Hell hath no fury ...

Ken Jones, Gleaner Writer

Having grown up professionally with hard-bitten newspapermen and women; and having read and experienced the style, performance and quality of giant political representatives, I am bewildered by today's sanctimonious wimps, weeping over verbal scratches; the sickly sight of intimidated politicians apologising for the use of plain speech; and others of colonial mentality pleading for foreign agents to intercede and pass judgement on their behalf.

All this is happening while the country is in urgent need of unity to recover from the hell through which its social and economic affairs have gone.

Uttering the phrase "Go to hell" may be as shocking as a bugler's wake-up call. Some may find it distasteful, but it is not obscene. It is more dismissive than threatening; and compared with certain other outbursts of emotion, it hath no fury. The recent case became controversial only because it happened in a live television broadcast. Truth be told, it was not altogether unprovoked. It began with a thinly veiled suggestion that the interviewee was unethical for remaining so long as a salaried parliamentarian. When he protested against this line of questioning, the reporter threw inflammatory oil on troubled water by asking if he could find a phrase other than unethical. At this point, it was an argument rather than an interview.

The angry, inelegant answer "Go to hell" was quite unusual for a newscast, but it should not have been unexpected, considering the well-known temperament of one of the persons involved. There is an old saying: Circumstances alter cases; and so it is with another old saying: "Go to hell". As children, many of us had pastors and parents who constantly reminded that doing the wrong thing could make us 'go to hell'; and persistent bad behaviour would, certainly, earn us an earthly foretaste of the trip.

Alexander Bustamante, with the woes of the people on his mind, did not mince words when he was busy sacrificing himself for the people. For example, in my book Bustamante: Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes, I recorded an encounter he had with his cousin Norman Manley, who was visiting him in prison at Up Park Camp. N.W. had told him that the governor would release him if he changed the constitution of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. He responded:

"I said these words to Manley: 'If the governor has sent you to tell me, tell him to go to hell' I did not care from whom it came. He said no, the governor had not told him so, but he had reason to believe. 'Well,' I said, 'You go to hell out of this camp.'"

Today, I see Bustamante's successors mumbling apologies because one of their number expressed annoyance in similar fashion; and because the media are involved, the world is being told that press freedom in Jamaica is under threat. My word! Old-time journalists were taught that exaggeration is another form of lying, and though I may stand alone, I do protest against this country being slandered as a place where journalists are at risk in carrying out their work.

Even before Bustamante, Governor Edward Stubbs, speaking at his farewell dinner at the Myrtle Bank Hotel in 1932, advised his audience how members of the legislature should deal with those who "interfere or attempt to interfere with the conduct of affairs by the island's legislature." He said:

"It is the Legislative Council that governs this country and it must not submit to dictation from any other body. If it does, it is betraying its trust. It represents the colony and should continue to represent it, and we should say roughly to anybody who interferes or endeavours to interfere with it, "Go to hell!"

It is interesting to note that a Gleaner editorial later remarked:

"Go to hell" ... was introduced into post-prandial oratory by Sir Edward Stubbs ... . What Sir Edward Stubbs really told his audience - and he was particularly addressing the elected members - was that if people came giving them foolish advice they should tell such people "to go to hell". There was loud applause at this, for "hell" is an expression and a place well understood and appreciated in Jamaica. The term is now used at public meetings. It is the modern change from such time-worn phrases as 'cloven hoof', 'hidden hand', and 'secret meanings'.

USA examples

I truly wonder if we have sincerely become more genteel since those halcyon days.

Harry Truman, one of America's outstanding presidents, is widely recorded as using the phrase shortly before becoming the vice-president. Historian Robert H. Ferrell tells how the man from Missouri handled President Roosevelt's request for him to be his running mate in the 1948 election. When he was told of the offer, Truman who had other plans replied: "Tell him to go to hell; I'm for Jimmy Byrnes." At the convention hotel room, however, a prominent group of Democratic kingmakers sat down to twist Truman's arm. In the middle of their harangue, the president called. F.D.R. always spoke loudly over the phone, and the Democratic national chairman, Robert Hannegan, held the receiver so the others could hear.

"Bob," the president said, "have you got that fellow lined up yet?"

"No, Mr President," Hannegan replied. "He is the contrariest Missouri mule I've ever dealt with."

"Well, you tell him that if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of a war, that's his responsibility."

Hannegan hung up the phone and turned to Truman. "Now what do you say?"

"My God," Truman mumbled. The next day, he was nominated for vice-president.

Even while he was president and effectively representing his country, Truman was known to use language not considered polite in certain circles. So, with governors and presidents and at least one National Hero thinking nothing of the word 'hell', what is this great fuss about one man's way of speaking? Is there nothing more pressing for us to do?

I end by quoting from the tenets of one of the agencies to which our journalists have complained in this matter:

"For democracy to work, it is not enough that media and journalists are free to express views, we also have to inform citizens. We need to communicate the whole picture. We need to analyse and set information in context. We have to make information intelligible and reliable so that people can assess, judge for themselves and make informed decisions."

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