Who is going 'to Clovis' Clovis?

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Dear Editor,

Clovis's endless stream of offensive partisan caricatures belies his unapologetic and overtly pro-JLP bias. A dispassionate analysis would conclude that intellectual dishonesty has become his stock-in-trade. He is often compared to the Gleaner's legendary Leandro who once plied his trade as a rasping cartoonist who often pilloried the PNP, but was far more balanced and ethical in his critique.

Clovis seems fixated with government apologetics and public relations and his occasional criticism of the current administration's gaffes and missteps are comparatively mild and muted. In fact, we have had to endure his curious lionising of selected ministers of government, and he recently ended up with egg on his face when his favoured one lost out in an internal party race.

There is rabid venom behind Clovis's pictorial criticisms of former prime minister PJ Patterson and former finance minister Omar Davies. These men, who were by no means perfect, can speak for themselves, but many others take offence to the historical revisionism being attempted through the cartoonist's distorted and hyperbolic offerings. Leader of the Opposition Portia Simpson Miller has always been displayed by Clovis in a particular manner, consistent with a subtle (and sometimes overt) classist agenda to diminish her undisputed political bona fide with the Jamaican people. Like others, Mrs Simpson Miller is not without her faults, but Clovis's depictions are overdone, and his uncharitable caricatures disturb and insult significant pockets of our population.

The recent depiction of Contractor General Greg Christie seeking to hog the spotlight is very unfortunate. The CG has almost singularly spawned a governance revolution in which public officials are held to account. Such tenacity in protecting the national interest is unprecedented in Jamaica 's history, and both PNP and JLP administrations have been made to understand that probity and propriety in managing the affairs of the Jamaican state are now a non-negotiable imperative. Well-thinking Jamaicans welcome this, so why does Clovis seek to belittle the CG?

My advice to Clovis would be to resist the partisan itch and ground any criticism he may have in truth and balance. Truth be told, the litany of recent government gaffes has elicited virtual and stunning silence from him. Just check the archives, and you will see a sorry pattern of inexplicable overemphasis on past PNP mistakes - real or imagined. As it is now, his trenchant campaigning for some, and persistent attempts to demean others raise questions about his own credibility. Who is going "to Clovis" Clovis? By the way, Clovis, you are a good artist.

Wat Ching

wat.ching@yahoo.com