Michael Abrahams | Political weird stuff

Over the past few weeks, I inadvertently conducted a social experiment of sorts. I wrote newspaper articles and social media posts criticising both major political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP). The responses reinforced my views on the absurdity of political tribalism, which I discussed in my August 11 Gleaner article, ‘Defending politicians, dividing ourselves’.

In one post, I jokingly suggested that ways to earn a national award include excelling in a field, performing an act of heroism or bravery, or repeatedly berating Mark Golding and the PNP while praising Andrew Holness and the JLP. Some people understood and appreciated the satire. Others did not, and Labourite trolls emerged from their termite-infested woodwork and launched their fetid missiles.

The barbs included the unofficial Jamaican national motto, “suck yuh madda” (SYM). (It appears that every Jamaican now comes equipped with a ‘SYM’ card, which, depending on the person’s chill level, requires varying levels of annoyance to be activated). I responded by telling my critics that I indeed sucked my mother because I was breastfed. Another person posted my photograph and implied that I was a vagina. I considered that a compliment. The vagina is an extraordinary, resilient organ essential to human reproduction, and it pleases billions of people. So, to be called a vagina is an honour.

Then a national awardee made a video in which they called out my name and publicly accused me of disrespecting them. I reviewed my comments and found that I had not mentioned any name, gender, profession or specific award. I did say that if someone exhibits crass behaviour and cyberbullies, insults and denigrates others while defending a politician and is then honoured, they are effectively being rewarded for their vile conduct. There are 140 awardees. I identified none of them. As Bob Marley sang in the song Who The Cap Fit, “A throw mi corn. Mi nuh call nuh fowl.”

Interestingly, while writing this article, I noticed that 92 per cent of the person’s posts on X over the past week concerned defending the JLP or criticising or ridiculing the PNP. And, last year when I made a social media post in which I dared to question the prime minister’s integrity, the person shared my post on X, “traced” me off and called me a “waste man” and told me to GTFOOH (get the f*** out of here). But, of course, the award has NOTHING to do with political allegiance.

As for the Comrades, last week, The Gleaner published an article I wrote titled ‘Jamaica deserves a better Opposition’. Kaka faat! A who tell mi fi do dat? All hell broke loose, with one PNP vlogger whose relationship with English grammar is somewhat turbulent telling me to “reverse back” and “chuck off”. An Opposition has two fundamental responsibilities: holding the Government accountable and offering voters a credible alternative. The PNP says the Government sucks, but it lost the last three elections under three different leaders. The need for improvement is obvious.

What amazed me was the hypocrisy, dishonesty and sheer stupidity in some of the responses. I have been a critic of this Government for the past few years, being so outspoken that I have been labelled a Comrade, a PNP activist and a “mouthpiece”. I have been repeatedly cyberbullied, insulted, denigrated and publicly pilloried by Labourites.

Some Comrades communicate with me regularly online and can be relied on to support my criticisms of the Government, flying to my social media pages like gingy flies to a rotten mango to comment on, like and share my posts. But, when I demand better from their party, some of those same people turn around and ask me why I don’t criticise the Government, and accuse me of being afraid to do so.

I try to be a fair person, and I considered that some of these Comrades might be experiencing amnesia. But, when I looked at some of their comments, I saw them bringing up transgressions of Andrew Holness and the JLP from many years ago that they vividly recalled. Their memories are indeed intact. They are just dishonest and hypocritical, with their heads firmly lodged up the distal ends of their gastrointestinal tracts.

Some cursed me out for criticising Isat Buchanan for telling Coopers Pen residents who were unaffected by the demolition there to “chop di line” and scam the Government, saying it was merely an “off-the-cuff” comment and was no big deal. But, if the PNP were in power and a JLP MP said the same thing, they damn well know they would not tolerate it.

What Labourites and Comrades need to ask themselves is why the majority of Jamaicans do not respect or trust their parties. Let’s do the maths. Voter turnout in the last general election was only 39.5 per cent. The JLP won 50.54 per cent of the popular vote while the PNP received 49.16 per cent. So, roughly 40 per cent of the electorate voted, and the popular vote was split almost 50-50. In other words, roughly 80 per cent of Jamaicans do not have confidence in the JLP and about the same percentage reject the PNP. Why do most of us have little use for them? It is because they are not as great as their supporters make them out to be. Jamaicans are not stupid. We are not going to shun a good thing.

If we love our country, we must demand excellence from both sides. Andrew Holness and Mark Golding are not deities, and criticising them is not blasphemy. They are human like the rest of us, and we must not be afraid to call them and their parties out for their missteps. Tribalism only helps political parties, not our country.

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator, and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on X @mikeyabrahams.