WHEN YOU ARE an avid reader of newspapers, things jump off the page at you and cause you to ponder them, sometimes for months, if not years.
Just seven weeks into Government’s second term, the rumblings have resumed. The old refrain “We can’t hear from the Prime Minister” has returned. But isn’t that the result of the wish of the majority who voted on February 21?
Barbadian merchant Sir David Seale, in a frustrated cri de coeur, wrote: “. . . The most disappointing aspect of the present economic situation is that Government has no apparent intention of changing course and until the IMF arrives, the rich will continue to live well while the poor steal gold and old iron. Lord have mercy on Barbados.”
Then we had the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Dr DeLisle Worrell not invoking the authority vested in him through the Central Bank Act, but warning and advising the public that Verus International is not licensed to engage in merchant banking “or any other activity regulated by the Central Bank of Barbados, in or from within Barbados”.
Many years ago the Central Bank closed down a merchant bank owned or fronted by the notorious wannabe King of Barbados Sydney Burnett-Alleyne.
Many by now have forgotten the observation of the 33-year-old woman who administered a public brutalizing to her 14-year-old daughter with a piece of wood, in public, on the Internet. She has five other children and recalled her 16-year-old son telling her one day “if he had a gun he would shoot me and I brek ’e up wid a cricket bat!” Her revelation might see its flowering not too long from now.
In the United States, a medical helicopter crashed; all four on board perished because the pilot was “distracted” by text messages and forgot to check if the craft contained sufficient fuel. Investigators noted: “. . . cellphones and other distracting devices are growing factors in accidents and incidents across all modes of transportation – planes, trains, cars, trucks and even ships.” I often wonder how our civilization existed before the arrival of the “smart” phone and other gadgets.
This headline, in large 60-point type, caught my eye – Health Officials: 1 In 50 School Kids Have Autism. As fellow columnist Peter Simmons has already observed, the English language has gone to the abattoir.
Evangelist Ferdinand Nicholls thinks he has found the way to rein in the media for their “immoral” influence on society. Stop buying the newspaper for a month, he preached.
“What do you think would happen in this country if for one month every Christian refuses to buy a single media print that is on the street?”
Not much, Reverend Ferdie; other than that you might find out – without having to engage pollster Peter Wickham and CADRES – how many Christians there are in Barbados.
And talking about Christians, one observed recently that “many of the things we did outside the church we bring into the church with us, including immoral sex, masturbation and anal intercourse”.
From the Throne Speech on March 12 we heard this: “My Government will implement monitoring technology for the speedy detection of motorists who violate traffic laws through the use of public roads without insurance of vehicles or payment of road taxes, and will enact legislation to manage noise levels emanating from private vehicles whether through music, defective mechanical systems or specially designed mufflers to raise noise levels.”
Then I looked at The Nation’s Back Page of April 8 to see an urban terrorist noisily roaring up the Ronald Mapp Highway on one wheel, and not a policeman to arrest that lawbreaker.
And this gem from Tuesday columnist Sherwyn Walters: “We not infrequently spoil the beauty or gravity or poignancy or gentleness or sobriety of lyrics by just pelting any old beat/rhythm/groove behind them. It is as though we start by saying: ‘I is a Caribbean man, so whatever the situation, there gotta be some rocking reggae or waist-grabbing soca’.”
Just a few of the things that recently jumped off the pages of the newspapers.
• Carl Moore was the first Editor of THE NATION and is a social commentator.
