MAIA CHUNG
THE devil is in the details, right? Or is it in the insidious? Insidious as defined by the Oxford Dictionary says: proceeding in agradual subtle way, but with harmful effects.
It’s that slow seep that creeps into the mind, heart and soul when we are most unguarded. To me that is why Jamaica is a morally failedstate and becoming more so every day.
We neglect the gradual and slow ways in which we achieve these long-term, negatively impactful and extremely hard-to-get-rid-of illswhich erode our societies in terrible ways. Moral decay through theinsidious has had so many triumphs that the affected do not evenrealise the damage being done. Look at the bleeping of indecent songson the radio to make them “radio friendly”.
Just recently, specifically the third week in November, amendments had to be issued to regulations sent out by the Broadcasting Commissionin February – intended to use the bleep technique to keep profanityfrom the ears of our youth on public radio.
The February directives indicated that the bleeping and beeping of profanity in songs was okay, as long as the “cuss words” were notclearly heard.
Well, Jamaica being the population it is, gradually (insidiously) our children started connecting the dots, ergo the bleeps becameirrelevant and as such minors were singing right along with the tunes…full hundred!!! Profanity and all.
Sadly, these alleged bleeps and beeps left in the **^&%**, so do the phonetic maths “F” and “K” rapidly pinned together sound like what?Certainly not lollipop.
Not to mention the other clear and improper sexual statements – so Jamaican kids, surprise surprise, easily fill in the “blanks, thewords, the acts, the deeds”, etc – shocker!
So subsequently new amendments had to be given, for no bleeped-beeped music at all! This to correct – but guess what? Theharm, “the gradual harmful osmosis” of nastiness via music has alreadywrought its dastardly infection!
It is the insidious acceptance of crap – which leads to the gradual decay; we scramble to clean up after the fact when it is way too late.We need to watch the gradual. Evolution is gradual, giving the mind theability to acclimatise to the same model can be applied in the case ofinsidious decay.
It has been deemed by psychologists the world over that after a long enough period the human psyche can come to grips and accept anything.Think dinner party – eating each other to live; that didn’t happenovernight, it took enough hunger. In fact I watched a documentary onthe subject. It took months of starvation, then enough thought anddesperation, then a taste and then gradually it became “sensible” toeat humans, and hey presto, cannibalism.
Check your own life, acceptance of the negatives you now take (insert any area), can be traced back to the insidious creep.
Squatting is insidious social decay, more disrespectful Jamaican kids represent insidious social decay, kids stabbing teachers andthrowing chairs at principals as in the case at a Molynes Road highschool recently. This is insidious decay, children fighting each otherdue to musical affiliation is insidious social decay, common beliefsthat pastors take from the collection to bling their cribs insidious –but guess what? Evidentiary support makes these ideas take root,politicians synonymous with corruption is insidious social decay.
Case in point on the latter – many kids I talk to these days say, “I don’t want to be no politician, dem too corrupt.” And this is from highschool to college age.
Insidiously, the link has been made in the minds of the youth that politics is planted with a crop of evildoers.
The acceptance by gang members that elderly folks, babies and children are no longer off-limits in gang feuding is insidious socialdecay. Back in my day certain persons, no matter the conflict, weresacrosanct.
Just last month they burnt to death a crippled, blind woman in a so-called gang feud. I am assuming that her visual challenge andinability to walk were creating a major issue in the war being foughtand rendered her public enemy number one – lest she dragged herself offher bed and “brailled out” to Kingfish the secret information to whichshe was privy.
I am as guilty because this is so normal these days – (hmm, another blind, crippled old person burnt to death, raped, wow I’ve moved on) myoutrage lasted six minutes exactly.
One crucial illustration of the insidious in relation to moral decay I thought of is the recent “sit-down” (peace talks) which occurredbetween the Mark Myrie (Buju Banton) camp and certain internationalpro-homosexual groups to “iron out” a way forward for the entertainer’sglobal career.
The normal is that Beenie Man cannot go to Australia to earn a living and Buju sits down with gays! Bombaat Star!
Insidiously they have reached the point where they can stop persons who are not in favour of homosexuality from earning a living andinsidiously we have to take it. Now isn’t the world done gone and turnupside down, massuh?
I canvassed some opinions at my hairdresser’s and all the women there said, “Bwoy, years ago it was a non-issue; now, somehow itdoesn’t seem that bad anymore.”
A Banton’s gotta eat, right?
Look at the issue with ex-Miss California 2009, Carrie Prejean, exercising her freedom of speech in the country that constitutionalisedfreedom of speech.
She feels marriage should be between a man and a woman, while being quizzed during the Miss America Pageant.
Google what was said on national (US) television about her after that remark – the humanity! Marriage is between man and woman?! Whosedang fool notion is that?
So a conservative young woman in this world cannot, if she wants to remain popular, go against the new accepted norm – thou shalt accepthomosexual marriages, but a homosexual person can? Hmmm…
And I pose the million-dollar question, when did marriage between a man and woman become the reason to spew violence against its advocate?
I feel like I am in some alternate universe. Gomorrah anyone?
In such a slow and non-explosive fashion, morally wrong is the new normal.
It can be compared to vaccinations – in small doses our body learns how to cope with a disease.
Look at The Girls Next Door, a cable show on US tv – three young women being kept as concubines by Hugh Hefner. Sending the clearsignal, in my assessment, that prostitution is not wrong – it’s justhow you carry out the business of it.
Essentially, the premise of the reality show, The Girls Next Door, is be a whore and see the world, not to mention get fame, success andfortune.
When did that become cool? Insidiously.
But guess what? Even I didn’t cop to the observation and tune in regularly to the show (and sadly still do), using it as my “mind candy”from a stress-filled life.
Call me slow Joe, but I said, damn! But this thing nuh jus’ a version of prostitution, she buy some breasts, have sex with a man whocould be the crypt keeper and she gets a condo and a spin-off series.
It was then I started my dissection of this very entertaining piece of crap, glossily crafted, accompanied by music associated with theLeave it to Beaver era, giving it a pseudo-family feel from the 50s andslowly drawing you in like a siren’s song. The show portrays them asliving a sisterly life chock-full of perks, luxury cars, hot parties,magazine covers, public appearances, slots in movies – all directlylinked to them having sex with Hugh Hefner.
The Girls Next Door – reference many similarities between those cults that practice polygamy, where those men are demonised andostracised. The cult women are scorned and children of those polygamistsects are mocked, and belittled – they ain’t blonde and big-boobed,right?
So, my brethren, I ask of you only one thing. If you had stopped, start paying attention to the “little” things once more. Observe anddissect your environment; the shows you watch and what you are nowaccepting in terms of standards, which you were never used to. Did youdrop the ball on the matter of respect, manners and behaviours? Onceyou do and they become the “truth” of the time, the children we are allso concerned about cannot be blamed for their immorality andfallen-angel status. You see, their frame of reference is being craftedby what we insidiously let in, let through and let become the way welive our lives.
Maia Chung is the news manager at Newstalk 93 FM and managing director of the Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation.
maiachung@yahoo.com
