Wylie fears for his life? What nonsense

THE EDITOR: Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has been on the hustings making much of what he perceives as the intrigue and cheating engineered by Cambridge Analytica (CA).

He even went as far as telling the public that Christopher Wylie – a whistleblower who gained notoriety from this affair – “fears for his life” and that this is the reason he does not wish to travel to this country as a “witness.” What a load of bullocks!

Al-Rawi has even been advertising for the Netflix documentary The Great Hack. As far as I am concerned that film and what it attempts to suggest regarding the “power” that resides in the hands of those who mine people’s data and the role that CA played in influencing the US presidential election of 2016, the outcome of the Brexit referendum in Britain, and our 2010 general election are ridiculous and laughable.

Now in its mention of TT, the film makes the preposterous assertion that the “Do So” campaign was a creature of CA and that it was designed to cause apathy among young black voters. What utter rubbish! CA seems to want to take credit for something that is not of its doing.

The symbolism of the hands crossed in front of the chest arose spontaneously from an older man whose gesture was meant to convey his mistrust of the PNM and the backwardness of its governance.

It signalled that the PNM was unwelcomed wherever its candidates were shown that sign. It is as good today as it was in 2010. It had absolutely nothing to do with influencing young black voters not to vote. That is the most ridiculous assertion ever.

I ask, how was it okay for CA’s Brittany Kaiser to be associated with the Obama campaign and a betrayal for her to be associated with the Trump campaign? What makes the “yes” to Brexit something so out of the ordinary when to me and so many others it seems refreshingly natural to want to divorce oneself from that farcical and undemocratic union?

People like Al-Rawi are grasping at straws as they strive to create an aura of conspiracy around CA which, like every other PR firm and campaign management entity on the planet, is doing what they all have been doing for decades – manipulating through subtle and overt propaganda the way people vote.

Prime Minister Dr Rowley should heed the advice he has given to the nation about “scamps and liars.”

STEVE SMITH

via e-mail