MR. Ravi Dev has recently anointed Mr. Freddie Kissoon with the accolade of “intellectual gadfly” but perhaps he has in the Guyanese tradition, been too precipitate in applying the term since there are many individuals who regard themselves and are regarded by others as “intellectuals” when they are not conspicuous or display intellectual qualities. It is one thing to be well-read but quite another to be a deep-thinker and thoughtful writer. University graduates or lecturers are not per se intellectuals. To be able to read a book on politics and come upon, for example, the phrase “elected dictatorship” and the conditions under which it may emerge does not guarantee that it will be applied accurately to any given situation. In fact, as Francis Bacon noted it is in the nature of schoolboys to go around displaying their acquaintance of bookish topics. These days because of the proliferation of socio-political theories anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of sociology/politics can feel free to apply these theories to Guyana as seen in the newspapers where topics like “marginalization” and “ethnicity” are discussed ad nauseam. In fact it is quite amusing to have even Freudian themes aired in our press. Any conceptual analysis of the term ‘intellectual’ would have to include the notion of objectivity and a striving to arrive at the truth of whatever is being investigated. In some cases the truth may be difficult to ascertain but truthfulness is still required – a sine qua non an intellectual can never be a single-issue fanatic, a rapid dog constantly tearing away on the same bone without regard for elegant language, coherence, good sense and yes – good manners towards one’s opponents.

So Mr. Dev, I think “intellectual gadfly” is inappropriate as applied to F. Kissoon gadfly’, maybe, inter alia.
ALGOO PERSAUD