THE EDITOR, Sir:
FROM UP here it seems that Mr. Wilmot Perkins has cast a spell over the Jamaican intelligentsia and the 'man in the street.' Since the end of the election campaign it appears that the local papers have been publishing, almost daily, Motty letters from many of his fanatics and detractors. As someone who does not have a vested in Perkins Inc., please allow me to be somewhat of a contrarion.
If I take at face value the praise by his fanatics (R. Johnson of Portmore and Martin Henry of Montego Bay), then Motty must be considered a Jamaican/ worldwide intellectual whereas his detractors are just being elitists.
In either case it seems to me that Perkins Inc., must be satisfying its clients. Mr. Perkins, like most talk programme jockeys, knows how to play to/on the emotions of listeners. His fanatics want to hear themselves on radio and to boost rating he allows them to make any wacky comment they think of. He knows they are not really thinkers -- just blowing gas.
His detractors, they probably record their comments to play them back later because they think of themselves as blowing a more rarefied gas. The bottom line for Mr. Perkins, even though he might be boring, is that clients -- including detractors-- keep coming back so he must be on to something good and he simply goes laughing to the bank with a daily deposit.
In last Sunday's paper a detractor, from Kingston 5, who did not have the courage to use his/her real name, suggested that Perkins should resign. Is that sour grapes, just plain Jamaican bad-mindedness or what?
Why do these people take talk-radio programmes so seriously? Come on, they are just cheap comedy programmes.
I am, etc.,
LESLIE REID
Philadelphia
Via Go-Jamaica
