Editorial
More Voices Must Be Heard
It has long been axiomatic of life in this country that Caymanians are not a people given to public discourse even on the important matters.
Indeed, this very reticence, or shyness, is part of the appeal of the Caymanian personality that over the years has endeared them to visitors to these shores.
Also it must be admitted that in a time when people seem to be willing, or even keen, to speak publicly on everything from personal tragedies to what Madonna wears, the disposition to be silent can be taken as a blessing.
But there is another side to this particular coin. Compared with the Caribbean generally, the populace here does not benefit from the kind of airing of ideas that should be taking place, not only on current issues of the day such as the Constitution and Euro Bank, but also on gradually evolving matters that affect the lives of all who live here.
To put it baldly, not enough thinking people are saying publicly what they think about ongoing matters.
The differing ideas or aspects of consequences connected with issues are not being presented to the public in the way they would be in Barbados, Trinidad or or even Anguilla or St. Lucia.
To say it is not happening at all here is
an exaggeration. There are occasional letters from persons such
as Olivaire Watler or young Samuel Rose; there is the new "Foundation"
journal put out by the Cultural Foundation with recent thought-provoking
articles by Education Minister Roy Bodden and artist Bendel Hydes;
commendable efforts indeed.
But the very paucity of examples beyond that are proof of the
diagnosis that we are lacking in intellectual stimulation in the
media in Cayman.
A case like the Euro Bank trial almost anywhere else in this region would result in an outpouring of viewpoints and the majority would be non-political examinations or appraisals. Apart from the expected comments bemoaning the crisis, the in-depth examination is not spilling forth here.
Perhaps it yet will, but we are not holding our editorial breath.
A sterling case in point is the matter of the Constitution that has been surrounding these Islands for several years now, but in which, it appears, much of the populace remains uninformed or misinformed.
To be fair to them the Constitutional Commissioners made a valiant information effort in their public meetings. The point is, that in other societies the citizens wouldn't have left it there.
They would have been writing articles in journals, printing pamphlets, in a non-partisan vein, to wrestle with the ambiguities, to explain the various consequences, to present different scenarios, and totally differing points of view.
As to the comment that the "man in the street" would be confused by such "intellectual chat", we disagree strongly. History is full of examples (the revolutions in France and America are but two) where a populace highly informed (one can argue, to excess) was still able to make critical decisions on complex matters that turned out to be unerringly right for their particular societies.
Aside from the period in the 1960s when the Cayman Islands decided to ask for Crown Colony status, the unfolding Euro Bank story we're now living through is probably one of the most pivotal in this country's history.
Whatever lens one is looking through on this matter, the ramifications, both present and future, will be immense economically, politically, socially, and culturally.
The thinkers among us who can help us unravel these matters, or explain their various aspects, are far too silent.
As we try among ourselves to decide on the way forward, we need to hear from those voices.
Their contribution to the process is needed if, to use an often repeated expression, we are "to make sense out of nonsense".