Freddie Kissoon desires the world to believe he is an intellectual heavyweight

Jan 28, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Freddie Kissoon desires the world to believe he is an intellectual heavyweight when he’s nothing more than an ordinary academic and can barely be accorded the respect of a Lilliputian. He is incapable of dealing with concrete issues and tends to mask his limitations by throwing around concepts upon which he makes superficial and foolish arguments, hoping they will impress or be seen as accurate. And the truth be told, he has had some measure of success that feeds his delusion of grandeur, but makes the society intellectually poorer. His response to Dr. Henry Jeffrey bears testimony.
Refer to Kissoon’s “You get nothing of literary or intellectual value in exchanges with these people” (KN, 26/1/2014) and Jeffrey’s “Kissoon’s arguments rife with assumptions” (KN 24/1/2014).
In his usual rant and rave he diverted attention from dealing with the issue, i.e. Guyana’s sovereignty and U.S Democracy Project, and sought to give the impression he has the ability to identify intellectuals and whom he will debate, and excluded me from this line-up, which I appreciate, because he lacks the discerning ability and I would have been horrified to be accorded his recognition.
Calling me a “charlatan” (a new label) and “racist” is an attempt to lump me with others to either marginalise me or elevate himself, neither of which he will succeed at, because this intellectual counterfeit cannot deconstruct the concepts he has ascribed to me. Repeatedly he has been asked to provide my “racist” writing(s) and he cannot, because he knows he is being dishonest. He knows from my writings my intolerance with stupidity and in this regard he has not been spared my attention.
Fortunately for him, he is paid to occupy media space to rant with everybody, but cannot deliver an intelligent response to Jeffrey, whom, having intellectually bloodied his nose, causing him some dizziness, he thought he could save face by lashing out at others. But this is the dichotomy in Kissoon’s polemics (using his two favourite concepts). One would have thought since he considered himself ranking in Jeffrey’s intellectual sphere, he would not take up media space to focus on me, but given the opportunity to deal with Jeffrey, he would have been able to rise to Jeffrey’s level and give a good account of himself. He could not. And in his lengthy diatribe, he was only able to muster a feeble “I think Dr. Jeffrey repeated his mistake by assuming sovereignty is acquired through fair elections. The two are not dialectically inter-linked. I will follow up on this later.”
Why “later” and not in the 26/1 letter!? Why dedicate significant space to “reply” to one who was never part of the conversation? But this is his characteristic Don Quixote style – lashing out at windmills.
Those who critically analyse Kissoon’s praxis (another of his favourite concepts) recognise his inability to engage in intellectual debates, which he masks by attacking persons. He is known to regurgitate intellectual things, but on critical review he is not an intellectual analyst of any sort. He is gifted in regurgitating concepts, but very poor at deconstructing them.
Jeffrey was being very kind in saying “Finally, Mr. Kissoon, I suggest that, in terms of public comment, we should not place too much faith in academic and intellectual credibility. As Thomas Sowell, (2011- “Intellectual and Society:” Basic Books) observed: ‘The list of top-ranked intellectuals who made utterly irresponsible statements, and who advocate hopelessly unrealistic and recklessly dangerously things could be extended almost indefinitely!’ We should pay much more attention to getting to know and telling the truth.”
But poor Freddie, this would have flown over his head!
And finally, yours truly hopes Kissoon does not wait until the intellectual blows rendered to him by Jeffrey heal before he does thorough homework on “sovereignty.” He had better learn how to deconstruct this concept in order to save himself further injuries that may be likely to sustain should he fall prey to one of his delusional episodes that make him think he can have “intellectual debate” with Jeffrey, absent homework or sober conviction that can withstand scrutiny.
Minette Bacchus

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Freddie Kissoon desires the world to believe he is an intellectual heavyweight

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