We should be grateful to BC Pires for drawing attention to what must surely rank as one of the most outstanding examples of bureaucratic verbiage ever inflicted on an unsuspecting Caribbean public.
In his ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ (TGIF) column, in the Trinidad Express on September 12 last (www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=161374732), Mr Pires unleashed his full satirical wit on an opus entitled ‘Creative and Productive Citizens for the Twenty-first Century,’ which purports to outline the characteristics of the ‘Ideal Caribbean Person’ –available on the Caricom website for anyone with a sado-masochistic desire to read it (www.caricom.org/jsp/communications/meetings_statements/citizens_21_century.jsp?menu=communications).
Now the only thing Mr Pires is guilty of – apart from allowing his biting sarcasm to run riot – is not making it clear that this document was prepared some eleven years ago for the attention of the 18th Meeting of Caricom Heads, held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in July 1997. Thus anyone reading the TGIF article might, somewhat unfairly, get the impression that the target of Mr Pires’s typing finger is a recent or current document.
Be that as it may, the exalted vision of the ‘Ideal Caribbean Person’ contained in the paper continues to find resonance in official pronouncements pertaining to Caricom’s educational, social and cultural goals and development aspirations.
Unfortunately, as a result, the term ‘Ideal Caribbean Person’ has almost become something of a cliché and the fault for this may well lie in the ponderous, pedantic language ridiculed by Mr Pires.
We have previously complained about the opaqueness and obtuseness of the language employed by the drafters of Caricom communiqués, but this particular report – no doubt the product of bureaucrats and consultants – aimed at defining the ‘Ideal Caribbean Person’ in the context of the region’s human resource development strategy, must be worthy of some sort of prize for being as unedifying and stilted a passage of prose that has ever been produced by a region rich in literary and cultural expression.
The famous British satirical magazine, Private Eye, has a section called Pseuds Corner, which delights in exposing the pretentiousness of people, especially politicians and celebrities, as they strive for effect through public pronouncements of meaningless, pseudo-intellectual drivel. Private Eye has no need to lampoon these types, since to repeat verbatim what they have actually said, without comment, is sufficient to expose their pompousness and ridiculousness. Their inane utterances speak for themselves.
Ditto the text of the ‘Ideal Caribbean Person,’ in which can be found the following gems proclaiming that the person should be “imbued with a respect for human life since it is the foundation on which all the other desired values must rest; is emotionally secure with a high level of self confidence and self esteem [what’s the real difference?]… is aware of the importance of living in harmony with the environment… has an informed respect for the cultural heritage… demonstrates multiple literacies, independent and critical thinking, questions the beliefs and practices of past and present and brings this to bear on the innovative application of science and technology to problem solving… values and displays the creative imagination in its various manifestations and nurture [sic] its development in the economic and entrepreneurial spheres in all other areas of life; has developed the capacity to create and take advantage of opportunities to control, improve, maintain and promote physical, mental, social and spiritual well being and to contribute to the health and welfare of the community and country; nourishes in him/herself and in others, the fullest development of each person’s potential without gender stereotyping and embraces differences and similarities between females and males as a source of mutual strength.”
We think you get the idea.
Sorry, but in our own Caribbean ‘pseuds corner,’ the bureaucrats and politicians have got it wrong again.
In simple English, we think that the ideal Caribbean person is someone who loves his or her family and country, life and a good time, not necessarily in that order. The ideal Caribbean person is someone who holds fast to whatever faith she or he believes in. The ideal Caribbean person also believes in education, self-improvement and hard work. She or he believes in being rewarded for honest toil and in giving something back to her or his community. The ideal Caribbean person works hard and plays hard.
The ideal Caribbean person walks among us every day and the ideal Caribbean person is in all of us. We are talking about a force that comes from within. The ideal Caribbean person cannot be created by political diktat and certainly not through limp, nonsensical bureaucratese, no matter how well-meaning. All we ask, across the Caribbean, is that our governments provide us with quality social services and a secure environment to pursue our aspirations to become the ideal person we all dream of being.
