Dear Editor,

The first local government election debate involving Kingston Mayor Angela Brown Burke, Kenisha Allen and other representatives of both major political parties are the stuff of what good television cartoon scripts are made of.

The cartoon which readily comes to mind is Looney Tunes’ youthful but bold Henery Hawk, a chicken hawk whose maturity would match a four-year-old’s, and who is bent on taking on a rooster character who you could consider to be middle-aged. Indeed, cartoons can be very insightful as demonstrated by the University of Glasgow, Scotland, which recently launched a course study in philosophy purely based on the hit cartoon series,

The Simpsons. I suppose that the practice of politics ought to ideally have strong philosophical input and layout, but I fear that Jamaica’s respect for philosophy, even at lighter levels such as cartoons, is fast diminishing.

The creator of

The Simpsons is actually a student of philosophy himself. How marvellous it would be, if our leaders, labourers, representatives, sportsmen and women, parents, students, entertainers, artists, professionals, and producers were more under the influence of philosophy in one form or another, more so than culture, which is sadly a more dominant force in our nation. This is in spite of culture being short-lived or dead without the support and stimulation that philosophy, its study, appreciation, dissemination, whether intentionally or unintentionally, offer.

Andre O Sheppy

Norwood, St James

astrangely@outlook.com