Sometimes in the morning, while wife’s still asleep, I study the small things and some that are deep. Like, why governments and mongooses are all much the same, and why rats and our yutes can’t be . . . tamed.
Actually the governments/mongooses connection is easy to work out if you know your history. Mongooses were brought here from India to control rats in sugar cane. They had been markedly successful at this in Jamaica.
But the Bajan rats weren’t no ganja-smoking, dub-chanting, dreadlocked rude boys. They had culture. And soon figured that mongooses operated only during the day. So the rats came out only at night and never the twain did meet. Meanwhile the mongooses discovered that chicken tastes better than rat anyway.
Similarly, every Government we have ever had, since way back from Nebuckynazzar, has been the Government “of the day”. Check it out. Barrow’s Dems were the Government “of the day”.
So too were Grantley’s Bees.
So how the hell could they catch criminals who mainly come out at night? It is a common sense thing. That you won’t learn at Cave Hill.
Another thing I study is authority versus mass power. How could one white British colonial officer hold sway over a whole population of natives in a country far from home?
How could a headmaster, especially a little fellow like John Hammond, maintain absolute discipline among 500 students?
And what if the birds, the bees and the pesky dog fleas were to target us humans all at once?
Friends, there is a mighty fine line between the rulers and the ruled. That line depended on respect for tradition and fear of punishment.
And the bad news is, it is breaking down.
All you need is a handful of people with a genuine grievance, several truckloads of “joiners” looking for short-term gain and excitement, a slick-tongued leader whipping up a frenzy, and effective mass communication like cellphones and the Internet.
Riots and looting in England. Flash mobs of 35 to 50 people moving in on convenience stores in America and taking whatever they want . . . .
Recently an article by Max Hastings, entitled Years Of Liberal Dogma Have Spawned A Generation Of Amoral, Uneducated, Welfare Dependent, Brutalized Youngsters (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2024284/UK-riots-2011-Liberal-dogma-spawned-generation-brutalised-youths.html#ixzz1Uc3IlpNl), sparked a lot of discussion among UWI graduates. It’s scary, to say the least.
Says Max (and he’s speaking of England): “They are essentially wild beasts. I use that phrase advisedly, because it seems appropriate to young people bereft of the discipline that might make them employable; of the conscience that distinguishes between right and wrong.
“They respond only to instinctive animal impulses – to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others.”
Worst of all, society has no answer. Thank the Amnestitites. The harsh punishments that worked in the past are not acceptable in today’s society.
Parents can’t discipline their children. A teacher laments she can only give a pupil a “disciplinary cross” for repeatedly using obscene language.
“Give me an effing cross, then!” says Fred, a 15-year-old.
The question was raised: can the Caribbean be next? Some Trinis argue they are already there, trying with a state of emergency to keep the wayward youths in check.
Our Government of the day, like its predecessors, will continue to bury its head in the sargassum. Remember those famous statements: we have no drug problem, no gangs?
Only one solution has ever worked in these situations: reward positive effort; severely punish lawless behaviour. And pray!
Our new Chief Justice should explain how come it wasn’t murder when two perps deliberately set fire to a store with no escape and burned to death six young women. Or how come it’s $500 for not wearing a seat belt but nine months’ probation for stealing two cows.
Or how come it’s easier, so said David Thompson, to buy narcotics than newspapers in Barbados.
For our justice system has failed to deliver. And we may have to bring in a mongoose gang.
Happy birthdays to Maurice Burke and Brother Ted!
• Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator. Email porkhoad@gmail.com