The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

An anonymous wise person once said that there are five things you can’t take back: “A stone after it’s thrown, a word once it is spoken, an occasion once it is missed, an action when it is done, and time once it has passed.”

Pineridge MP Frederick MacAlpine has thrown a cat among pigeons with his repeated disparaging remarks about the Free National Movement (FNM) in public. Some rabid FNMs who are deeply annoyed with the Pineridge MP for his anti-FNM campaign have resorted to utilising ad hominem attacks against the MP in retaliation. Rather than engage MacAlpine and his supporters in a civil manner, these FNMs have decided to hit him below the belt by bringing up alleged unsavory stories about his personal life and family. This is wrong. While I agree that we are entitled to our own opinions, I believe that it is morally wrong to use that freedom to sully a person’s name and reputation.

FNMs must remain above the fray. Don’t descend into the gutter in order to debate MacAlpine. MacAlpine, as far as I can tell, is still a card carrying member of the FNM, even though there mightn’t be anymore camaraderie between him and Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. And even if he has already mentally crossed the political aisle to the Progressive Liberal Party, he is still a human being. Rather than aim below MacAlpine’s belt, FNMs should instead focus their attention on debunking his recent anti-FNM propaganda, which I believe to have been motivated by his bruised ego. Don’t resort to dragging the man’s name through the mud. The FNM is bigger than that.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, GB

May 16, 2018.