My good and every-helpful long-time friend (since 1995 at least) Eddie Fernandes has many positive things to be said about him.
But one aspect I disagree strongly with is his tendency to get ultra-defensive whenever expats are criticised... or get worked up when our dubious political class here threatens the questionably-bought properties of British expats here :-) We can agree to disagree, of course. But what is this about concentrating on the message, and not the "messenger"? Expats or even resident-Goans for that matter are not "messengers" here... They are key players in this you-versus-us drama. When a resident Goan criticises an expat (or vice versa), it just means that he disagrees with the latter's approach. The attempt to personalise the debate by raking up issues about funding of NGOs run by relatives, and what we have "done for Goa" in individual cases, are red-herrings and best overlooked while taking the debate forward. But how does this amount to not concentrating "on the message, instead of the messenger"? Wikipedia educates me thus: QUOTE "Shooting the messenger" is a metaphoric phrase used to describe the act of lashing out at the (blameless) bearer of bad news. In ancient times, messages were delivered in person by a human envoy. Sometimes, as in war, for example, the messenger was sent from the enemy camp. An easily-provoked combatant receiving such an overture could more easily vent anger (or otherwise retaliate) on the deliverer of the unpopular message than on its author, thus literally killing the messenger.[citation needed] In modern usage, the expression still refers to any kind of punishment meted out to the person bringing bad news, but has taken on an ironic dimension as well. "Attacking the messenger" is a subdivision of the ad hominem logical fallacy. UNQUOTE In any case, I don't think anyone is blaming the entire class of NRGs! We were only critical of those NRGs who want to have their cake and eat it, sit in the affluent world and lecture what Goa should be like... Nobody was critical of Eddie, who, I personally believe, adds excellent value to understanding Goa and her diaspora via his http://goanvoice.org.uk venture -- hint: if you haven't been there yet, please visit it! In addition, he has been an admin volunteer of Goanet, the source of much news about Goa and her people, and the collector of some 2000+ (this is a very old figure!) books on Goa. FN 2010/1/14 Eddie Fernandes <[email protected]>: > I cannot be alone in finding it tiresome to read through the Samir vs. Rajan > slanging match which has metamorphosed into a NRG vs. RG cursing battle! > The proponents in the debates should know better! > Samir and Rajan as well as many NRGs and RGs have made useful contributions > to this forum so let us concentrate on the message, instead of the > messenger, please! > Eddie Fernandes -- Frederick Noronha Columnist :: journalism :: editing :: alt.publishing :: photography :: blogging
