A message to you Rude Boy- Andre Stephens is right about Jamaica’s moral decay

We talk about development, advancement, the wonders AI will bring, but Jamaica must take great care not to fall into a moral abyss.

Recently, there was news of a  14-year-old school boy stabbed to death by a school peer near the Morant Bay Transport Centre in St Thomas. Cocaine usage is on the rise, and gunshots at carnival parties. The level of moral turpitude in Jamaica is a cause for concern, and it is not being addressed by the leadership of the country.

The issue of the “Rude Boy” drink billboards is a case in point. Highly sexualised, a bottle serves as a phallus placed between a woman’s legs akimbo. This imagery was placed in communities where children go to school. The image is both startling and striking. and would have many parents having to find answers to awkward questions.

What emboldened the company to launch this campaign in this way? Why did it feel no moral compunction to deliver its message in a less salacious manner?

Lack of both a moral and an ethical code is the order of the day in Jamaica, and younger generations don’t even consider it, too busy on TikTok, I guess.

Some say the state, the family, the education system, the community and the church are failing Jamaicans. Indiscipline, a lack of decorum, bad man/money-mind is how it is now.

As former Minister of Finance Dr Peter Phillips once sagely put it, “if you play by the rules in Jamaica, you get shafted.” 

Can a country that goes down this route ever be developed? Can it truly aspire to a high consciousness? Can it go beyond its baser instincts? 

Popular YouTube broadcaster  Andre Stephens raised this point and took issue with the repugnance of the Rude Boy billboards.

On his show, he declared, “Jamaica has lost its moral compass. Some things we have accepted as the new norm. We have become Americanised.

“When did Jamaica come to this? We must have a standard of morality in the country. We must still have a standard of what is morally and ethically viable in this country. The money culture has tainted and taken over. Where is the church on this? We have too much selective outrage.”

Andre Stephens is absolutely right here. To put up a billboard of this nature up is shocking. Sure, it literally makes one hold their head up high, but it should make people bow their heads in shame. But does shame still exist in Jamaica?

More often than not, you hear politicians, business leaders and educators talk about the digital age, the way of the future. They paint a picture where humanity surrenders itself to technology, and we will all thrive in this dystopia where everything and all your desires can be met online, just ask ChatGPT.

Last week, the Speaker of the Lower House, Juliet Holness, gave a speech in parliament about the importance of discipline, decorum, and following the rules. Some chose to castigate her, others said her manner is altogether too harsh and that she “ should chill out a bit”. They missed the point she was making.

What Juliet Holness said should be noted and speaks to this billboard situation. Part of her speech last week read: “Members, robust opposition is not only permitted in this Chamber; it is necessary. Debate must be vigorous. Scrutiny must be serious. The minority must be heard. But dissent does not become stronger when it becomes disorderly. It becomes weaker because it abandons the very rules that protect the right to dissent.

“No Member is above those rules. No grievance places a Member above the authority of the House. No political disagreement justifies conduct that teaches the country, and especially our children, that bad behaviour is acceptable once a person believes their cause is right.

“That is not the standard. I am asking Members to respect the Chair. Respect the Standing Orders; observed them. Members who disagree with a ruling or a process must use the proper parliamentary avenues available to them. 

“To the people of Jamaica, I say: you are entitled to expect better from this House. You are entitled to expect Members to disagree without degrading the institution. You are entitled to expect passion without disorder, protest without contempt, and leadership without spectacle.

“The Parliament belongs to you. Its dignity is your dignity. Its authority exists to serve you. And when that authority is treated casually, the injury is not to the Speaker alone. The injury is to the institution and to the people in whose name we sit.

“Each of us must therefore decide what example we are setting and what inheritance we are leaving.

“We can leave behind a Parliament weakened by disorder, spectacle and disregard for authority. Or we can leave behind a Parliament strengthened by discipline, restraint, respect for the rules and make democracy a possibility for all in the future to come.”

In essence, what Juliet Holness is saying is that Jamaica must be a country strengthened by discipline, restraint, and respect for rules. Jamaica should never be a country governed by bad behaviour.

I am sure many people who value and cherish Jamaica agree with her. 

Mayor Swaby is a competent, agreeable man who is doing a good job. He pointed out that the content of the Rude Boy billboard was not vetted. A decision has been taken to remove them. Good sense has prevailed.

There are so many “ marketing and PR” companies springing up, and they are today regarded as viable careers. However, their level of creativity and ingenuity has a lot to be desired. They take big money from clients who get lacklustre work at best. These outfits are hardly Satchi & Satchi or Ogilvy& Mather. They chose to peddle in the anodyne, sending out press releases where the writing is florid and marked by a litany of superlatives. 

The Rude Boy billboard did not convey its message with any wit, charm or cheekiness. It was straight up a crass and vulgar, no doubt the company received a hefty bill for  the presented “creativity.” Sign of the times. 

Andre Stephens asked Why has the church not condemned this. Aren’t they supposed to be both our moral and spiritual shepherds? Looking for a high-growth corporate industry in Jamaica today? It’s not financial institutions, it’s the churches. Offering succour to the simple-minded masses while taking their money, putting up splendid edifices, making the most of tax-free benefits in the name of the Lord-it’s the best business model to reap quick returns.

The church was not the first out of the blocks to attend to the destitute when Hurricane Melissa struck. They were too busy looking for funding to “ rebuild”. They are never there to help communities that have lost their way or need help. Sure, you will be called to make a donation on Sunday but to invoke Christian values, be moral leaders, guide children and young adults, give hope that there is a better tomorrow, that doing the right thing, the decent thing, is not an option but an expectation, that has all gone now. Today you’ve got as much chance of the church playing its part to keep us on the straight and narrow,  turn people away from wickedness, sinfulness, vile behaviour, as a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

It’s a matter of time before one of these church outfits lists on the JSE- they probably would have impressive P/E ratios!

That billboard should never have been placed in the clear sight of children and decent citizens, but the fact that it was tells the story of Jamaica today.