The clearer picture

The lead-in for a July 2 online GML story reads as follows: “Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says provisions are being made to allow children from islands ravaged by Hurricane Beryl entry into Trinidad and Tobago to reside with relatives here.”

In under one hour, on the T&T Guardian Facebook page alone, there were over one hundred comments on the story. A link to further details was provided.

There are colleagues of mine who strongly advise against paying too much attention to the “comments section” of social media posts even by the local news organisation with which I am associated. They claim to care about my mental well-being.

“Don’t do it,” is the typically sharp admonition. But you know what? I believe that the interactivity of online media has helped further democratise the mass media landscape, brought previously marginalised and buried feelings to the fore, and should therefore never be ignored.

Despite the proven existence of anonymised and disguised partisan trolls, and the persistence of the barely literate, I think it important to capture the many flavours of public opinion and expression this way.

It is however important, as my friends have advised, to recognise that we engage such a process at our peril – especially on questions that have the potential to expose the worst in people.

“This man really making no sense at all our own people suffering and cannot get our own kids in school always saying no space I am tired of this man making bad decisions for our cou(n)try,” was among the earliest comments following the post on the children of the Grenadines.

Sometimes, with time on your hands, you check the social media footprint of such commentators to determine their bona fides and to get behind what motivates some people. The above quote was provided by someone who urges regular reference to the Bible.

“By 2030 you would have to get a backhoe to break down that voter bank,” another chimed in. This one appeared to have been a made-up profile with 245 rather suspicious “friends.”

By the time you check and cross-reference and scour lists of interests and “friends” it is possible to produce a  rough profile of the people and the circumstances motivating their interest in different subjects. There is probably already generative AI that can do the sorting for you without all the human fuss.

This was not the case back in 1991 when it was proposed by then PM ANR Robinson that T&T should have hosted fleeing Haitians following political turmoil there. All we had to go on at that time were placards and angry demonstrators pronouncing on the threat of “AIDS” and some kind of refugee “invasion” with the potential to tilt political balance, entirely on ethnic grounds.

The technology had not yet been developed to properly unravel identities especially among letter-writer pseudonyms in the press and anonymous radio talk show callers – though placards often betrayed dramatic similarities in design and language usage, and you worked out who, rather quietly, wasn’t really minding that a fuss had been generated over X or Y issue.

By 2017, and the offer to host Dominican children for six months following the passage of Hurricane Maria, social media was already in full swing. So, people who monitor these things closely were pretty much able to catch the gist of the arguments and to recognise common threads of interest where they existed.

It is however often the case that disparate, unconnected voices may potentially capture highly pervasive sentiments – however similar the language and arguments. For example, and even more recently, the “close de borders” crew shared common emotions with a variety of elements opposed to even the loosest application of humanitarian law when it came to distressed, asylum-seeking Venezuelans.

However, what I also look for are the key responses of people from among our “responsible” elites - politicians, academics, business, and other opinion-leaders. I check to see whether they approve or disapprove of disturbing public responses and behaviours.

For example, in the most recent instance of the children of the Grenadines, I have been keeping an eye out for rods of connection. You know: “I understand your point, but how can accommodating children in the face of such a crisis ever change the political dynamic, or reduce opportunities for our own children? Stop it! Stop it!”

But, vigilance over things virtual is meaningless without also keeping an eye on what is actually happening/what is being said in the real world. That is how you begin getting a clearer picture of the reality. It’s not always a pleasant sight, I tell you.