H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – Urgent need to lift the level of conversation

Apr 21, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – The light of recent media developments emphasises how much we need to work tirelessly, each do our little parts, to lift the level of conversation in the national space.  The last media outrage was against Guyana Chronicle Reporter, Ms. Tamica Garnett, from the lips of PNC stalwart, Ms. Carol Joseph.  The evidence on tape is incontestable.  By now, Guyana knows what was dished out against a KN reporter, Ms. Bagot.  What was vile then is also vile now.  I roundly and sharply denounce this latest example of local lowness and madness, reportedly by the PNC member, Ms. Joseph.  What goes for PPP goons and ghouls, also goes for those in the PNC: vile personal abuse is almost as bad as character assassination, and I condemn.  Let there be no mistake as to where I stand.

Considering these odious excesses, it is obvious that the rage against dissent is running high, and the national level of communication must be raised.  It is low.  It must go up by multiple notches immediately, and with careful husbandry to enhance further and constantly.

As a public contributor, I have an obligation to raise the bar on myself; to set a minimum standard that is above the cultural and environmental norms.  I urge fellow citizens towards better efforts to get us away from where we are trapped and locked; there is simply too much cursing, too much raging, which conceals great resentments.  Clearly, there is present a mountain of accumulated bile, rage, malice, and viciousness.  We continue unheeding, and we set the stage for tearing each other to pieces.  Not only in cyberspace, but in actual exchanges that wound beyond already piercing words and acrimonies.  Reporters doing an honest and thankless job are due respect, accommodation, and tolerance.  Democracy does not fear light; the principled do not shrink from truth.

In articulating this public appeal, I encounter two handicaps.  The first is that the courteous and conscientious have already distanced the fray.  The second is that those who relish putrid swamps, and dark holes, are not interested in toning down, or stand for values, and respect others in the domestic arena.  There is scant inclination towards refining their attitudes and actions to empower a different communication standard.  It has been said that the incredible ugliness of Guyana’s politics is responsible.  There is some truth to that thinking, but some of the virulence that oozes out, often pours forth, originate from deep within our souls, our memory banks, our jaundiced view of environment and others. Simply, politics alone did not convert us to this demented, maniacal state; rather, it is that there are some among us who are of this nature when the shells are stripped away.

I have no issue with anyone disagreeing with me; just be honest.  The whole body of work, of public expressions, from the inception are what holds for or against.  Disagree to the face in the public domain, and not in the stalls of the pigpen that social media has become.  We are entitled to our choices, our inclinations, and our passions, but not when the strains mutate into the malicious and the monstrous.  Not when bigotry and misogyny are indescribably and inexcusably lurking amid what is supposed to be political representation, partisan expression, and the caliber of personal articulation.

I think that those who are better equipped by the wisdoms of learning and steadfast grooming, by unshakable belief and personal virtue, have an obligation to lead the way, and not succumbing to the all too human tendency to retaliate.  It is my position that leaders have a duty to be active participants in setting standards aimed at helping us to communicate and exercise rights on a more reciprocally respectful plain.  The pugnacious and raucous, and this includes the frivolous and ludicrous, must all go, and be replaced with great striving for a local environment that lends itself to the prospect of some harmonious reaching of hearts, some masterly meeting of minds.  To succeed at either, we must first master ourselves.

I recognize that it is almost instinctual, so easy it is for us to verbally maim and maul each other.  In contrast, it takes tireless, thankless, and tremendous effort to hear the counterarguments, to detect the profoundness (or lack thereof), and to come to that place that allows for the discipline of quiet reception, even warming hospitality of different ideas.  What is detested is the extreme prejudice in this country to opposing ideas, any idea that is different from partisan ones held dearly.  Still, through orderly perseverance, and continued humble convictions, we can conduct classes of what is missing, grow into testimonies that sparkle and elevate us.

It makes no sense, adds up to nothing, for Guyana to be an oil power of top ranking, only for Guyanese to be dismissed to the bottom.  No Guyanese should be content to be bottom-feeding scavenger through what impugns and impales.  Instead, mutual respect and simple decency must enrich the substances of our exchanges, our expressions, and our energies.  I must make a start in showing how.  Constant vigilance and discipline help.  Let’s all rise, speak respectfully.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• conversation, GHK Lall, Guyana Chronicle Reporter, H@rd Truths, Ms Tamica Garnet

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