Visiting a country for short spells, no matter how frequently they occur, can leave you unsure if a social behaviour or condition in that society is entrenched or not. The disposition to rancour, or angry outburst, for example, that one sees in Guyana on a visit, may well be dismissed as a transitory thing; to live here permanently is to see that the condition is in fact entrenched.
It was not always thus, but it is now clearly part of Guyanese culture to row, to rail, to denigrate, to dismiss and, furthermore, the hostility – for this is indeed what it is – is not trammelled by subject. It exists across the board. We are clearly at a stage now in this country where rancour is usually the only road we take after disagreement.
This reaction of outburst instead of outreach, of rail instead of reason, of dismiss instead of discuss, is rampant in Guyana. I would go so far as to categorise it as a feature of our society. Whether it’s a next-door neighbour with cackling fowls, or politicians cackling in Parliament, we go from
