The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

I have never been more un-proud of who we are becoming when I see the blunt disrespect for the Prime Minister, his family and the office he holds.

Just the level of disrespect is disheartening. Such disrespect may have far longer lasting repercussions if we continue to embrace this kind of behaviour disguised as free speech. Decent people can disagree over policy, but far too many Bahamians express their critiques in an ugly way. This trending pattern of disrespect that we display to each other as citizens sharing our freedoms as one country, let alone the highest office in our nation, truly undermines the principles and values of everything The Bahamas stands for.

We have revealed a very vulgar side of The Bahamas, a side that we cannot be satisfied with. At some point, the treatment of our leaders went from offensive to ugly and then to downright unacceptable. Welcome to the new rude Bahamas, where I hope we can restore some sense of civility. The man and his family are being challenged unfairly, characterised with vulgarity and treated with the kind of profound disrespect to which no previous Prime Minister was subjected.

The Prime Minister has a beautiful family, and their composure through these kinds of disrespect and attacks that goes above is inspirational. However, at the end of the day, we are all human, and there’s only so much we are expected to take until these things begin to tear and hurt the core of who we are and how we feel. The disrespect for individuals and the Office of The Prime Minister itself has reached such a low point. Even the Prime Minister’s children have been targets of such despicable disrespect. However, in The Bahamas, we never see the big deal until we are the ones enduring the levels of incivility. Moreover, if you have missed the point, then there is a chance that you are part of the problem.

We all have a responsibility to use our freedom of speech in a responsible manner. However, if this is the kind of democracy we want to embrace and to be proud of where we the people use our freedoms to slander the characters of others, this will be an indictment on the kind of people we all choose to become. We do not respect anything or no one in this country. What is more disturbing than the songs are those out there who uplifts this sort of behaviour and call it acceptable. Going beyond the song we have to admit this is a growing culture in our country where we use any instrument or platform to attack the characters of those we disagree with.

If you do not agree with what a leader of your country is doing, disagree with the policies and initiative and his style of governance - that’s the responsible thing to do. However, it is nothing short of cowardly to hide behind the curtains of democracy to assassinate the characters of others. Listen to our radio shows to hear what the noise our freedom is filled with the derogation, smear, false report, insult, slander, and backbiting. If this is our new way of life, if this is the culture we want to accept, this will be the culture that our society dies by. If we do not we respect the law, If we do not we comply with the church, and if we do not respect our neighbours, and if we respect the highest office in our country surely my fellow brethren, we will reap what we sow. Too many Bahamians interpret ‘Freedom of speech’ as ‘Freedom to abuse people’.

Freedom of speech should not be hate speech if it rips people to shreds and tears the roots of society. At some point, we all have to pause and take a deep look at ourselves and come to the realisation that we cannot have a conversation about the challenges of our country without insulting each other and tearing each other apart. What do we expect to achieve by insulting each other and talking over each other instead of addressing the issues? I know we are better than this: we can disagree despite our politics despite our personal feelings and express them with some degree of respect for each other. Name calling and insulting each other don’t fix problems, only a national dialogue with some respectful disagreement and compromise can.

If the freedom to speak is intended to demoralise and/or discount the credibility of another without due process of law, it is no longer freedom of speech, but rather abuse against the right of others.

LATRAE RAHMING

Nassau,

August 21, 2016.