The November 27 cartoon by Las May made reference to Golding's 'termites comment', this time implying that Prime Minister (PM) Golding and fellow parliamentarians have had their brains infested with termites based on the PM's correlation between solving crime and the death penalty.

Earlier in the month, I watched a CVM TV programme, hosted by Garfield Burford, on which Colin Virgo, JLP youth leader, called a politician "chief termite" and referred to Dr Omar Davies, former minister of finance, as "money termite". Apparently, he feels confident to refer to human beings as termites because of comments his leader, the Honourable Bruce Golding, has made. Golding's comment is gaining traction.

Golding's comment that claimed that the brains of the PNP were termite-infested was most unbecoming and most unfortunate. He needs to realise that not all his supporters would understand the nuance between calling PNP leaders termites and that their brains were termite- infested.

Disrespectful

To call someone a termite is disrespectful. Every human being is made in the image of God and no one should try to discredit what God has made. It is sad that after our struggles against slavery, when persons of African origin were seen as non-humans and commodities, fellow African descendants should want to objectify and stigmatise others. God appearing as flesh in Jesus means that all human lives have dignity and worth.

Stigmatisation

Therefore, we should avoid stigmatising someone as a criminal because he or she was convicted of a crime but, instead, say that such person is one who has committed a crime. Let nothing a person says or does make us deny that human being his or her personhood.

One feature of the Obama campaign for presidency of the United States of America that is highly admirable is that Obama never denigrated his opponent, John McCain, but always commended him for his service as a prisoner of war.

Perhaps because of his training as a lawyer he was respectful to those with whom he disagreed. Lawyers have the practice of calling their opponents their 'learned friend' just before tearing into their arguments.

I still demand that Golding must apologise for making persons perceive principals as extortionists. One of the comments of Golding in Parliament on July 22 about principals to "find some other way of extorting" was inappropriate. There was even a father of two who agreed with the prime minister. He said in a letter to the editor that he had to pay parent-teacher association (PTA) fee in a public-funded primary school and believed that it was an example of extortion (September 26).

PTA's decision

If the parents' association agreed to charge each parent a sum of money, that is not extortion. That was a decision of the PTA, arrived at by consensus, which must be respected. If I do not pay guild fees at the University of the West Indies, my child will be de-registered from that institution. That is not extortion. Those are agreed fees.

The prime minister could have called principals together, fête them at Jamaica House and talk to them about his vision for education and remind them that no child should be denied entry into a school, based on economic need. Instead, he smeared principals in Parliament.

'Extort' allegation

Prime Minister Golding has withdrawn the allegation of misbehaviour against Public Service Commission members Daisy Coke, Michael Fennel, Edwin Jones and Paulette Findlay in an out-of-court settlement. It is equally necessary for the PM to withdraw the 'extort' allegation against principals.

If these comments go unchallenged, then discourse in this island will become coarser and raise the potential for the society to become more violent.

Rev Devon Dick is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: the Church in Nation Building'. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.