Irresponsible behaviour and the promotion of ignorance
Isincerely hope the police will arrest and charge the two miscreants who were seen in a video appearing to damage the padlock on the gate leading to the flooded Bog Walk Gorge last Monday while the outer bands of Tropical Storm Ian dumped heavy rain on the island.
“It is clear malicious destruction of property and they are not supposed to do that; it is there for safety purposes so they shouldn’t be breaching it either. We are trying to find them because we are wondering why they would be trying to do that,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary Mckenzie, who heads the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch.
He further stated that under the Jamaica Constabulary Force Act, “police have the authority to close any road that is likely to be danger to the public”.
“We have met the enemy and the enemy is us,” said noted American animator and cartoonist Walt Kelly Jr.
Indiscipline is one of our biggest enemies. Stupidity is the champion of indiscipline. Those who cheer on stupidity, are cruel drolls.
Paradigm Shift Needed
A conscientious citizen sent me a video last Monday that captured people walking quite contentedly in knee-high water which had flowed onto the road from the Rio Cobre during the torrential rains.
“I am patient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of it,” said famed British poet Edith Sitwell. I share that view.
Acceptance of personal responsibility does not fetch a premium, nor is it a big vote-getter in our country. I suspect that is a large part of the explanation as to why so many of our citizens believe someone else is responsible for their every action, or inaction, and must, therefore, bear the consequences of either.
Quite frankly, I think it is time we stop babysitting the feelings of people who are intent on being downright irresponsible.
Mollycoddling people who choose to ignore even the most basic rules of self-preservation has not benefited this country. It is time for a radical shift.
Last Sunday, I heard several advisories from the authorities warning fisherfolk to leave the cays and head for the mainland. Sections of the media reported later in the day that some 70 people opted to stay on the cays. I am glad that the authorities made it abundantly clear that those who opted to stay would not be rescued if that meant rescuers would have to put their own lives in great peril. But, how did we get to this sad state of affairs?
There was a time in this country when it was fashionable, very fashionable, for politicians to overtly tell folks that the purpose of a Government was to wipe their every tear, and soothe their every sorrow. Reality then hit us right smack in the face and the country was forced to realise the folly of that approach — well, a section of the country at any rate. We still have large sections of our country who have not got the memo that personal responsibility, means just that, personal responsibility. I think leadership at every level in this country needs to join forces to spread the message of personal responsibility.
Consequences matter!
While we ramp up the message of personal responsibility, we have to simultaneously talk about consequences. Numerous studies have found that people obey rules not because they are innately predisposed to obedience but more so because of consequences for disobedience.
One of our long-standing challenges is our low enforcement environment. One of its very terrible results is that large sections of the society have come to believe that ‘bandoolism’, ‘blyism’, and skulduggery are as Jamaican as the local patty. They have adopted the self-deprecating thought process of “A so di ting set.”
Until there is a complete social reorientation of this society, where the vast majority — whether, rich or poor — come to understand and expect sure and swift sanctions for anti-social and illegal behaviours, we are going to continue to have miscreants trying to pry open the floodgates of the gorge and worse. And we are going to see more people from uptown, midtown, and downtown trying to ‘beat the system’. Consequences matter!