Dr. Fraser put me in my place

10.JULY.09

Editor: The good Dr. Arian Fraser used his column last week (Friday, July 3, 2009) to put me in my place. Thank you, Doc. Where exactly that place is supposed to be I don’t know, since I’ve never pigeon-holed myself as belonging to any particular “place”. {{more}}This concept of putting people in their place is the type of elitist, intellectual arrogance that you get from Dr. Fraser and his ilk, including his good friend Arnhim Eustace, and the not-so-elite but certainly arrogant Senator St. Clair Leacock, who you constantly hear using the phrase “putting people in their place” or someone being “out of place”.

The good doctor was responding to my letter of Friday, June 19, 2009, which addressed his column of Friday, June 12, 2009, which stated that this country was “forced to go to the IMF”. Readers of my letter would see no attempt to insult Dr. Fraser, since I certainly have no interest in attempting to do so. But the good doctor, in putting me in my place, states that I really do anything else “but to lick boots.” Ironically, I worked for 5 years for this very newspaper in which Dr. Fraser is a shareholder and never once can I recall ever licking his or any of the other directors’ boots. On the contrary, I differed with them on many issues and was hauled before the Board by the editor who thought I wanted to run the paper and I certainly disobeyed their directive that as a sub-editor I should write stories and not be compensated for them, because I didn’t think it was just. The truth is anyone who knows me would never describe me as being a bootlicker.

But if the good doctor thinks I am a Ralph Gonsalves boot-licker because I praise Dr. Gonsalves’ intellect and the work he does for this country, then so be it. As I’ve said before, I am in good company in this regard since Prof. Nigel Harris, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, which Dr. Fraser works for, has described Dr. Gonsalves as one of the “thinkers of the region” and someone whom the University is very proud of. Dr. Fraser can also check the affidavits of Elwardo Lynch and Douglas De Freitas for other such praises by regional leaders including CARICOM Secretary-General Dr. Edwin Carrington. Dougie and E.G do a much better job than I could ever do in chronicling the praises and achievements of Dr. Gonsalves. Maybe they are all just a bunch of boot-lickers.

The bottom line is this: Who is Hans King to dare comment on anything Dr. Fraser has to say and in this particular case, the IMF, since according to him he started reading about and researching the IMF long before I “appeared on the scene as a masquerader”? Dr. Fraser, I may not be as well read as you or as versed in regard to your knowledge of the IMF, but I’ve always credited myself with being able to understand issues. On the occasions that I troubled the examiner I’ve always ranked high for reasoning. Of course, I know that will be laughable to you since I’ve heard you on “The letter from the Ground” describing me as being unreasonable. So I read the IMF’s description of the Exogenous Shock Facility. I discussed it with the Prime Minister and I came to my conclusion that it is not a facility that a country is “forced to go to the IMF” for.

Am I nicking picking because I point to your use of the word “forced”? I think not. Unlike me who “needs more help than a dictionary” I believe when you use words, each is, to borrow from Dr. Gonsalves, “pregnant with meaning.”

Responding to me with infantile attempts to insult will not silence me, Dr. Fraser, even with my “weak intellect” (to quote Anesia Richards). In a democracy I’m still allowed to challenge even you.

Hans King

Press Secretary