UNCLE FREDDIE IS NOSY

Nov 21, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Uncle Freddie is barefaced. Imagine, yesterday, he wrote how he met with some visiting professor at the University of Guyana but could not disclose what he told the man. Yet, in the same column, he chastises a journalist who preferred not to say anything about a closed chapter in his life.
So, here is Uncle Freddie asking us to bear with the fact that he cannot disclose what he told the professor, but he finds fault with a journalist who prefers to say nothing about his past employment.
This is a case of pot telling skillet its bottom is black.
It is of course extremely surprising, and perhaps a sign of the times, for Uncle Freddie to not tell us what he told the professor. It will come out eventually. It will. Not only will we, a few columns down the line, eventually learn the wisdom that he imparted to the visiting professor; more importantly, what the professor told him will be repeated verbatim in a forthcoming column of his.
Uncle Freddie is a creature of habit, and he cannot keep a secret. Asking Uncle Freddie to keep something in confidence is like mixing oil and water. They simply do not go together.
Uncle Freddie is what we would call in Guyana “fast.” He is nosy. He wants to know private business, so that he can make it public.
Take, for example, one of his recent columns about Ricky Singh. For years now, he has been criticising Ricky. However, no sooner had he learnt that Ricky had a long conversation with David the day before David died, and the two discussed many topics, including Guyana, he forgets his past diatribe against the renowned journalist, and quite unashamedly penned a column about how important it would be to know what David said in his last conversation.
Uncle Freddie is only interested in what David and Rickey discussed because he is eager to learn whether David, in his final conversation, had said anything about Jagdeo. He wants fodder, not food for thought. He wants ammunition to go after the PPP, not an opportunity to learn how David truly felt.
I am sure, if Ricky were to report that David was impressed by Jagdeo, that Uncle Freddie would hit the roof. That is not what he wishes to hear. He wants to hear criticism of the Government, not praises.
This is why, also, he picked up his telephone to call a journalist to find out why another journalist had resigned. He wanted gossip, so as to energize his anti-Government motor. He was disappointed. The guy said he did not wish to comment on a closed chapter in his life.
When Uncle Freddie called the other journalist, he also ended up disappointed. This guy was prepared to speak to him, but made it clear that he had decided that it was time to try new things. This was also not what Uncle Freddie wanted to hear.
Uncle Freddie is a columnist. In the course of his writings, he receives a great deal of information about things which are unknown to the public. This, at least, should encourage him to cultivate trust and confidence in those who seek him out. However, he has an uncanny habit of always repeating in his column the most inconsequential of conversations that he has had with anyone.
This makes persons unwilling to confide in him, because you can never tell when he will repeat what he was told and blow his sources’ covers. If, at his age, he continues to redefine the concept of confidentiality, then he should not be annoyed when persons do not wish to speak with him.
It is not that people are afraid, or that Guyanese are living in fear. Who is going to be afraid of the weak-kneed PPP government?
People are not afraid of the Government. They simply do not wish to speak to someone who is like a strainer.

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UNCLE FREDDIE IS NOSY

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