Fake goods, fake news and fake competence
May 07, 2017 , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....and-fake-competence/
This is not intended to be a commentary about any matter before any Court. It is an essay about the proliferation, of ‘knock-off’ goods, fake news and fake skills.
There are lots of so-called fake goods in the country. It is now an international marketing ploy for companies to brand products with names close as possible to some of the better known name brand items, so as to benefit from the popularity of those name brands.
Guyana has a popular curry powder named Sari. Many years ago, somebody in another country began packing a similar product which they called Saree. The consumer can confuse one for the other. The second product was seen as trying to benefit from the success of the former.
There are similar cases in Guyana. There are lots of knock-offs being produced which bear a similar name to brand name products. Some of them carry the same design. These are not matters for food and drugs legislation, which is concerned with food safety. These are copyright issues which have to be dealt with under copyright laws.
Importers have in the past secured themselves against fake goods by approaching the courts to prevent the importation of items which are in violation of even our archaic laws.
Right now the problem is not just the products being produced with similar brand names. It is about products being produced with identical brand names and bearing the original marks of original copyright products, but which are fake. You can get a ‘knock–off’ of almost any product in Guyana. Again, this is a copyright issue, not a food safety issue.
We also have fake news in Guyana. The membership of the Guyana Press Association recently expressed some concern about this especially with the advent of social media.
The labeling of false information as fake news is not a new phenomenon to Guyana. We were considered leaders in producing fake news, especially during the period 1997 to 2006 when the rabble rousers such as the late Clem David and Roger Moore, would peddle fancy stories in order to foment trouble.
We still have fake news being peddled by established media outfits. We still have editorializing of news stories. We still have slanted news. Fake news is nothing new to Guyana. We can be said to be one of the pioneers of that despicable art form.
The Guyana Press Association must therefore do some house cleaning when it comes to fake news, since fake news has acted as a tonic for many media houses and media personnel, and has been associated with the partisan, biased and one-sided reporting.
Fake news is false news. It refers to the deliberate massaging of the news to suits certain ends, either to spread falsehoods or to peddle propaganda. Fake news is not pretentious.
The pretentiousness is to be found in fake competencies. The new government has found itself in a quagmire of fake competencies. There are some persons whom the new government has appointed who are ‘bluffs’. They are walking around with an air of authority and importance, but behind that façade they lack the skills to be effective.
Guyanese have a word which they use to describe such pretense. We like to call them ‘sailors’. They are ‘sailing’ on the job. They really do not have the ability to do the jobs to which they are assigned, and so they become bossy and authoritative. It is the wall which they erect to cover over their incompetence.
The government has appointed persons to positions whose performance have left much to be desired. Those persons are at sea. They are clueless about their jobs. They have fancy degrees, fancy job titles, lavish salaries and benefits, but their output is poor and the quality of that output leaves much to be desired.
Guyanese have survived for decades with fake goods and fake news. But if the sailors within government offices are not replaced, the ship of state will hit an iceberg or run aground.