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A skilful cast of hypocrites they are indeed
CHRIS BURNS
Monday, June 21, 2010
There are no laws, as far as I am aware, that prohibit hypocrisy; neither are there any enforceable legal sanctions per se against active hypocrites. Hypocrites are in the boardrooms, bedrooms, on the streets, in Parliament and just about everywhere in the world. Before anyone gets all in a tizzy, this article is not a call to arms for the annihilation of hypocrites; they too have rights of existence as everyone else does. The aim is to enumerate recent acts of hypocrisy in Jamaica and highlight the deficiencies and pitfalls of embracing two-facedness.
Prime Minister Golding listens to a vendor at the Coronation Market which he and a delegation toured June 10 after sections were damaged in last month's clash between gunmen and the security forces in West Kingston. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)
1/1 
There is no delusion here of a perfect existence, moreso one without counterfeits. Nevertheless, to the extent that we can move away from the weight of double standards we should boldly do so, and do it with great dispatch because dithering will yield us nothing in the end. Neither are there expectations for sudden or seismic shifts in attitude because of this article. But just as a dressmaker affixes pretty trimmings to dresses and a hatmaker stitches badges to hats, so it behoves every one of us, "Jews or Gentiles, Protestants or Catholics", to pause in quiet reflection, with a view to emerging from the exercise, feeling emboldened to embrace forthrightness and strong enough to eschew reticence.
For, it is only when we are tenacious, willing, and honest enough to remove the veneer that covers too much of society's ills that we will freely call a spade a spade and do so without fear of recrimination. Contrary to what some may say, nothing is wrong with honesty, and standing up for principles and probity is quite noble. It's painful when strong women and courageous men leap from position to position, not because of any sudden realisation that a previously held position was wrong, but rather because the new stance affords them the opportunity to jump from limb to limb, like monkeys do, to save face and to protect their self-interest.
So, depending on the modus operandi, people put on false appearances of virtue or vice and act in ways completely incongruous to their beliefs and feelings, without giving a brass farthing about feigning fidelity or sincerity; once it serves the intended purpose. The truth is, though, hypocrisy is perhaps the most annoying of human traits and the built-in disingenuousness makes life miserable and hellish for many, especially the most gullible among us.
One never knows what to expect from a "two-face". Some people say, "Just leave them to their conscience." Yet, others are more circumspect because they are always sceptical about the purity of that "conscience", as it can be corrupt too. You see, reasonable people temper their attitude by relying on good conscience to guide their conduct, especially in moments of conflict and controversy. Hypocrites are not given to sound or good conscience and are disarming actors who violate people's trust in the most egotistic and opportunistic of ways, and then market phony actions as genuine acts of philanthropy.
Hence, they deviate from sound principles on a whim; they support slackness and ineptitude when it suits them; they excuse corruption when it's done by certain elements in society, only to re-emerge with asinine and manipulative explanations for their sour and insensate actions. Still, the most heartless among them rush behind the ecclesiastical barricade of "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone", as if this edict provides carte blanche for eternal evil to prevail over good because, according to them, we are all Pharisees - hypocritically self-righteous.
Better yet, when shame and disgrace are too much for them to bear and a story just won't go away and there is a ray of hope that pressure could wane, hypocrites crawl into the cul-de-sac of spinelessness and beseech others to "let bygones be bygones" and to accept that "from evil cometh good". But "the end does not always justify the means" and, as we are about to learn: killing 73 people, forfeiting US$300 million in tourism earnings, "hugging up" J$1 billion in lost productivity and soaking up US$55 million in investment cancellations cannot justify the end. Neither can barging into the homes of innocent people, like Keith Clarke, and pumping 20 bullets into his body, nor can curtailing the constitutional rights of people in the capital city, misleading Parliament and the unnecessary tarnishing of Jamaica's name, just to delay the arrest and possible extradition of one man, who continues to be on the run, validate the end. It is for this reason that Christopher "Dudus" Coke must be brought in alive to testify and to tell all he knows about the connections between politics, politicians, religion, commerce and organised crime.
Hypocrisy abounds. I was floored when I saw members of the private sector in tow behind the prime minister, running up and down Coronation Market, like "petchary bird inna parson neck-back", and talking ad nauseam about a "new dawning" for Tivoli Gardens. Now, many of these people will not hire so-called ghetto youths, however qualified or untarnished. They will not entertain a loan application from a ghetto youth, let alone approve such, despite the bankability of the project. My questions to our business leaders come from a paraphrased quotation from Shylock in the Merchant of Venice: Hath not inner-city youths hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as an upper St Andrew youth? If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh? If you poison them, do they not die? And if you wrong them shall they not seek revenge?
Do you guys really believe that repairing the Coronation Market and crushing the Shower Posse will bring fundamental changes to Jamaica's woes?
While we are imperfect and are not blameless for society's ills, we are not all hypocrites who sacrifice nobility and trade honesty on the altar of expediency for the sake of maintaining professional, political or financial prominence. For, as is already known, "all it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to remain silent". Well, in Jamaica's case, all it takes is for them to practise hypocrisy while evil is perpetrated. It was as impressive, as it was refreshing, when journalists - such as Archibald Gordon, Earl Moxam and Dion Jackson-Miller; columnists Claude Robinson, Devon Dick, Franklin Johnston, Mark Wignall, Betty-Ann Blaine and Gordon Robinson, editorials in the Jamaica Observer and elsewhere, and civic groups such as Jamaicans For Justice (and its principals in particular) alongside the Jamaica Council of Churches - stood up for principles, and refused to dance around the fundamental issues of the day like cats on hot bricks.
Burnscg@aol.com
CHRIS BURNS
Monday, June 21, 2010
There are no laws, as far as I am aware, that prohibit hypocrisy; neither are there any enforceable legal sanctions per se against active hypocrites. Hypocrites are in the boardrooms, bedrooms, on the streets, in Parliament and just about everywhere in the world. Before anyone gets all in a tizzy, this article is not a call to arms for the annihilation of hypocrites; they too have rights of existence as everyone else does. The aim is to enumerate recent acts of hypocrisy in Jamaica and highlight the deficiencies and pitfalls of embracing two-facedness.
Prime Minister Golding listens to a vendor at the Coronation Market which he and a delegation toured June 10 after sections were damaged in last month's clash between gunmen and the security forces in West Kingston. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood) 1/1 There is no delusion here of a perfect existence, moreso one without counterfeits. Nevertheless, to the extent that we can move away from the weight of double standards we should boldly do so, and do it with great dispatch because dithering will yield us nothing in the end. Neither are there expectations for sudden or seismic shifts in attitude because of this article. But just as a dressmaker affixes pretty trimmings to dresses and a hatmaker stitches badges to hats, so it behoves every one of us, "Jews or Gentiles, Protestants or Catholics", to pause in quiet reflection, with a view to emerging from the exercise, feeling emboldened to embrace forthrightness and strong enough to eschew reticence.
For, it is only when we are tenacious, willing, and honest enough to remove the veneer that covers too much of society's ills that we will freely call a spade a spade and do so without fear of recrimination. Contrary to what some may say, nothing is wrong with honesty, and standing up for principles and probity is quite noble. It's painful when strong women and courageous men leap from position to position, not because of any sudden realisation that a previously held position was wrong, but rather because the new stance affords them the opportunity to jump from limb to limb, like monkeys do, to save face and to protect their self-interest.
So, depending on the modus operandi, people put on false appearances of virtue or vice and act in ways completely incongruous to their beliefs and feelings, without giving a brass farthing about feigning fidelity or sincerity; once it serves the intended purpose. The truth is, though, hypocrisy is perhaps the most annoying of human traits and the built-in disingenuousness makes life miserable and hellish for many, especially the most gullible among us.
One never knows what to expect from a "two-face". Some people say, "Just leave them to their conscience." Yet, others are more circumspect because they are always sceptical about the purity of that "conscience", as it can be corrupt too. You see, reasonable people temper their attitude by relying on good conscience to guide their conduct, especially in moments of conflict and controversy. Hypocrites are not given to sound or good conscience and are disarming actors who violate people's trust in the most egotistic and opportunistic of ways, and then market phony actions as genuine acts of philanthropy.
Hence, they deviate from sound principles on a whim; they support slackness and ineptitude when it suits them; they excuse corruption when it's done by certain elements in society, only to re-emerge with asinine and manipulative explanations for their sour and insensate actions. Still, the most heartless among them rush behind the ecclesiastical barricade of "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone", as if this edict provides carte blanche for eternal evil to prevail over good because, according to them, we are all Pharisees - hypocritically self-righteous.
Better yet, when shame and disgrace are too much for them to bear and a story just won't go away and there is a ray of hope that pressure could wane, hypocrites crawl into the cul-de-sac of spinelessness and beseech others to "let bygones be bygones" and to accept that "from evil cometh good". But "the end does not always justify the means" and, as we are about to learn: killing 73 people, forfeiting US$300 million in tourism earnings, "hugging up" J$1 billion in lost productivity and soaking up US$55 million in investment cancellations cannot justify the end. Neither can barging into the homes of innocent people, like Keith Clarke, and pumping 20 bullets into his body, nor can curtailing the constitutional rights of people in the capital city, misleading Parliament and the unnecessary tarnishing of Jamaica's name, just to delay the arrest and possible extradition of one man, who continues to be on the run, validate the end. It is for this reason that Christopher "Dudus" Coke must be brought in alive to testify and to tell all he knows about the connections between politics, politicians, religion, commerce and organised crime.
Hypocrisy abounds. I was floored when I saw members of the private sector in tow behind the prime minister, running up and down Coronation Market, like "petchary bird inna parson neck-back", and talking ad nauseam about a "new dawning" for Tivoli Gardens. Now, many of these people will not hire so-called ghetto youths, however qualified or untarnished. They will not entertain a loan application from a ghetto youth, let alone approve such, despite the bankability of the project. My questions to our business leaders come from a paraphrased quotation from Shylock in the Merchant of Venice: Hath not inner-city youths hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as an upper St Andrew youth? If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh? If you poison them, do they not die? And if you wrong them shall they not seek revenge?
Do you guys really believe that repairing the Coronation Market and crushing the Shower Posse will bring fundamental changes to Jamaica's woes?
While we are imperfect and are not blameless for society's ills, we are not all hypocrites who sacrifice nobility and trade honesty on the altar of expediency for the sake of maintaining professional, political or financial prominence. For, as is already known, "all it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to remain silent". Well, in Jamaica's case, all it takes is for them to practise hypocrisy while evil is perpetrated. It was as impressive, as it was refreshing, when journalists - such as Archibald Gordon, Earl Moxam and Dion Jackson-Miller; columnists Claude Robinson, Devon Dick, Franklin Johnston, Mark Wignall, Betty-Ann Blaine and Gordon Robinson, editorials in the Jamaica Observer and elsewhere, and civic groups such as Jamaicans For Justice (and its principals in particular) alongside the Jamaica Council of Churches - stood up for principles, and refused to dance around the fundamental issues of the day like cats on hot bricks.
Burnscg@aol.com
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