I often wonder why so many Jamaicans are seemingly so apathetic. How can we be so unperturbed as a people?
As cock tek off him drawze a mawnin time I am outraged about a million and one things. Some of my colleagues are too but it is apparent that the injustice, hopelessness, poverty, discrimination and crime and violence which so often barricade our contentment do not nudge any sort of botheration among a large number of Jamaicans. Not even among those among us who are so often disenfranchised and/or oppressed. Why?
The commentary in traditional and on new media platforms on the recent (old) school dress code fracas was very instructive. I didn’t realize that we have conditioned ourselves to follow "rules" blindly/foolishly. Nothing irks me more than to hear people screaming, "Rules are rules." Hell no! If that were the case all of us would be guilty of breaking too many rules!
The problem is entrenched. Are you telling me that people should not use their agency to facilitate societal changes? The kind of things we teach our children. Students are punished for challenging rules. Employees are sanctioned (and often times dismissed). Children are severely punished at home for so daringly questioning their parents. And I could go on and on.
Why do we castigate people for "breaking" (those written and unwritten) rules? Can you imagine what would have happened if Rosa Parks did not sit on that bus that day? Would slavery have been abolished if our ancestors did not revolt and orchestrate uprisings to be free? If Nelson Mandela and other black South Africans followed the rules of apartheid? What would have happened if no one challenged Hitler? And, what about women heads of state followed the rules of patriarchy? And let us not begin to talk about certain cultural “rules” such as breast pressing, honour crimes and female genital mutilation (FGM). Or if we followed the law we would never curse a little bumboclaat-pussy-rassclaat because it is "indecent".
Let me be clear, that I do think rules are important. I concede that many of them should be followed and appropriate sanctions applied when they are broken. However, as society continues to evolve, we must recognize and appreciate that the status quo will be challenged in all sorts of ways, especially when they make little or no sense to a generation that has difference points of reference.
Let us encourage ourselves to be respectful of rules but where the need exists to use our agency to challenge the status quo (respectfully) we must be allowed to do so.
We cannot afford to be so silent. We only provide opportunity for leaders and those who do wrong an excuse to do us ill. A society cannot progress progress in silence. We must be outraged, strategic and concerned about our future.
As cock tek off him drawze a mawnin time I am outraged about a million and one things. Some of my colleagues are too but it is apparent that the injustice, hopelessness, poverty, discrimination and crime and violence which so often barricade our contentment do not nudge any sort of botheration among a large number of Jamaicans. Not even among those among us who are so often disenfranchised and/or oppressed. Why?
The commentary in traditional and on new media platforms on the recent (old) school dress code fracas was very instructive. I didn’t realize that we have conditioned ourselves to follow "rules" blindly/foolishly. Nothing irks me more than to hear people screaming, "Rules are rules." Hell no! If that were the case all of us would be guilty of breaking too many rules!
The problem is entrenched. Are you telling me that people should not use their agency to facilitate societal changes? The kind of things we teach our children. Students are punished for challenging rules. Employees are sanctioned (and often times dismissed). Children are severely punished at home for so daringly questioning their parents. And I could go on and on.
Why do we castigate people for "breaking" (those written and unwritten) rules? Can you imagine what would have happened if Rosa Parks did not sit on that bus that day? Would slavery have been abolished if our ancestors did not revolt and orchestrate uprisings to be free? If Nelson Mandela and other black South Africans followed the rules of apartheid? What would have happened if no one challenged Hitler? And, what about women heads of state followed the rules of patriarchy? And let us not begin to talk about certain cultural “rules” such as breast pressing, honour crimes and female genital mutilation (FGM). Or if we followed the law we would never curse a little bumboclaat-pussy-rassclaat because it is "indecent".
Let me be clear, that I do think rules are important. I concede that many of them should be followed and appropriate sanctions applied when they are broken. However, as society continues to evolve, we must recognize and appreciate that the status quo will be challenged in all sorts of ways, especially when they make little or no sense to a generation that has difference points of reference.
Let us encourage ourselves to be respectful of rules but where the need exists to use our agency to challenge the status quo (respectfully) we must be allowed to do so.
We cannot afford to be so silent. We only provide opportunity for leaders and those who do wrong an excuse to do us ill. A society cannot progress progress in silence. We must be outraged, strategic and concerned about our future.
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