Notice the expression the monkey has is very similar to the expression commonly found on the faces of jamaican "leaders" - totally serious as if saying something important, but in reality is just wondering where the next banana will come from.
I am living in a nation of idiots. I’m sure there are many other places in the world I would feel surrounded by stupidity, but I live in Jamaica and so I can only speak about Jamaica in depth. Jamaicans want to act like first world people but don’t want to think like first world people. We are a nation of monkeys and parrots. We imitate rather than innovate. The issue which set off this rant is the age of consent. I came across this article from the Gleaner. It’s an old article from 2007, but that’s OK. The gist of it was that some persons in government want the age of consent raised to 18, and the article is hilighting the views of some students who also support the measure. I found the article to be not-so-eloquently worded and overwhelmingly biased horse shit. But why am I surprised, the writers at the Gleaner never produce balanced articles which show both sides of an issue. They are unwaveringly conservative and will always represent that view point and no other, and when it comes to politics … well that is best left alone for now.
.
Anyway, these young adults and parliamentarians claim that at 16 children are not mentally capable of handling it. Now I can agree that many persons at 16 and even at 18 and 20 are rather immature. So like monkeys we run to pass laws without considering the effect of the laws, the necessity of the laws and the alternatives. A law does not prevent, it only punishes. If the average Jamaican 16 year old is not making the right decisions when it comes to sex, then we need to educate them about it. According to this, the average 16 year old has the cognitive mental ability to handle it, but only the average 26-30 year old has emotional maturity. I hope we aren’t proposing raising it to 26! Clearly we need to work with the cognitive ability, and hope they use what they know to make the right choices until emotional maturity kicks in. Therefore the problem is not their age, but lack of education. What we cannot do is criminalize their explorations because no matter how much we push abstinence only campaigns, they do not work. At all. In any country. We need to realise that when people hit puberty they have urges which we cannot bottle up and so we need to teach them how to handle various situations they may find themselves in. It was precisely this reasoning that led Peru to lower their age of consent from 16 to 14. The rational was that teens were getting pregnant but afraid to come to the clinics because they did not want their partners to be arrested for statutory rape. That my dear readers, is real innovation. A response and an attempt to solve the problem rather than cover it up. That is a first world mentality, and the government of Peru recognises it and called it “the progress and development of a modern society.” I wholeheartedly agree. [Also note the article on Peru demonstrates both sides of the equation.]
.
Of course there is the issue of exploitation of minors, which is a very real concern. But that can be addressed even with a low age of consent. In the Philippines, the age of consent is 12, but it is illegal to have sex with anyone under 18 who is paid for it in cash or kind or is coerced. While I think 12 is a bit young, the point of the law is that it recognises that there are instances which are exploitation and instances which are not. That too is innovation rather than imitation.
.
The issue with age of consent is just one example in a wider pattern of monkey business Jamaicans love to keep up. When I was leaving high school I heard the words ‘zero tolerance’ being thrown around. I don’t remember how it was being applied, but if it’s being applied as it is in the states then that too is an example of imitation rather than innovation. Zero tolerance policies expel problem students rather than reform problem students. In the short term you may have kept the peace at school, but you have also failed in one of your prime directives as an educator. You have made no difference in the lives of those children, and you have taught them nothing. In the long run, the problem with such students go unchecked and worsen until you have a psychopath on your hands.
.
Does anyone ever bother to do research before implementing a program? Monkeys are running Jamaica and if you are offended by that statement you’re probably a monkey too.
3 Comments
21 April 2009 at 10:05 am
A rather interesting and extremely critical indictment of Jamaica and Jamaicans re the proclivity, predisposition and obsession with imitation, juxtaposed with the paucity and dearth of innovation, originality and by extension research within the general Jamaican society.
One is of the perspective that you may be on to something that/ which runs extremely deep within the general society.Currently, within Jamaican society, there are several crises manifesting themselves simultaneously. Of these crises, the two most fundamental crises are as follows: A SEVERE AND MONUMENTAL CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP at all levels and spheres of the society, and accompanying this crisis of leadership, is the PROFOUND CRISIS OF THE JAMAICAN INTELLIGENTSIA and INTELLECTUALISM with respect to the exercise and application of local intellect, in applying rational thought and structure to the sundry problems afflicting our beleagured society.
Consequently, many of the political, social, economic, cultural, psychological, issues, questions and problems that/which challenges and confronts us as a people, society, and nation-state are not being addressed appropriately with respect to creativity, innovation, local knowledge and research, specfic to the Jamaican cultural and historical context. But, instead, answers and the search for possible solutions are addressed via the IMITATION, incorporation, absorption, and transference of values, systems, structures, constructs, paradigms, techniques and modalities from metropolitan societies, which in many instances confounds and exacerbates many of our extant problems in various spheres.
Indeed, it is definitely full time, that we transcend the monkey and parrot business of imitation —- aping and parroting—- and in so doing, promote local innovation, creativity, and research applicable to our context in resolving the sundry problems confronting and challenging us on our path, trajectory or quest for development and the elusive first world status.
With respect to your caption below the image of the monkey, one finds this hilarious, and undoubtedly, quite edifying.Nuff respect!!
21 April 2009 at 9:42 pm
Thanks for the positive comment Esteban! I wish there was some followup to be done regarding how to realistically change this, but I’m still pondering that.
16 May 2009 at 6:18 pm
Excellent points being made here I thoroughly appreciate your view on these matters. Jamaica really does need some creative thinkers with positive aims.