from a lovely vacation in Tobago to face this society we are destroying.
I mean, a few little days I decide to go and spend by Sistah ‘Bago, to appreciate clean roads and beaches and toilets, and reasonably law-abiding people-- and all I read and hear and see on my return is anger, bitterness, hate and lawlessness? What is really wrong with us, Trinis? And don’t tell me it’s the leadership, although they are part of it.
But I tired tell you (sic) our “leaders” come from us. They were not, in spite of what some of them tell you, sent by God to lead us. It is us, folks, we, more than the criminals, more than the politicians, who are tearing our homeland apart. And yes, of course, the politicians and the criminals are part of it all, but always supported by us, as we rant and rave on facebook. And of course, the media is in this too.
There is a level of spite and hatred coming through the conventional and the social media. No one stops to ask: Is this true? Is there another side to this issue? Can this idea work?
In the beginning—and this really began with the victory of the Peoples’ Partnership in 2010—it was pushed by the remnants of the PNM. First Patrick Manning, unrepentant over his coddling of Calder Hart and the fact that he used taxpayers’ money to spend $30 million on his High Priestess’ church in Guanapo, fraudulently labeling the project as an extension to his Diplomatic Centre.
But I tired tell you (sic) our “leaders” come from us. They were not, in spite of what some of them tell you, sent by God to lead us. It is us, folks, we, more than the criminals, more than the politicians, who are tearing our homeland apart. And yes, of course, the politicians and the criminals are part of it all, but always supported by us, as we rant and rave on facebook. And of course, the media is in this too.
There is a level of spite and hatred coming through the conventional and the social media. No one stops to ask: Is this true? Is there another side to this issue? Can this idea work?
In the beginning—and this really began with the victory of the Peoples’ Partnership in 2010—it was pushed by the remnants of the PNM. First Patrick Manning, unrepentant over his coddling of Calder Hart and the fact that he used taxpayers’ money to spend $30 million on his High Priestess’ church in Guanapo, fraudulently labeling the project as an extension to his Diplomatic Centre.
Manning stood in Parliament and claimed that Kamla’s newly built home cost what-- over a hundred million dollars, and had been built with drug money. The reaction on facebook was “Oh my God! See how she crooked too!” No one thought to ask: Is this true? It was not!
Then Keith Rowley, a man who remarkably lost every vestige of public respect he had gained when Manning was hounding him in 2008 and 2009, announced that staff at the T&T Consular Office in NY had told him that AG Anand Ramlogan had visited and said to terminate all the “black workers”.
Then Keith Rowley, a man who remarkably lost every vestige of public respect he had gained when Manning was hounding him in 2008 and 2009, announced that staff at the T&T Consular Office in NY had told him that AG Anand Ramlogan had visited and said to terminate all the “black workers”.
Oh! We were so horrified! How Ramlogan could do such a racist thing? Only problem was that Ramlogan had never visited NY and had never spoken to anyone at the Consulate. Rowley’s rebuttal: he only “passed on” the information given to him!
Look, I support anyone who exposes wrongdoing, but it must the exposure of wrongdoing, not blatant lies which, when repeated become ingrained in our psyche. And I condemn the present government on issues like the Reshmi affair, and still feel they need to tell us the truth about that stupidity.
An issue like the highway through Debe is not being discussed by the protestors. They are shouting down every attempt at discussion, and hurling personal insults at the Prime Minister and others. And the government is shouting back, and we still do not know what really are the issues here, other than “bring down the government”.
The “equipment overkill” in trying to straighten the river outlet at Grande Riviere brought a torrent of hate mail upon the entrepreneur who had helped to put Grande Riviere on the world map.
Look, I support anyone who exposes wrongdoing, but it must the exposure of wrongdoing, not blatant lies which, when repeated become ingrained in our psyche. And I condemn the present government on issues like the Reshmi affair, and still feel they need to tell us the truth about that stupidity.
An issue like the highway through Debe is not being discussed by the protestors. They are shouting down every attempt at discussion, and hurling personal insults at the Prime Minister and others. And the government is shouting back, and we still do not know what really are the issues here, other than “bring down the government”.
The “equipment overkill” in trying to straighten the river outlet at Grande Riviere brought a torrent of hate mail upon the entrepreneur who had helped to put Grande Riviere on the world map.
What did Pierot do? He had asked, since December 2011 before the turtles started nesting, that the river which had begun meandering westwards be straightened. So the government came to do the job in July. And they did it badly. But, we refuse to acknowledge that with each passing week, more turtle eggs were being washed away by the river as it spread westwards than were killed by the equipment.
For the past couple of years the traffic situation in western POS has been in a state of constant gridlock. Government, along with the support of the PNM Mayor of the City, comes up with a plan, after consultations, to ease the gridlock. As the day for implementation approaches, panic statements erupt in facebook: “impending chaos”, “the police will be hostile and lock me up”, “how will we cope?” The consensus after implementation: notwithstanding some hiccups, there is an improvement. The naysayers are in hiding, waiting for another issue to condemn and then slink away.
And we can go on and on, demonstrating our self-hatred, our instant condemnation of everything, without recommendations to fix anything. What is wrong with us here? I am disappointed in us as a people, our leaders, and even in myself, for the fact that I cannot ring this bell loudly enough for us all to hear.
Mainstream T&T: our future is in our hands. Take responsibility and help out instead of pulling down!
For the past couple of years the traffic situation in western POS has been in a state of constant gridlock. Government, along with the support of the PNM Mayor of the City, comes up with a plan, after consultations, to ease the gridlock. As the day for implementation approaches, panic statements erupt in facebook: “impending chaos”, “the police will be hostile and lock me up”, “how will we cope?” The consensus after implementation: notwithstanding some hiccups, there is an improvement. The naysayers are in hiding, waiting for another issue to condemn and then slink away.
And we can go on and on, demonstrating our self-hatred, our instant condemnation of everything, without recommendations to fix anything. What is wrong with us here? I am disappointed in us as a people, our leaders, and even in myself, for the fact that I cannot ring this bell loudly enough for us all to hear.
Mainstream T&T: our future is in our hands. Take responsibility and help out instead of pulling down!
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