Bobby Pickersgill was right about the “Articulate Minority”

I often don’t come out in support for members of the ruling party, but in this case I fully support and endorse the views of perennial non performer Bobby Pickersgill ( please continue to read).

Pickersgill, when told in a TV interview that there has been an outcry about the issue on social media and in particular Twitter, questioned the relevance.

“No ordinary Jamaican not speaking about it…Twitter? Twitter is ordinary Jamaican? Ordinary Jamaicans know anything about Twitter?” Pickersgill said, adding that Jamaicans on Twitter are an “articulate minority” and the outcry was “politically motivated”

Social media erupted after these comments as people became angry at Bobby, but if we take a step back, listen carefully, reflect on the spoken words and are fair to ourselves, we can see that Bobby was right. I will explain my rationale for seeming to be supporting Bobby on this occasion.

1. Ordinary Jamaicans are not as concerned as we would all like to believe about governance issues as they are led to believe these issues have no impact on their daily lives. The ordinary Joe is more concerned about those issues that directly impact his/her ability to eat, sleep or drink. So the ordinary Joe will block roads, if they have no water, light , or if the roads are bad as those things directly impact their way of life.
2. Ordinary Jamaicans sees not much link between waste and corruption on their way of life and so pay scant regard to these issues.
3. The ordinary Jamaicans who go out to vote do not do so on the basis of performance of the government in power , instead its based solely on political allegiance and as such issues such as the NHT failure to exercise good judgement do not shape their views at all, after-all it does not affect their ability to gain a house as they do not qualify and so that is the end of that matter.
4. It is the ordinary Jamaicans that ultimately decide which party is elected to power.
5. PNP has the most garrisons in Jamaica and the support in these areas is above 90% every time. Many of these folks are semi or completely illiterate , are struggling and depend on the goodwill of their party to support them. These are bread and butter issues and don’t be fooled, if I am being supported and I can get to eat food, live somewhere and pay no bills, I will forever be grateful to the party that makes this all possible and reward them every time. I don’t have much access to the internet and so I cannot be influenced by the comments of those in the cyber-world. They do not understand how we live and so even if I were to see their comments, I will not be swayed by them. Bobby and the PNP knows this hence he can say what he said, without apology.
6. The articulate minority tends to be better educated, but guess what they are just that, the minority.
7. The articulate minority spends most of their time in cyberspace and come election time plays no role in who is ultimately selected to govern the country. It means that this minority can be largely ignored as they have zero influence when it matters most and that is at election time.
8. The articulate minority have little influence over the silent majority leading up to and at election time, so they can be ignored.
9. At election time the silent majority speaks loudly while the articulate minority remains just that ,cursing the crap out of those who actually went out to exercise their right to vote and make a difference (in their minds).

So folks Bobby Pickersgill is correct in his analysis, so don’t demonize him. What articulate minority therefore needs to do is to get up from around the computer and go out and vote and let that perennial non-performer hear their voices loudly and put him into retirement.

Don’t curse Bobby, just make sure he becomes irrelevant after the 2016 elections