'The Manatt Show'

So many critical problems are besieging Jamaica that I am ashamed to spend my 700-word allotment on arts and entertainment. But with the Academy Awards for excellence in film taking place in Los Angeles this weekend, I think it's appropriate to take a moment to discuss the most entertaining production on Jamaican television since 'Titus'.

The Oscars arouse memories of epic films that depicted human drama on grand scales - Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, Titanic. These blockbusters pale in comparison to our very own $40-million sham of epic proportions: the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips commission of enquiry.

The Manatt enquiry is a compelling dramatisation of a nation being led astray by a powerful ruling elite accountable and answerable to no one. These political barons stand defiant in the face of all attempts at transparency. Their arrogance is palpable, as they scoff at their inquisitors' every effort to uncover truth that will never be found. Even the inquisitors seem at ease in their roles - delivering provocative punchlines and locking horns over great trifles. Bravo! As planned, the masses have been appeased. The show has been a resounding success.

The actors nominated for Oscars this weekend are certainly deserving of recognition. In The King's Speech, Colin Firth, the favourite to win Best Actor, plays the role of King George VI. The historical drama revolves around the king's efforts to overcome a debilitating speech impediment to rally his nation which stands on the brink of war. Firth not only had to portray an individual's struggle to overcome a speech deficiency - a difficult undertaking in itself - he was also charged with capturing the emotional turmoil facing a powerful king battling competing forces of nobility and disability. He fulfilled this challenge masterfully.

The performances in 'The Manatt Show' - while certainly entertaining - are a far cry from that of Colin Firth's. It doesn't take much range of talent for arrogant, insolent old men to play arrogant, insolent old men.

An Oligarchy

While 'The Manatt Show' probably won't achieve its stated purpose, it has certainly fulfilled its producer's tacit intent - to mask the true state of our political system. In a representative democracy, power is entrusted to elected representatives by the people to be wielded in the best interests of the people, while protecting individual liberties in accordance with a constitution of and for the people. But our representatives have seemingly emancipated themselves from the will of the people and are now fuelled solely by their personal ambitions and a sense of entitlement. They are no longer accountable to all the people of Jamaica, only a privileged few. Our political system has become an oligarchy - governed by a small, elite group for the purpose of securing the interests of the wealthy and well connected.

This current state of affairs is reminiscent of another work of art. George Orwell's Animal Farm is a classic allegorical tale of the corruptive nature of power. Farm animals, led by the pigs, overthrow their drunken, tyrannical human farmer. In an effort to create a utopian society free of the corruption that plagued their captors, the animals devise a set of commandments to guide their new society - the most important being that 'all animals are equal'. Over time, the pigs - which emerge as the ruling elite - use their intellectual advantage and monopoly on power to manipulate and, ultimately, oppress their fellow animals. Before long, the pigs become virtually indistinguishable from the humans they replaced. They eventually change the commandments to a single mantra: 'all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'.

I feel compelled to create and extend the Animal Farm Award (Orwell) for excellence in Jamaican political illusion to the producers of 'The Manatt Show', for orchestrating this display of organised buffoonery. I would also like to submit nominations in the category of Best Illusionist in a political drama. The nominees are: the minister of injustice; the minister of notional security; the solicitation general; and the minister of disinformation.

And the Orwell goes to ... .

Din Duggan is an attorney who now works as a consultant with a global legal search firm. Email him at columns@gleanerjm.com or dinduggan@gmail.com, or follow him at facebook.com/dinduggan and twitter.com/YoungDuggan.