Deception

Self-serving drivel

It is expected that the Muckraking KN will try to protect its muddy tracks. But the extent to which they went in one of their editorials “The press is a whipping block” would take the breath of even a jaded propagandist away. But first a matter of idiomatic English. The Muckraking editor whined that “the press” was being blamed for the transgressions of others. The phrase, Mr Muckraker, is “whipping boy” not “whipping block”. It came from the English custom when if a prince was to be punished another boy was whipped in his stead. “Whipping boy”. Get it?

Now what is it about “the press” being blamed for driving away tourists and investors by sensationalistic and gory front page exploitation? “The press” was never blamed by anyone, it was the Muckraking KN. The KN in its editorial now rubbed its filth on the behinds of the business community.

The business community, it shrieked, was “incompetent”. For instance, the tourism industry “is not properly marketed”. But here the Muckraker KN made an interesting Freudian slip when it pouted: “If the Guyanese believe that all they need to do is sit and to talk to local officials in order to promote crime then they have to think again.” Could it be the Muckraker promotes crime with local officials? What they are being accused of is the sensational crime reporting that exploits the morbid sensibilities of the public but in the process creates the impression that Guyana is awash in crime 24/7 from Point Playa to Crabwood Creek.

The Muckraker cited the contra case of T&T’s crime and tourism. We dare the Muckraker to produce its counterpart in goriness in T&T. But we cite the following from the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2011: “During some periods, business total tourist arrivals increase when total crimes reported from the previous month decreases. The chart suggests that crime may have impacted the investor climate in T& T during the period.”

Padded Credentials

The column was queried as to what were the two papers it claimed Kissoon produced during his 26 year stint at UG. Seems that in other sections of the press, it was asserted that the Muckraker-in-chief produced absolutely no academic work. But this column had to report all Kissoon’s output in the academic domain, no matter how tenuous.

A few years ago, Kissoon gave a talk at an academic conference at UG on Conflict Resolution from notes he pulled from his back pocket. It took two years for Drs Cedrick Grant and Rishi Thakur to whip that into a paper that could be included in the volume of papers subsequently published. Then more recently, Kissoon gave a talk at the Public Library from just as unkempt notes. He now claims that this became a “65” page paper that his lawyers used in the ongoing court case by President Jagdeo against him for libel. I defy any academic to peruse that “paper” and deem it to be academic. But we wanted to be kind. Why kick a man when he’s down?

But all of this should not be new to anyone with even a modicum of common sense. How can someone who is supposedly teaching full time at a university, produce seven columns weekly (putrid as they concededly were), engage in reportorial jaunts with the Muckraker’s staff, not to mention panhandling for free lunches and still find time to produce peer-reviewed academic work?

Tripartite Farce

We call the present “Tripartite” discussions a “farce”. If the AFC and the APNU have already met to craft a memorandum of understanding to work together then they are acting in unison. They may present different items to President Ramotar but all that means is they’ve already plotted and synchronised their tactics.

If we want to honour the farce with a name then “Bilateral Negotiations” it is.