Call me hot head … the science of stepping on toes
31 July 2013
I HAVE JUST BEEN HONOURED, by persons who will go unmentioned, with the Hot Head Medal - a scintillating award for my views on the Kevin Rudd-sponsored asylum deal. Such are the perils of commentary.
I already had the hunch that I stepped on too many giant toes in the debate and I was expecting direct fire much earlier but it came indirectly and a bit late in a different scene. Nevertheless it came.
Whether my views on the issue are representative of my silent fellow Papua New Guineans or not, I am happy that I have the liberty to express my views freely and frankly, a privilege that most of my fellow PNGean Attitude readers are denied.
Being carefully observant, one would realise that my fellow PNGean Attitude readers are very selective in what they write and comment because they don’t have the liberty like me to speak their mind freely.
Apart from a handful of full time students of the Divine Word University, most of them are professionals employed either by the state or private companies.
They are subject to the rules and codes of ethics imposed on them by their employers.
They don’t have the freedom to speak their hearts’ feelings on highly sensitive political issues concerning PNG and Australia because of repercussions if they are not careful in what they say. This is a limitation of free speech for them.
For an unemployed, mischievous, hot head like me, I have nothing to lose for speaking out rightly and such naming emboldens me. Only if I had committed a cardinal crime would I have cowered into the hellish shithole.
However, the despicable crime that I detest to commit, especially in public media, is to harm anyone by making personal allusions and backlash. Keith Jackson has reminded us on several occasions that we all have a moral obligation to observe that this is not happening.
Anyone can become red hot head on issues and that’s the end of the story.
Leonard Fong Roka and I locked the horns of ideological difference on certain Bougainville issues and that’s that. There were no personal allusions and backlash between us. That’s the beauty of debate and commentary on issues in the public media.
Hot heads, tepid heads, cool heads and whatever heads us all produce in the literature, commentary and debate in PNG Attitude are lively, colourful, meaningful, beneficial and enjoyable. How would it be if we all had cool heads or spongy-malomalo heads?
Francis, I shall look through my collection of slides and see
if I still have shots in good shape of your Ples, which I will forward to you. Lukim yu.
Posted by: William Dunlop | 02 August 2013 at 01:17 AM
You did William?! I am happy to hear that! Would you remember Doliba primary school and the range just before that? That's Yobai and it's my place.
Posted by: Francis Sina Nii | 31 July 2013 at 03:50 PM
Francis, Mi bin lukim pleis bilong you, Salt Nomani, in 1970 when the then Administrator, David Hay, officially opened the new Council.
Posted by: William Dunlop | 31 July 2013 at 02:11 PM
I would love to Terry, if there is such 'bar'. And thanks for that.
Posted by: Francis Sina Nii | 31 July 2013 at 10:44 AM
Francis that is a great post and a fine piece of writing.
Would you accept a "bar" to your HHM?
Posted by: Terry Kelliher | 31 July 2013 at 09:11 AM