Freddie seeks conceptual clarity from Dr. Jeffrey

Aug 17, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I refer to Dr. Henry Jeffrey’s letter (“Perhaps Mr. Kissoon has some other quote/reference of my saying,” KN, August 13, 2014.) Dr. Jeffrey’s correspondence is a reaction to my column of last Sunday, (“No-confidence vote and the two year gamble.” In that column I attributed a statement to Dr. Jeffrey and instead of a verbatim quote, I described what I thought Jeffrey meant
There can be no excuse. It was obligatory on me to publish Jeffrey’s exact words. I admit to that fault. But I say in all sincerity, I believe my interpretation of his statement essentially captures the meaning of the words Jeffrey used. It would be better to quote Jeffrey then reproduce my interpretation. Dr. Jeffrey had this to say, “I do not believe that our country is in this condition because over the last half a century our politicians have been wicked and intended this kind of backwardness.”
In my column this is how I put it; “Dr. Jeffrey wrote that he does believe that either the PNC or the PPP Government has done an act that was deliberately designed to hurt another section of the population or another group.”
Interestingly, Dr. Jeffrey’s August 13 letter pointed out my omission of his direct words but there was no comment on my interpretation. In other words, Dr. Jeffrey did not explain to his readers what he meant. Maybe he owes it to his readers to provide them with conceptual clarity. My position with words is that they have deconstructed meaning. I am not interested in what the composer of a statement said he/she means or intended. I understand a statement based on the deconstructed meaning of words.
One runs a dangerous risk if one accepts what the author of a statement says he/she means. The readers using epistemological tools and the deconstruction methodology can judge for themselves. One most famous example stands out so graphically that it must be mentioned. The respected New York Times editor, Joseph Lelyveld who is a Pulitzer Prize winner denied in his book, “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India.” that he portrayed Gandhi as a homosexual.
Lelyveld backed down and rejected his own statements after India banned his book. But reviewers around the world poured scorn on Lelyveld’s cowardice by quoting from his very words and the descriptions in his book. In a letter to his homosexual lover, the German body builder, Gandhi wrote the following words, “How completely you have taken possession of my body, this is slavery with a vengeance.” In another correspondence with his male lover, Gandhi wrote of how enjoyable the use of the Vaseline was. Levy described the photograph that Gandhi kept at his bedside of his body- building lover
Lelyveld could say what he wants. He could deny how much he wants. He can give a million interpretations of what he meant. But words have inherent meaning. And the words used by Gandhi in his letter to the German man were descriptive of homosexual love and Lelyveld placed those letters inside his biography of Gandhi. Gandhi was a great soul indeed. One of the greatest, but as a person reading that book, I can only conclude from what Lelyveld wrote that Gandhi had a male lover
So to get back to Jeffrey; I interpret his words to mean that he does not believe the governments of the PNC and PPP have been so wicked as to deliberately engender acts of destruction to Guyana. In that particular Sunday column, I rejected that posit of Jeffrey and argued strongly that the wickedness was deliberate and intentional. I offered examples. But I was generous to Jeffrey in that I opined that Dr. Jeffrey may believe in his own mind that no government can be so wicked as to scheme to weaken their own country
I believe Jeffrey is not alone in this conception of leadership. Most people in the word are decent humans and at the mental level they will not believe that their government would be so depraved, evil, and vindictive to cause their own country to suffer. But this is the explanation for Guyana’s enduring tragedy. I saw this wicked destructive tread in Burnham, Dr. Jagan and Bharrt Jagdeo. I believe it is present in Mr. Ramotar. Mr. Desmond Hoyte was a phenomenal exception
Let me say most unambiguously, under the post 1999 PPP Government there have been many terrible policies that were designed to make Guyana a more backward place. It has to do with acts of destruction that these leaders believe would weaken the opposition to their power from constituencies and sections of Guyana that the ruling elites want to hurt. The result has been the continuing backwardness of Guyana.
Frederick Kissoon

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