…BS in Opposition campaign
Now, Dear Reader, don’t think your Eyewitness is descending into gutter language when he uses the term Bull Shit (BS) to describe what’s going on in the opposition’s political campaign as we come down to the homestretch! He recently found out that the term was given a very solid philosophical foundation (imagine that!!) by a respected professor at Oxford. The fella by the name of Henry Frankfurt – Dr Frankfurt to you!! – even wrote a book, not surprisingly titled “Bullshit”!!
So what did the good doctor say about bullshitting?? Well, first of all, he uses the word in the same way you and your Eyewitness does – to mean someone’s just shooting the breeze about whatever’s being discussed. You don’t believe a word the bullshitter’s spouting – you’re just listening for the laffs! Now surely your Eyewitness doesn’t mean that our Opposition politicians are all gyaffing on the stage as they go around the country courting our votes! No Siree Bob!! Unlike the bullshitters who hold court at street corners and parties, these opposition politicians actually want us to believe what they’re saying!!
But – you might be muttering under your breath! – Aren’t they just LYING in their teeth – and that’s what politicians do all the time?? However – according to Frankfurt – there’s a critical difference between telling a lie and bullshitting. The fella who LIES about, say, his reasons for throwing his hat into the political ring – accepts he knows the truth. But he wants you to think better of him – hence the lie. The bullshitter, however, doesn’t give a damn about what’s the truth: he thinks so little of you that he’s lying just for the heck of it!!
He just gets a kick out of yanking your chain!! Take the fella who’s telling us that the US sanctions against him don’t REALLY matter as far as him running to be President of our country. HE knows it’s a lie; he knows you know it’s a lie – but he don’t give a hoot about that!! He’s a bullshitter!! If he were just a liar, he would’ve taken time to sugar-coat the lie – like saying that the Americans are mistaken about him smuggling two tonnes of gold and stealing US$50 million in GRA taxes! And that maybe he just smuggled ONE tonne of gold!!
But noooo! He just goes on blithely insulting your intelligence as if everything’s hunky-dory and his getting elected wouldn’t have repercussions on US relations with Guyana!! He gotta know, for instance, about those INDIVIDUALS in the Russian Govt sanctioned by OFAC. Such as Kremlin Spokesman Dmitriy Peskov – who couldn’t interact with the Americans when Trump launched his peace-making initiatives earlier this year!!
All politicians lie – but beware of the bullshitting ones!!
…more oil
Your Eyewitness remembered that old revival hit – “A little more oil in your lamp keeps it burnin” – when it was confirmed that one more Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) has arrived in the Yellowtail and Redtail fields!! Now since One Guyana – as this FPSO was fortuitously named!! – is clocking in at 250,000 barrels per day (bpd)!! – that’ll keep a heck of a lot of lamps burnin’!! Not to mention our Natural Resources Fund (NRF) running over!!
Overall, with us pumping out 670,000 bpd to date, this means we’ll be getting to 920,000 by the time we vote on Sept 1!! Pipping Mad Maduro’s Venezuela next door – even if Chevron’s allowed back in, as appears to be certain!! What all of this means is we gotta be very serious about who’s gonna form the next Govt to be in charge for the next five years!!
In these matters experience counts, so the PPP’s the best bet. But as VP Jagdeo pointed out, the system’s gotta be tightened to curb corruption!
…Coke and fentanyl
In Mad Maduro’s hybrid war against the US, he’s been filling his pockets personally by shipping tonnes of cocaine and fentanyl into that country. Trump just upped the bounty on him to US$50M. Will some general turn him in??
