Playing Smart with Stupidness... (Political Absurdity)

The textbook definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and one only has to observe Trinidad politics to understand what they were trying to say. On the hustings for political leader of the Congress of the People Vernon De Lima has come in for some blows for saying that ALL Trinidadians and Tobagonians should benefit from government largesse regardless of race, creed or political affiliation, and despite this being the EXACT tonic this country needs to pull away from the brink of the looming racial conflagration and social collapse there are those who are adamantly against this idea. As there really are none so blind as those who would not see it is not surprising that we are in the position we find ourselves in today.

Real change will never be a reality in this country as long as the people remain divided politically along tribal lines to obscure forward thinking and as long as opposition means simply to oppose. We have all seen the lunacy as Government Ministers pilot or support bills in Parliament when they are in government and turn around and block the same exact bill for no reason other than to oppose when they find themselves in Opposition.

Seriously, tell me if that should not be the new definition of stupidness.

Or the forward thinking morons who believe themselves the moral majority able to cast judgement on all things from a 'them' and 'us' position, yet hoping for a miracle to deliver us out of divisive and adversarial politics into some sort of national unity. 


Shouldn't this be referred to as advanced idiocy?

Priests, poets and pundits everywhere are of the same view, that for us to survive and thrive we need to adopt the watch words coined by our founding fathers - "Together we aspire, together we achieve."  Yet to hear some of these mindless minions and Party hacks speak, the country is for one side and one race only, and if you not in you out. What utter foolishness, really. How then do we advance, if we are prepared to always disenfranchise at least fifty per cent of our people?

Until we understand that the only vision for this country that works is spelled out succinctly in the national anthem - "Where every creed and race find and equal place" we will continue circling the drain. I was alive for the attempted coup of 1990, and the days following July 27th were some of the best days among people I have ever seen. The sense of neighborliness, the sharing and support between strangers i had not encountered before nor since was remarkable. Others have noted similar sentiments during other times of national crisis, and from this it would seem fair to say that the only times that we get out of each other's way is when we have a common enemy. If that is indeed the case then in about ten to fifteen years things will be perfect in this country because it is predicted as that is the end of oil and gas and those of us left behind will share a common struggle, poverty.

That it could take the loss of every real opportunity we will ever have to unite us should make us feel proud to be as stupid as we are, and I for one suggest we at least acknowledge the thing we most share in common and celebrate it with a real national holiday every year.

 We need an act of Parliament to remove April 1st as all fools day and rename it instead National Stupidity day. Ironically, it could be the one day of the year we all have something to celebrate...