These letters arrested my attention

Jan 08, 2013 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Two recent letters arrested my attention. First, Dr. Peter Flaherty’s. His very descriptive letter of Guyana, from a visitor’s point of view, ends with the hope that “…..When I return in a year’s time I may see the positives accentuated and the negatives diminished……” Optimism at the max.
Guyanese in the Diaspora have had this hope for the past 30 years at least. With a change of Government in 1992, there was a short period of buoyancy and pronounced improvement. Then, unexpectedly, our respected political grandee was no more, and we lost the plot.
In the late 1990s, a holidaymaker and one-time ‘stalwart’ of the former party in power, told me that her family decided to move abroad some years previously, because “they would not listen” to what the rank and file of the party had to say – the people who actually did the groundwork to get them there. That seems to be the trouble with the present lot: they appear to care not about the little people. Or, it may be a case of square pegs in round holes. But, as the saying goes, “The longest day has an end”.
Next, Mr Bisram’s letter – about readers not needing to know writers’ identities. I am of the view that if a writer has nothing to hide, then come clean. Indeed, “People may write under anonymous names because they may be a whistleblower or don’t wish to put their job or family on the line or some other justifiable reason”. It seems to me that such people could always request that their names be withheld and the letters published only on that understanding.
It is not pleasant to be called names, or to be ridiculed or insulted by persons unknown, in letters, comment columns, blogs, etc., intended for public consumption. When I was sniped at in derogatory terms in one forum, I stopped contributing to that particular publication. As I pointed out to the Editor, it often takes much effort on the part of contributors to get things down on paper, and savagely rubbishing those efforts is mean and unworthy of others whose opinions differ. Disagree politely.
Decency and fair play should be the watchword of those in the business of publishing. Otherwise, disrespect for the individual takes over. And there is usually a price to pay.
Geralda Dennison

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These letters arrested my attention

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