Recently the PNP saw it
fit to release a statement condemning a photograph that is circulating on
social media of a swastika imposed on the PNP emblem. The condemnation that the
PNP gave to matter is by all means stupid. While it continues to dodge
questions on matters of tremendous importance to this country, like the wasting
of public funds by the NHT to buy a failing entity and the lies that were and
are been told to justify the purchase, it found time to condemn what cannot be
considered as more than a stupid matter. It goes to show what is of importance
to this hapless group of people.
It is not by any means
surprising however, as we see time and again members of the PNP especially the
incompetent Prime Minister, taking issue with political satire in the official
media, very personally as if she is above been laughed at. And the way how she
goes about hitting out at any form of criticism is tantamount to how the Nazi
dealt with dissenting views, with one exception, the critics aren’t shot dead. And
at the rate they are going it may be just a matter of time before that starts
happening.
The picture that has
caused so much problems for the PNP shows Minister Faulkner in a Nazi uniform,
and we must bare in mind that the photo came out after the media briefing where
the Minister sought to bully journalist in toeing the party line, to the extent
that a journalist mike was physically taken away from him and one was turned
off, to the threatening of Head of Nationwide News Network Cliff Hughes by the
media Director in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to pull the station
off air. In a democratic and free society such behavior is intolerable and have
to be condemned in the most forceful manner. When the PNP seeks to do things
reminiscent of how the Nazi`s behaved in the 1930`s, and then get satired for
it they should not be complaining one bit. While many persons associate Nazism
with the Holocaust, we must remember that the Holocaust came later in the Reign
of Hitler-not at first. What they started out in the early days doing was
controlling the media through the feared SS and intimidating and jailing their opponents.
Not to mention the night of the long knives. The pattern of the PNP since
taking office has been confrontational, dictatorial and disrespectful to
Jamaicans in general. Look at how they treat with scant regard the Office of
the Opposition leader, and the how the JLP Senators are bullied by the Senate
President, the arrogant, pompous and out of order Floyd Morrison, to the point where recently, Senator
Tom Tavares Finson had was to angrily complain about the treatment meted out to
them by the President.
Yet those instances pale
in comparison to how the Prime Minister and her information spokesperson deals
with sensitive issues of National importance. The Prime Minister comes to
Parliament and refuse to answer questions about NHT, mislead the Parliament and
the Jamaican people and have not apologize for it among many others. Time and
time again the Prime Minister has acted in ways contrary to the Democratic
principles that underpin a Democratic State and have behaved in dictatorial
manner reminiscent of Adolf Hitler. The PNP needs to understand, that it is not
what they think people will think about their actions, but actually what people
thinks about what they do. Ministers in this government has behaved on many
occasion just like how the Ministers in the Third Reich behaved then. Take for
instance the Richard Azan matter and how he behaved and how the Councilors in
his constituency behaved, one even made the point that it was nothing more than
a nine day wonder. What we have witness is a pattern of behavior that is anti-democratic
and dictatorial in nature. Furthermore we have in the past seen what the PNP is
capable of when it puts the machinery of the state to fulfill an ideology-we
saw it in the 1970`s.
What the PNP must
understand is that Democratic principles are the foundation on what all Free
states are built. All truly democratic societies are built on the freedom of
the press, freedom of speech and sound governance. While we may not have
officially sanctioned press censorship, but the manner in which the PNP is
behaving towards the Press will send a chilling effect on the few unbiased
media houses in this country. The recent attack on those of us on social media
is designed to have the same effect. What the PNP is after, is to cause social
media proponents of good Governance like myself to go into hiding behind fake
profiles or to stop criticizing the Government. While official media have to
respect the PNP or some archaic law that protects certain people from close scrutiny,
social media carries no such restriction. That’s what the PNP is afraid of. They
can’t control social media. Recently another photo about vote buying in the
last election in Central Westmoreland that was published by a known social media
activist, drew from Minister Hanna a thinly veiled threat of court action
against the lady. These are all designed to create the feeling of unease and
fear for social media critics like us. But we must fight back, and fight back
in a strong, determined, and forceful way, criticizing even more the policies
of the PNP that is ruinous to this country. Criticizing the social media group
SYMJ over the picture of Faulkner, and trying to tie it to the Jamaica Labour
Party, smacks of how Hitler tried to pin everything bad on the Communist Party
at that time in Germany. It’s not only dangerous to draw such comparisons that doesn’t
exist, but in our climate of politics, that can be a death sentenced to us on
social media and the JLP, as the PNP is loaded with idiots that is itching to
do anything that comes to their mind in defense of their party. The reason been
some of us like me who criticizes the PNP on a daily basis do not hide behind
fake profiles.
The Group SYMJ while it’s
loaded with supporters of the JLP, it doesn’t means that they are affiliated
with the JLP. They do have high ranking members of the PNP that are members of
the group. Should we then assume that that they are supporters of the JLP? One must
understand that in this day and age, social media is a critical part of the
democratic process and groups will be set up that contain people of like
political persuasions. That doesn’t mean that these groups are directly linked
or supported by the JLP. The PNP should be very careful it doesn’t open a Pandora`s
box, and cause a social media fight back that can bring the party to its knees.
We on social media do have ways of getting information that can really hurt
people.
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