Take A Look In The Mirror

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Although the boycott of Jamaica and Jamaican goods is old news by now, I feel compelled to share my views because this is just an example of a wider mentality that I despise.

Boycott Jamaica and feel allright

In a nutshell, the organizers of the boycott and the government of Jamaica are exactly the same. They just happen to be polar opposites. They are exactly the same in the sense that they are both stubborn and have absolutely no respect for the views of the other side. Gay marriage was legal in California until Prop 8 was voted in last year which specifies marriage as between a man and a woman. The boycott organizers are doing the same thing that caused Prop8 in California to pass, which is make demands rather than realise that people are under no obligation to accept you or your views, and so the best bet is to propose compromise suggesting how everyone can live in peace.

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Bruce Golding and Ernie Smith are little different, but in this situation the boycott organizers have nothing to lose, everything to gain, and the Jamaican people are left holding the blade of the knife. It’s all fine and dandy for Brucy to cut his pay by 15% in a symbolic move to ‘trim the fat’, but 15% of $15 million still leaves him a rich man. Jamaica already has plenty of negative attention because of the crime rate, and the masses of lower class undesirable elements who somehow manage to get visas (I hear they cost JM$80k – 100k) and go overseas and act like bigger butus than ever before. Can we really afford to lose any money at all, even a single tourist, over something like this? Come now Brucy, surely you could have feigned interest in reaching a compromise with the boycott organizers.

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I have a particular problem with Golding’s apathy towards this. A Prime Minister should NEVER ignore a threat to the livelihood of the nation however small it is perceived to be. I am under no illusions that Golding would or should back down and champion a reform of the buggery laws, but I do at least expect him to try to reach some form of compromise and end the boycott. Perhaps he could have promised to set up a special task force for investigating “hate crimes” in return for ending the boycott.

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Moving on. The main purpose of this post is not to talk about that particular situation, but the general mentality and disease Jamaicans have called “duppy conqueror”. Popular Jamaican mentality is “I am Jamaican, I am always right, I am the badest thing alive, I am willing to risk getting acid up and stab up in a confrontation over my views because as aforementioned, I am the badest thing alive.” We see this mentality everyday on the streets, every time we open a news paper, and we see it in government mentality (e.g. how to handle the boycott situation) and I have to ask WHY? Why are we unable to recognize that others hold valid viewpoints, and that in the grand scheme of things if we fight, there is a possibility that we will be hurt and so we should seek democratic resolutions of issues? I’ve often heard people say something along the lines of “if you kill me I have so and so friends/family who come for you.” Now what good is that to you when you are dead? In the entire history of Jamaica did that ever stop anyone from killing the person in your shoes? In fact I did a post on this topic already, see: Whiny Bitch Disease for a real life example of my unfortunate conversation with a deluded girl.

Duppy Conqueror

Jamaicans are fighting a losing battle against the times held back by our duppy conqueror disease. Jamaica needs to progress economically and the more is does, the better for all of us. There is no such thing as a truly unified nation, but all attempts at unity must fail unless there is compromise on key issues. In recent times in politics this novel idea has caught on to an extent between the PNP and JLP, but I don’t get the impression that it has been a conscious realization. Be corrupt and skim money off the top and award contracts to your friends if needs be, but at the end of the day please be so kind as to form a compromise as to how you will go about this, and actually complete the projects, laws and reforms proposed so that Jamaica can actually move forward. This is one thing we need to absorb from the USA. Sure there is corruption and conflict between each party, but they realise that the better the USA does the more money and power they will hold. Jamaican politicians are blinded by duppy conqueror disease. It forms a cataract over their eyes causes them to focus too much on the conflict for domination over the next party, neglecting the betterment of Jamaica which they don’t seem to realise would also increase their holdings. So once again I ask what will it take for Jamaicans to wake up? The diaspora in those lovely first world countries they hate to leave except to spend x-mas in Jamaica are a big part of the problem. They have the luxury of being all talk with no risk, because when Jamaica falls they will burn the Jamaican passport and only travel on the US/Canadian/UK one. It’s up to us who actually live here and have a vested interest to do something.

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Tags: boycott jamaica, disease, duppy conqueror. politicians, glbt, Jamaica, JLP, PNP, prop 8