http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20050828/focus/focus4.html
Published: Sunday | August 28, 2005

- RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Myrtle Wilson (centre), mother of Marvin Jacobs, is comforted by friends as she grieves the death of her son in a triple murder in Newton Square, east Kingston on Wednesday, August 17.

THIS COUNTRY'S murder rate has nearly doubled over the past two years and may now be the highest in the world. By right, people here should be frightened and angry, afraid to go out at night and mounting mass demonstrations during the day demanding that the Government stop the slaughter.

Well at least that's what you would expect in a normal country. But this is Jamaica. Instead of cowering at home after dark, people are instead apparently going out in unprecedented droves. Those in the know - since I'm a bit past it myself - tell me nightlife in all areas of Kingston has never been more vibrant, with more street dances and parties and nightclubs than ever. It makes no sense, but then not much in this country does.

As for the angry demonstrations, well the PSOJ initiative a few months back drew a few hundred people and the much publicised Emancipation Day women's march even less. When the PSOJ called for action, I heard people dismissively saying 'Cho, nobody a go support dem uptown tappa narris deh'. But then the 'Million Woman March' was pooh poohed because 'Everybody know only big people can get support for anything'.

APATHY

Frankly, I've pretty much lost sympathy for this country and most of the people in it. Since coming back from Canada 15 years ago, I've heard nothing but endless moaning and groaning. But I am now firmly convinced that no one here really wants anything to change. Of course everyone wants more money and less crime. But very few if any are willing to make the lifestyle changes needed to bring about these things.

For instance, almost every young man on the street you meet begs you to 'let off a smalls', but trying to get any of them to do meaningful work is almost impossible. There is a serious shortage of skilled tradesmen in this country. A friend I know is actually trying to import car body workmen from Cuba since he can't get any Jamaicans to work at a salary he can afford. While just this week a lady friend was lamenting to me how her lawn and garden were overrun with weeds because she couldn't get anyone to work on them. Now there are, no doubt, many unfortunates out there in genuine need of assistance ­ I always try to give a little something to any handicapped person I encounter. And yes, it's unfair to tar all our young men with the same brush, because there are some diligent ones. Unfortunately, they seem to be in increasingly short supply.

The 'Million Woman March' was especially disappointing to me. I am a great admirer of Jamaican women in every way. There are no stronger or more independent or more beautiful females on the planet. If ever this country is going to reach its full potential, it's the women who will have to lead the way.

And what with all the stories you hear about women being abused in so many ways in this country, I expected a massive turnout. Here I thought was where a true message would be sent not only to the Government but to all powers that be that 'We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore'. Well not even 200 sisters showed up. Naturally there were all kinds of excuses for the poor turnout. The best one I heard was 'They call it on the wrong day man. Everyone was gone to the beach.' But in essence, the message that march - or lack of it - sent to the Government was 'We cool wid tings man'.

BLAME THE WOMEN

One thing is for sure, the more I hear and see, the less sympathy I have for women here. Without exception, every Jamaican man I know is convinced that Jamaican women - however they talk and whatever they say - simply don't like faithful, dutiful males who treat woman like gentlemen are supposed to. In the famous words of Tony 'Daddy O' Robinson, "Show me a man who wash, cook and clean and I'll show you a man getting bun". Almost every time I talk with a man the conversation drifts towards the inexplicable behaviour of Jamaican women, or more specifically "Bwoy, why dem love dawg so?"

IMHO, as they say on the Internet, Jamaican men are pretty much the same as men everywhere, really motivated by only one thing and wanting as much and as often as they can get. As DNA discoverer James Watson once put it, "In my experience there are two types of men, those who think about sex 99 per cent of the time and those who think about sex 90 per cent of the time. I'm one of the ninety percenters."

That Jamaican men behave so differently from men in most other places is mainly because most of our women not only accept mongrelised behaviour but in a sense demand it. To be sure there are many, maybe even most, Jamaican men who fully deserve the reputation of being chronically unfaithful and unfeeling towards women. (A Chinese man who had been here a couple years once told me in heavily accented English that "Yes man, I'm a real Jamaican now. I have plenty woman!") But I'm beginning to believe that a lot of men who might not otherwise be inclined that way by nature start having 'nuff gal' because that is what women want and expect. A very experienced friend assures me that "Boss, is one thing I know bout woman and is that dem no want no man who no have no woman". So the male choice here is basically 'none or nuff'.

Then there is the inexplicable but quite common phenomenon of men who can't even support one child having 10 or more baby mothers. I've always wondered what goes through a woman's brain when she decides to get pregnant for a man like this. Does she expect him to be miraculously transformed after his sperm goes inside her? For these men's situations are rarely secrets and it's not like the women are being raped to get pregnant. This much is certain, the men are not going to change until the women do.

TURNING A BLIND EYE

And the same pretty much goes for the politicians and the populace. Nowadays, whenever I hear the phrase 'The politicians mash up the country', I either try to change the topic or go my separate way. Not only am I tired of hearing it, but in a democratic society like ours, the only way politicians can mash up the country is if the electorate let them. After all, if our politicians can lie and steal without compunction and still get voted back into power, well why shouldn't they?

Every once in a while the media break some big scandal story and there is a big nine day 'ray ray ray'. But then public attention wanders to something new - like the World Athletic Championships for example - and it's all forgotten. We've seen it so often over the past 16 years - the furniture scandal, the Shell Waiver, NetServ, Operation Pride and now the National Solid Waste Management Authority. Invariably a few wrists are tapped and there might be a token resignation, but a few months later it's business as usual. And people who tell the media to "Shut your damn mouth!" after wasting billions of taxpayers' money can just walk away with "I've closed that chapter of my life and moved on".

And please spare me the nonsense about the people being too depressed and downtrodden to care anymore. During the last election, both the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party drew exultant hundred thousand plus strong crowds at Half-Way Tree. If Jamaicans really wanted to make a statement, there is nothing stopping them.

As for the stupid 'the people are powerless to change the system' argument, well when the new and different National Democratic Movement came along the populace wouldn't even give them a token 10 per cent protest vote. No, the only logical conclusion a Martian examining the Jamaican political system could make is that the people are pretty much content with the one they have. After all, no country on earth has more exuberant and exciting mass rallies.

And that's the real problem with Jamaica. On the face of it, this country has troubles galore - soaring crime, light cuts, water lock-offs, a huge national debt. So why the hell does the average man on the street laugh so much and seem so damn happy?