Dear Editor,
I try to see the lighter side of life, but run into walls all over, regardless of who is encountered. It is mainly silly people, a sillier age (not season), and the silliest developments. I supply samples.
The latest from the mighty USA, is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is renaming “Asian Carp” because it could be considered offensive. What is wrong with these people? Have they nothing better to do? If we continue along this path, then next in line would be “Demerara Rum” which to the sensitive may signify that all Guyanese are addled in the head, and run around as chronic drunken lunatics. Talk about rum for bums, and it fits. Now proceed! Sue me.
So, what are we going to do with Chinese Kung-Fu and Indian snake charmers? Convert the former to Far Eastern self-defense and the latter to Himalayan safety officers? When does this confounded nonsense cease? And how about that one that tickles endlessly: the opposition? I would appreciate if some wise and sober Guyanese enlighten me as to what, if anything, that it has opposed in its current life. Then there is this other shabby affair surrounding democracy. In my book, democracy means freedom of expression, freedom from oppressive government, freedom from the calculating suppressions of spineless, weak-kneed, and anatomy-deficient leaders. Think to the south of waistline, or the east and west of hip sockets. What a racket we run here with this farce about democracy. It only has relevance during elections, and let that be drummed into Guyanese heads, once and for all time. For afterwards, democracy is anything that leaders and their mentally challenged loyalists say that it is. Endlessly amusing, all this is.
Then, there was that lovely development with Slovenian Pogocar winning back-to-back Tour de France titles. Slovenian conjures a close phonetic adverb that I push the envelope to mention. No offense intended. The guy is only 22 years old and visions of another Eddie Merckx or Miguel Indurain surface. What caught my eye, brought chuckles, was his lovelier nickname: ‘Baby Cannibal.’ I think SN (July 19) took a big risk with that label. The real headhunters are not going to be pleased; and if I were a budding rapper I couldn’t think of a better handle. It has certain air about it -menace, too. How I long for the amusement of those gaudy nicknames: Baby Assassin, Ghadaffy, Guevara, and Brown Bomber. If I continue with these lighthearted amusements, the pc people (Integrity Commission, Broadcast Authority, and AG) may want to put me away. Like J. Robert Oppenheimer of atomic bomb fame, I destroy neat political worlds.
What is definitely not amusing was that residents around that “horrific East Bank crash” refrained from saying anything to the press (SN July 19 again). It was a fatal accident, folks. Politicians have beaten Guyanese into such a state of acute fearfulness, they have lost the will to think and speak for themselves. Alarming, not amusing.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
