With countless conspiracy theories, misinformation and manipulation of public opinion online and in the media, the term “gaslighting” has burned into our lexicon. “Its effect is to gradually undermine the victim’s confidence in [their] ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from appearance, thereby rendering [them] pathologically dependent on the gaslighter…”
The term comes from “Gas Light,” a 1938 play, later made into two movies, that apparently never used it as a verb. It’s about a man dimming gas lights in his Victorian house by repeatedly diverting fuel to light the attic while hoping to find, and steal, his wife’s deceased aunt’s missing jewels. When his wife questioned noises and dimmed lights during his absences, he assured her she imagined them, and gradually eroded her confidence in her judgement and sanity.1
“Gaslighting” aspects also include: “… marshaling superficial evidence… denying that one has said or done something [they obviously did]… dismissing the victim’s contrary perceptions …questioning the knowledge and impugning the motives of persons who contradict…the gaslighter; [and] gradually isolating the victim from independent sources of information…” 1
Does “Blue Belt” Mean “Gas Light” in Anguilla?
Having the Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Right Honourable Lord Zac Goldsmith, come to Anguilla to induct us into the Blue Belt Programme sounded so official. He asserted that we are, “taking fish and life out of the ocean just as fast as we put rubbish into it.” 2 Here?
Sounds like superficial evidence about a few artisan fishers forbidden to catch even one fish for the better part of the last three years – and now, can barely afford a tsunami of fuel taxes, plus GST, to motor to Little Scrub.
Blue Belt membership was also heralded as affirming, “…our commitment to improve the governance of our marine and coastal ecosystems to achieve equal economic opportunities for all and restore and conserve our biodiversity.”2
Sounds fishy to anyone trying to buy enough gas to catch enough fish to pay for it – and feed their family. Who needs “governance”? Have any chefs demanded inspections of fish they wouldn’t buy unless ecologically sound, anyway? Or “governance” wasting countless fishing days waiting to clear and collect “exempt” gear? Or, “governance” to pay billowing fuel taxes, licenses and fees without even a search team on call, if needed? Or paying hundreds of millions of taxes for years since Irma – for 2 weeks’ work to fix the wharf?
Methane Gas and Rubbish? Might Have a Point There…
Could “governance” also mean “gaslighting”? Downwind denizens near Corito have suffered years of suffocating odours and smothering blankets of flies. Induction into the Blue Belt apparently coincided with months of recent pleas to address air quality issues from methane gas, and unspeakable, definitely unbreathable, fumes. Thus, “rubbish” seems to be in the landfill and air West of Corito – and seeping into the ocean, rather than “put in” it, as Lord Goldsmith so delicately described.
As early as 2004, “…the airport contractor had excavated down to the water table…[posing] serious risk to pollution of groundwater and, potentially, to the marine environment, from leachate from previous and present day waste disposal practices.” They estimated 6 months’ viability before an “engineered” landfill was needed to avert environmental disaster in our groundwater and surrounding marine ecosystems.3 That was 19 years ago, or say, 38 of those six-month estimates!
And, every day, some 30-35 tons of waste has been added to that compromised site ever since. It was estimated in 2014 that a “stack 25 meters from the ground” would be needed at a proposed waste processing plant to divert emissions from residential areas to the West.4 So. Is an 80-foot wall needed to do that today, absent a solution to this ongoing blight?
~150 “Taking Fish Out” While 15,000 Are “Putting Rubbish In”!
The UN has estimated, “as much as eighty percent of all global marine pollution originates from land-based sources, threatening marine life… especially coastal waters …[these] include pesticides, chemical waste, cleaning agents, petroleum products, mining waste, garbage and sewage.”5
Beyond methane gas at Corito, Blue Belt gaslighting about protecting Anguillian fishing waters burns bluer than propane. Scarcely 150 “seasonal” fishermen are “taking fish”6 while 15,000 people toss tens of tons of “rubbish” and use coastal septic systems every day of the year!
And, we’re more dependent on clear waters than the fish on tourists’ plates. Yet. The newest Blue Belt member boasts a waste management debacle – and recycles nothing. Its coastal resorts have manicured (and fertilized) gardens – and pesticide treatment in every room! Tens of thousands of guests and residents use septic systems of unknown integrity every day – while putting plastics, batteries, electronics, detergents, biologicals, and every other manner of waste in a cratered landfill year-round! Not to mention sediment heaped into the sea from heavy rains and beachfront construction.
Gaslighting – and GST!
Arguably, the most masterful departure from reality has been convincing so many people that the government “needs” more and more money, unable to distinguish truth from falsehood, slowly paying 400% higher taxes burned into our prices for everything – before GST.
That gaslighting is almost matched by paltry road and building projects used to hide bonfires of tax dollars actually spent on salaries, pensions, health insurance, vacations, cars, operations, consultants, and raises for hundreds, who still need second jobs due to a mismanaged, unsustainable government.
And, we had our “contrary perceptions” dismissed and knowledge questioned at “public consultations” before undemocratic passage of GST. Lord Goldsmith lording the Blue Belt over artisan fishers also infers “dependency” on the perpetrator, or the UK, as its proxy.
Indeed. Looks like we have every element for gaslighting – and every onshore source of ocean devastation – while chasing floundering fishers off the very reefs from which they can’t catch enough to pay for the fuel and taxes to fish them. And… They lit the final fuse by saying they “needed” $22 Million more every year from GST – and then burned everyone by taking over $60 Million more than the year before, plus nearly $50 Million more from real estate tax!
To ensure equal economic opportunities and restore and conserve our biodiversity, reasoned leaders must renounce and repeal GST, blaze a new trail to a sustainable government, and address burning onshore issues affecting our air – and waters, so fishers can afford to fish them and the rest of us can afford to buy their fish.
Repeal GST. Now.
1https://www.britannica.com/topic/gaslighting; 2 “Anguilla Joins ‘Blue Belt’ Programme for sustainable Maritime Benefits,” The Anguillian (Vol. 25, No. 10; 10th Feb 2023), pp. 1, 6.; 3 “Solid Waste Management in Anguilla, Short Term Technical Assistance – November 2004” (M. Cowing Assessment of the Landfill Site, 8-12 Nov 2004); 4 Jessamy, V. “Environmental Impact Statement GGE 4MW Waste to Energy Plant for Anguilla” (GGE/EIA/2013-12-08); 5 https://www.noaa.gov/gc-international-section/land-based-sources-of-marine-pollution; 6http://www.gov.ai/documents/fisheries/2015%20fisheries%20development%20plan.pdf
