Is she an ordinary Barbadian going to a job every day, living in an ordinary household? Is she maybe even a mother? Is it that she felt she had something to prove, sexually, even if the potential “partner” was a six-year-old boy? Was the “show” really meant for the male who was holding the boy in place? Was this woman so desperately in need of affirmation that the laughter of the crowd was more important to her than self-respect? Was she drunk or high on some drug?
I am, of course, referring to the heinous photograph appearing centre stage in the SATURDAY SUN newspaper recently. A be-netted reveller was on all fours with her legs sprawled open, while a young boy positioned behind her, was held in place by a grown man. In some cultures, the adult male places his hand on the head of a child in order to bless the child. In this case, the corruption of the young boy’s innocence is akin to a curse.
There has been a lot of discussion surrounding this photograph and its moral and social implications, but it is very possible that in good Barbadian fashion, the whole matter will soon be forgotten and the sore left to fester in the society; after all, this is Barbados and certain things do not happen here.
Yet the photograph in question and the others disgracing the same centre pages are not products of the imagination. They are real.
Some may advance the argument that the lewdness, vulgarity and sexual abandonment depicted in those pages (nature at its rawest) are mere reflections of who we are fundamentally as human beings, Barbadians, notwithstanding. Remove the veneer of civilization, some argue, and we are capable of committing some of the vilest acts.
British author William Golding graphically illustrates this point in his novel, Lord Of The Flies. A group of young upper-class boys are stranded on an uninhabited island with no chance of being rescued. Over time, and free from the restraints of civilization, they become naked monsters who hunt and kill one another without compunction.
But if we accept that it is really just a thin veneer that separates us from responding to certain situations at the level of our basest instincts, then surely that must always have been the case. And yet we have managed for decades to live in a Barbadian society that understood the need for decency, respect for self and others, and self-restraint.
So what has gone wrong? We are not alone in the downward moral slide; this is a worldwide trend. But how are we to analyze our own society right here at home?
First of all, let us acknowledge that there are thousands of Barbadians who do not subscribe to the lewd behaviour that is so evident among us these days. The trouble is, however, that there are still not enough of us who are speaking out except from a position of anonymity. I suspect that since we live in a small society and our failings are known, we fear that fingers will be pointed right back at us.
Let us accept that no such entity as a perfect human being exists; we are all prone to error. But there must be a level beyond which a society agrees that it will not sink. A line must be drawn and we must be bold enough to say that we stand with those who will not cross that line. It is a matter of common sense anyhow.
The laws of the land were not instituted by perfect men, but with the full recognition that a society without laws is a jungle where only the “fittest” or the most cruel survive. Interestingly enough, and whether we choose to accept it or not, the laws of the land are based on moral principle.
Let us be done with the hypocrisy. Either Kadooment is an expression of our culture at its creative best, or it is nothing more than a “wuk-up” competition at its crudest and most vulgar.
We are either committed to protecting the innocence of our children, or they are to be exposed to the consequences of our destructive behaviour. Very significantly, let us also examine what we mean when we speak of ourselves as an “educated” people.
The word is out that there’s an ongoing plan to “ghettoize” Barbados. Those of us who remain silent and do nothing are complicit in this disastrous agenda.
• Esther Phillips is head of the Division of Liberal Arts of the Barbados Community College. She is also a poet and editor of BIM: Arts For The 21st Century. Email [email protected]
