Move over Tormee! - the Peter O'Connor commentary

The mind boggles at the current state of society, and if we feel we cannot keep up with the pace of ridiculousness, buckle up! There is more to come. 

Comedy Festivals, J’ourvert Bands, and any invented buffoonery you can imagine cannot touch the unbelievable reality of our society today.

But it is no laughing matter, even if many are joking and laughing.

I do not believe that Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh wanted to create the unbelievable circus that performed on the periphery of his hunger strike. While I still do not agree with his action, I know that many sincerely did, and I respect their opinion for feeling the way they do. 

But the passing parade of charlatans, publicity seekers and hypocrites who lapped up the national publicity in going to bow before Dr. Kublalsingh was simply macabre. 

And of course we had all the observers, who passed to look at a man maybe dying, and a full gathering of the media to record the show, and publish the sight of every visitor and their antics for us all. For three weeks the same scenes played, with different casts of actors portraying themselves, and everyone was glued to their television sets every evening to see the reruns.

Being who we are, we had people hurling insults at Kublalsingh, and poor taste “jokes” began to fly around. But the man mad, right? So we could make fun of him, because nothing is serious, far less sacred in this country. And very regrettably, the insults and bad jokes also came from people who should set examples for decent behaviour.

But something had to give, someone had to break the monotony of the street show and the bad dialogue in the background.

So enter “The Sledge”! Activist Ishmael Samad suddenly appeared, and being who he is, he was allowed to approach the stretcher upon which Kublalsingh was resting. 

However, to everyone’s surprise, Samad had not come to pay homage. He had come to make a “citizen’s arrest”! Devotees pulled Samad away from the frail figure, and the police carted him away. How will this play during Jourvert and the coming comedy season? Who would, who could act the roles?

But not to be outdone, the background dialogue immediately joined in! Attorney Israel Khan called upon the DPP and the police to arrest Kublalsingh for attempted suicide!

Now, I am prepared to concede that both of these persons acted out of a genuine concern to prevent Dr. Kublalsingh from dying. But, OMG! How it looked and sounded? How the media loved it, especially with Samad, video and front page action.

While this danse macabre was playing on the street, we have two other shows ongoing, where we continue to be embarrassed by the revelations coming out of the CLICO and the July 1990 Inquiry.

CLICO is now well infected by the virus Section 34, which was totally supported by the PNM in order to ensure just what is happening now. 

If two of the principals in the CLICO matter do not testify, as suddenly and mysteriously demanded by the DPP, we will never learn how they maneuvered the eventual collapse in a manner to enrich them when it is all over. 

And Section 34 will ensure they never face the courts. We spent 20 billion dollars—four times the cost of the Debe to Mon Desir Highway—to “save CLICO”, and we will hand CLICO back to Duprey after the Inquiry is over? 

But we will laugh at that too, because that is how we are. So, who will play Duprey, Monteil and the DPP in the Comedy Festival?

And remember how we mocked and laughed at Robinson when he called for an “attack with full force”, and we ridiculed Anthony Smart for having the courage and the wits to escape the Red House and go to help save our country? 

And we are only now hearing from the eminent attorneys who left their homes and advised the government and the military how save the hostages and capture the murdering insurgents. 

And one attorney went on record to praise the people of T&T who heroically worked to save our country so that that the mockers and jokers could live here freely today. 

And he wondered how we as a people could still behave so savagely about what occurred. So did well known commentator, Professor Gordon Roheler, in his book “The Shape of That Hurt and Other Essays”, where he expressed his amazement at the attitude of Trinidadians to the coup. 

And of course we still await the appearance of Manning, Panday and Ramesh before Mr. Simmonds. Or will the DPP try to come to their rescue too?

Move over, “Tormee” Joseph and company. Allyou is jokers (sic) compared to the real macabre comedians in our midst.