I SWEAR IF it rains today, some people would blame Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. If you look up from reading this newspaper and see a dark cloud, I can bet you $5 at least one Barbadian can find a reason why the dark cloud is Stuart’s fault.
Today’s article is dedicated to the people on social media who found fault with the Independence celebrations.
Whilst I understood and agreed with some of the points made by complainers, quite a few were ridiculous.
There were people who took issue with the fact that the celebrations were postponed the day of the bad weather and flooding. It was not as though these people did not have social media to see the damage the weather did to the roads and many other structures. The Garrison was covered in water and some of us still expected that the celebrations not be postponed.
I saw people complaining about the fact that the fireworks were donated by Guyana. Riddle me this: when you have a birthday celebration, don’t you accept gifts? I could not understand why this was an issue. We complained about the fact that the celebration was costly and then turned around and complained when Guyana offered a gift. Moreover, those who understood the aforementioned point, jumped at another opportunity to complain by lamenting that the fireworks did not meet their expectations.
To these people, if you did not want the Guyanese government to pay for the fireworks and you had a specific expectation of how the fireworks display should have been executed, “why you ain’t pay fuh dum out de money in you bank account?”
Poor CBC was not left out of the attacks.
Two esteemed women had an interesting back and forth on Facebook. Woman One expressed her dissatisfaction with the CBC coverage – the fact that it was not ongoing but rather, had breaks. As I read the responses I asked myself “wuh dese people foot brek? Dem couldn’t go down Kensington?” This dissatisfaction with CBC’s coverage was shared by many until Woman Two had to clear the air and breakdown why CBC could never have provided continuous coverage. The cursing of CBC came to an abrupt end after it had to be explained that after the unveiling ended at 8.05 p.m., the camera crew had to disassemble all the cameras and equipment (which usually takes more than an hour), get to Kensington and set back up all over again. To quote Woman Two: “Setting up an outside broadcast is not the same as one man with a camera live-streaming over the Internet! That you’re seeing anything at 10 p.m. is a testimony to the hard work of the staff . . . .”
Anytime you want a good reality show for entertainment go on either Minister Dennis Kellman or Admiral Nelson’s Facebook profiles. Trolling these two profiles has become a guilty pleasure and I suspect that Admiral does a lot of it to rile up the easily offended. I saw him lament that Rihanna was not given the opportunity to speak to the people.
How do we know that Rihanna even wanted to give a speech? I am sure that if Rihanna wanted to give a speech or address the nation that the powers that be would have jumped at the opportunity to do so. How do we know that after winning Shoe Of The Year and flying straight to Barbados that she wasn’t tired? Rihanna is a superstar not a robot.
Quite frankly, if she wasn’t inclined to address the nation, I won’t blame her. Given the track record with Bajans finding fault with everything someone with a public profile says, were I Rihanna, I would have done just what she did. Come home, promote World AIDS Day, participate in the celebrations. Have we forgotten how Bajans ripped her to pieces when she wore the white bikini with jeans to cross the road at Accra?
I see myself as an “equal opportunity caller-outter”. This is someone who tells people when they are wrong regardless of who they are. Yes, we all know that there are serious issues that we need to have addressed. We all know that there are many instances where we have felt disappointed and failed by the powers that be. No Government is perfect and this sentiment cannot continue to be used as an excuse.
However, there is a dangerous level of negativity being spread by a group of “enlightened” Barbadians who really ought to know better. It is disappointing that this group of people turn to catty Facebook statuses at every opportunity rather than finding or providing solutions for problems.
This is a group of people who would rather revel in the mistakes and misfortunes of this Government than seriously offer any form of constructive criticism. It is almost as though they have forgotten that whether or not you vote for a party, whoever wins becomes our Government. I hope that my generation and the ones to come do not fall into this trap of corned beef politics and do not make everything and every occasion about partisan politics. Lord, I pray.
Toni Thorne is a young entrepreneur and World Economic Forum Global Shaper who loves global youth culture, a great debate and living in paradise. Email: [email protected]
