Dear Editor,
It is argued that analogy is the “core of cognition” (Hofstadter in Gentner et al. 2001.) It is with that in mind I write to express my concern about the reasoning evidenced in Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman’s “When someone, standing with a piece of wood in hand, shouts out that the mangoes growing in your back yard are not yours, you don’t stand around waiting to see what happens next, or for a lash, you start preparing to pick those mangoes as quickly as possible” in yesterday’s SN in the letter entitled `Primary motivation for early first oil was not general elections but threat from Venezuela’.
This was proffered in defence of claims of malfeasance, corruption and incompetence in the APNU+AFC administration’s rushing to first oil production in 2020.
An analysis of this analogy reveals much to explain the follies of the Granger administration. The rational response to a threat claiming your mangoes is to establish that the mango tree is indeed in your yard, to call on law enforcement to protect you from the threat of a lash from said wood and seek all legal means to protect your fruit. To hurriedly prepare for harvest of mangoes in your own backyard is irrational; it is indicative of an unsure mind; of an unwillingness to work within a legal framework to solve problems.
The plethora of poor decisions that have followed from this irrational response to a perceived threat has cost our nation billions in future revenues. To further offer haste to establish a claim as a valid excuse for gross incompetence in handling of vital negotiations is illogical and expedient. The APNU+AFC have given away the majority of fruits of the nation in return for nebulous gains in time.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Singh
