The July 25 Op-Ed by Progressive Labour Party MP Jamahl Simmons was just one of many that are designed to convince Bermudians that more and more people are regretting the outcome of the 2012 General Election.

Like toothpaste commercials from years before that proclaimed that nine out of ten dentists use Crest, the PLP tactic is to proclaim that more Bermudians are choosing PLP.

These tales from the canvassing trail are carefully selected to present a unanimous grassroots opinion in support of the PLP. This type of propaganda is so shamelessly manipulative that it really deserves to be measured against what the PLP has said elsewhere, or at a different time.

For example, last week Simmons wrote:

“When job opportunities are determined more by who you know than by what you know, that extends the divide.”

Ironically, in 2011 PLP MP Marc Bean wrote the following:

“Today, it is idle to complain when you can compete. Do not complain of high food prices in certain grocery stores, unfair policies of certain banking institutions, or the fact that you weren’t invited to the private club, when it’s in your power to become competitive.”

Simmons, who has a long track record of uttering some of the most divisive political statements, seemingly wanted to go full “Kumbaya” for a moment: “This growing sense that Bermuda is not working for Bermudians has worsened the divisions that separate us and hindered our ability to come together to build a fairer, more inclusive Bermuda.”

Oh really? Bean wrote something extremely different back in 2011:

“Let me make this point abundantly clear. White Bermuda does not owe black Bermuda anything. They are not obligated to even offer an apology for the past, let alone any other form of material or non-material reparations. What will be required at the least is positive encouragement, and at the most, mutual assistance.

“What is crucial going forward is the positive attitude that if you cannot help us, do not hurt us.”

So what does all of this tell us? What are the lessons to be gained? Three come to mind:

1, A party’s narrative can change entirely when you move from government to opposition — and vice versa

2, Some politicians will feed the public false and misleading information in an effort to exploit our pain, anger, fears and resentments

3, Voters need to judge what our politicians say and do objectively so that they can better appreciate what’s really in their best interest

To expand on No 3, consider the following social experiment. When I first learnt of Bean’s 2011 remarks, I published them online as if they were my own. For the avoidance of any doubt, I strongly disagree with the majority of his comments. The objective here was to see how readers would react once they learnt who the real author was.

While most posters respectfully disagreed with the remarks, others were not so polite.

One of our self-appointed racial activists claimed that I am a sick, ignorant, demon-obsessed, demon-oppressed, surrogate of white power whose mind has been defecated upon by whites. And as such, she has marked me as an accomplice, accessory, aide and abettor to the racist robbers, rapists and killers of black people. Whew.

Of greater importance, once I revealed that the comments were actually Bean’s, two posters who had previously expressed disagreement with the remarks attempted to defend them — without success.

Additionally, the disparaging remarks made by the self-appointed racial activist were deleted.

The moral of the story is that when voters fail objectively to weigh the PLP’s canvassing confessions up against the facts, we make it extremely easy for Simmons to claim that “the PLP understands the challenges that Bermudians are facing” and that the PLP will aggressively push its “vision of a fairer, more inclusive Bermuda that works for Bermudians”.

Let’s not forget that the PLP has already proven that it takes far more than words to stabilise an economy and to harmonise a society. By weighing Simmons’s vacuous statements up against the PLP’s track record and résumé, we can fully appreciate how far it falls short of the skill, integrity and character that are required truly to build a fair and inclusive Bermuda that works for Bermudians.

Bryant Trew can be reached at bryanttrew@mac.com