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SELF-INFLICTED OPPRESSION

Feb 04, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Politics in Guyana is extremely oppressive. This is why I prefer living, simply living.
No matter the hour or the season, no matter the degree of deprivation or the deluge of abundance, life is full of happy moments, of good things, of fun or laughter, of passions, of beauty and joy.
Instead of harnessing these gems, we ritually indulge in the negativity that abounds around us. Negativity is the new philosophy. We indulge in it as if our very lives are defined by the way we react to it.
Life was made to be lived, not endured. Our lives have always been more than our politics. But these days it seems as if politics is all that life is about. There is little time for fun; little time to see the beauty that is all around; little time to enjoy each other’s company; little time for laughter and too little time for play.
Guyanese have become so preoccupied with what one former foreign minister described as our ‘low-intensity civil war’ that we have refused to live. Instead we spend most of our days trying to highlight the shortcomings of our political nemeses. In so doing, we oppress ourselves.
Our governments can be oppressive. But we are our own oppressors; our own worst enemies.  Hardly a day goes by that, if we are a supporter of the opposition, we do not find an opportunity to cast a critical eye on the government, to delight in their misfortune and to deceive ourselves into believing that things could not be as bad as they are. If on the other hand, we are a supporter of the government, then we do as much as we can to convince ourselves that the opposition is obstructionist, power-drunk and bent on no good.
When you see these reactions, you are forced to ask yourself whether you really are the master of your own political views or if instead it is you who are being controlled by your political beliefs.
One of the sad realities of self-inflicted oppression is the pleasure that some find in the misfortune of others. Right now there are some journalists who are making merry over the fact that a pregnant women and her beau are before the courts on charges of possession of narcotics. The indignity of two persons having to appear before the courts elicits a sadistic pleasure in others, just as it does for that Guyanese in America who has been sentenced to eighteen months in prison.
Why should the misfortune of others make us so happy? Why should those accused of running afoul of the law make us so happy?
There used to be a time when we had very little, yet did so much with that little. There used to be a time when you stood in line all day for things that you now can easily afford to buy in any supermarket. And despite having to stand in line back then, people had time to poke a little fun at the authorities, to share a joke, to laugh and tease each other. Deprivation did not mean that life could not be enjoyed.
Today there is so much available. You would think that with so much at their disposal, people would be happier and contented. But it is quite the opposite, because despite not having the deprivations of the past, people create their own oppression, they imagine themselves as victims. They allow themselves to be controlled by their own politics rather than simply living.
People no longer walk in the rain. They are afraid of catching a cold. In fact they hardly go for strolls. They no longer look through their windows and speak to their neighbours. The children now play by remote control. People still laugh, but more at each other rather than with each other. People do not live anymore. They exist. It is a sad way to live your life.

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