Dear Editor,
The heavily touted ‘war on bad manners’ on which resources were expended to promote same by our government and NGOs is being won by the bad manners, which have knocked out all contenders and are strutting cockily around the ring. The battered ones on the front line are those who were supposed to lead by example.
Firstly, the members of parliament, when in the House of Assembly taking care of our business, resort to abusing each other directly, instead of addressing another member through the Speaker of the House as prescribed by the rule of law and decency. This uncouth behaviour is apparently enjoyed by the smirking/laughing members and allowed by the Speaker who is supposed to upkeep an aura of decorum and send a strong message about decency and speech protocol in that forum. Believe me, it sometimes gets worse than a hectic fish market and worse yet, these goodly members sometimes invite our youths to observe first hand how this prestigious forum is run. Can these MPs and their followers honestly still ask why some youths behave in an uncouth manner to others, when the examples are right there in parliament? War on bad manners? Yea right, somebody had better tell these people that they really need serious reform in their present style.
Secondly , during one of the flood crises there was a highly hyped joint religious gathering at the National Park which was attended by folks high in the religious communities of our country and leaders of the government and opposition, where prayers were said, beseeching the Almighty to intervene and relieve the current dire situation. All leaders at the head table were subsequently seen in the televised and print media holding hands in the air, in supplication to whatever deity they believed in. Some people still believe the prayers worked because the crisis abated. Anyway lo and behold, before the echoes of those prayers subsided, the leaders of government and opposition were at each other’s throats in and out of parliament. If that was not the worst manners to God, I don’t know what is. God is not mocked. No wonder this country is being confused and condemned.
Lastly, newspaper editors, sad to say, must take some flak for allowing some letters writers in the letter columns to address person(s) in the first person, instead of writing in the second or third person when referring to anyone other than the editor. This is total bad manners and the intellectual calibre of most of these writers is phenomenal. Whether these letters are congratulatory or condemnatory of anyone, they should not branch off from addressing the editor to directly addressing anyone else in the first person. Any such letter should be edited, returned to the sender for correction or the sender should be advised to send a personal letter to the person/persons they are addressing in the letter.
Some dubious minds may get a sick kick out of writing and reading such unmannerly letters, but it is scandalously wrong. The mere fact that these writers address their letters to the editor means that they should acknowledge and respect the function of that position. A serious editor who is for the war on bad manners should do what their designation says – edit.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Lewis
