[suzengrace]

we're all aware of the reckless driving in Jam...the overtakers, speeders, tailgaters, plain stupidity... 

One thing i do notice (or more correctly, dont") see much use of is seatbelts..
They can save lives-not all-but they help..Thats one of the main reasons I dont like taking route taxis...

I think anyone gets in vehicle-and they are available should use them..

[macyoder]

This board used to be a place where we came to break the silence .

Seeing Jamaican from the inside out can be sickening. The heart of the problem is not so much the actions but the reaction to it. No, No,No, I have not experienced that complete and total disregard for life. No, No, I haven't lived in a war zone or some ghettos. Yes, yes, I have traveled extensively, so been there, seen a lot.

Recently a pregnant 14 years old girl was murdered by a man who was married. Yes, that happens all the time (not that I know of) but the community blamed her for wanting a married man. At my friend and daughter's funeral, they rushed the casket to take pictures. The poor souls did not even look the same. I turned Catholic, did the cross over my heart then leave. Rarely a disagreement without someone wishing you dead, maybe the reason for all the dying.

[Westenders]

KEveryone has access to the media though, it dose'nt have to happen in your town for any of us to have an open mind about comparisons in our own countries.

Facebook allows way too many gruesome images to be shared without addressing it...but I am aware of examples from all around the world.

I read about that Young girl too, thankfully the man has at least got sent to prison for it. That is a step forward...just a step I know. I recall that it was the man who blamed her not the community, and that he handed himself in as he knew the community were onto him.
I also remembered being equally sickened by the girl in sharleens small town who murdered her young nephew while babysitting for him before Christmas.
Or the sickos I professionally come across, who never serve a day in prison for their crimes against children, and sometimes have their children returned to them after some do gooder speaks up for them in court.
Or the fact that in the UK the biggest consumer of porn is now children aged 12-17... Friggin children ... Because they all have smartphones and other gadgets.

I don't think this board is about breaking the silence, it's about sharing thoughts and feelings on there and everywhere.
Otherwise a lot of the threads would bear no relevance.
For example I think firemons threads are hysterical, and his posts are often interesting, or thought provoking or just plain funny.
Kylakes recent pics have been just beautiful.

as I said look at the youth in our own country's who are regularly viewing sex, cruelty, violence all on social media via there gadgets. I know what I see on the young peoples I come into contact with, and it's as sick.

I'm certainly not a person saying shits not happening in jamaica, like I said earlier, it's just that sometimes some people are so passionately up in arms about what is happening there, which I don't disagree with...but only attribute those behaviours to jamaica.....for me, I feel most of the world is a sick place....not sure if I believe it's always been the case, or that things have got worse, or that we are just more aware due to the technological environment we all live in. Jamaica is sadly not unique, and I like to be fair not just critical, and acknowledge that.

Jamaica has got a long way to go, but I'm not into kicking it when it's potentially on its knees instead of its arse. I believe and have said before that we have to allow them as a country to make progress, even at a slow pace.

There is no big silence there either imo, what I feel there is, is a lack of is trust in authorities, a lack of integrity in the police and political system, and a lack of high impact social and judicial initiatives..

[rootswoman]

When I was in school (university)  I took a philosophy class on Death and Dying.  The first part of it was exploring how various cultures handle death.  It was really interesting and I learned that us Americans like to make death into a very neat and tidy package. (for example we embalm the bodies)  I was able to understand what the professor was trying to teach us because I had lived in Greece for several years and had experienced several deaths in a very different way from the way I knew it at home.

My first experience with death in Jamaica really knocked my socks off.  It was so hard to fathom things like how they made Tshirts for the funeral and took pictures of the corpse.  I also learned that crying meant weakness and it was not really something I should be doing in public. (Oh how I longed to wail like they do in Greece ) It was really disturbing and I had to keep telling myself that I am in another country and I can only watch not judge. 

Porn at age 12 - Now that is just so sad.

[macyoder]

"Blaming The Victim ...Protecting The Predators - St Thomas Residents Finger Underage Girls And Parents For High Rate Of Carnal Abuse In The Parish" 


"To compound the matter, the residents are refusing to cooperate with police who are pushing to prosecute adults who prey on these, mainly, girls.

"While expressing shock and outrage at the killing of Kayalicia, many persons argued that she should also be blamed."

Nothing new but has gotten worse from one generation to the next.  What happens to the future of a country when we continue to blame children for their abuse and eventual murder.This is not the sicko but the good people from the community.  

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20150315/blaming-victim-protecting-predators-st-thomas-residents-finger

[macyoder]

Someone who understands all this please explain how people of a community could blame a child for any part in her murder. This is a 14 years old child but it could have been 12. Most of the reported sexual assaults in 2014 were with children under the age of consent. In 2103, there were 10,000 cases of child abuse with half from neglect. When you neglect a child in Jamaica, it's like opening the door to the molester, going tek mi pickney. 


Agreed, the board is about sharing thoughts, and feeling, sometimes real experiences.

"A man's weakness is a woman, and young girl always know how to get man"   :  Girl + MAN = RAPE!

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20150315/blaming-victim-protecting-predators-st-thomas-residents-finger

[macyoder]

http://jablogz.com/2015/03/show-no-love-to-child-predators/

"Our society again sank into an abyss of despair when news broke that 14-year-old Sontoya Campbell was sexually abused and impregnated then strangled to death. Not long after, 14-year-old Kayalicia Simpson was chopped to death because she, too, was pregnant and was reportedly about to name the psycho who abused her."

http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20150331/news/news1.html

"He placed a machete at her throat, while he raped her. He also robbed her of the $550 lunch money she had. The court heard that in May 2013, the complainant, who was then 13 years old, was on her way to school in St Catherine when the accused held her and dragged her into bushes."

May not be unique but yet to hear anyone blame children for their rape , abuse, and murder. PLEASE share the links to your local paper and community where this is happening. It's no longer enough to say it happens elsewhere. If you live it or directly affected by it, then PLEASE share it.

[Westenders]

That is all very sad Macy, I totally agree.


But from there on I don't mind agreeing to disagree.

Sometimes we as people  only see what we want to see that confirms our own view, and subconsciously or consciously ignore the surrounding information. I referred to that in my previous post..confirmation bias.

The man + girl = rape...... Well I've worked with more women and girls than you think that are involved in this behaviour as perpetrators, even grooming other young woman for prostitution and gang rape.
There have been some very high profile sexual exploitation cases recently, with one town having over 1300 girls who are victims over a period of time. PM David Cameron is now considering legislation to imprison professionals for up to 5 years for turning a blind eye, as that is what some of the police, and social work staff have been accused of doing.

Also we have a huge investigation going on in England into celebrities involved in child sexual exploitation rings...boys and girls. 
I'm not going to discuss any particular personal or professional situation I am aware of as even anonymising the details, I just don't have the right to use that detail.

You would be surprised how children are blamed for their actions in the western world, the courts even collude with that view by ruling against them. That is what has happened to victims in Rotherham, Rochdale and Birmingham.

There is a balance in jamaica, even if an individual dose'nt want to see that. There is a lot of good, and yes there is a lot of bad, but I think throwing stones when we live in glass houses is not going to change anything.

You must know jamaicans that have similar negative views about morals and values in the US and the UK.. I know I do.

Rootswoman, I agree with your perspective on death, and the difference in all our countries.
I know in the UK, the black british community don't agree with cremation. I went to a burial a while ago of a baby who's family were of Muslim faith. She was buried in cloth, not a coffin, and I really struggled with that, but I respected the faith and beliefs of that family and community.

[troublemaker_420]

I personally have noticed a difference of what is commonly "accepted" as normal regarding FB posts between my Jamaican and American friends.  I certainly can't or won't speak for everyone, but the videos and photos posted by my Jamaican acquaintances are far more graphic than anything posted by friends from other places.  Be it shots of dead bodies, accident victims, funerals, what have you....I've seen things since adding Jamaican friends to FB that I'd never seen before and havent seen posted by people from elsewhere.  Your mileage may very, but the posting of certain types of graphic images seems to be far more accepted and far more prevalent in jamaica than in other cultures I've personally experienced.  I thought maybe it was something unique to a certain cirlce of people, but reading this thread makes me wonder if it isn't more widespread than that, as multiple people reporting the same sorts of things certainly ends credence to that idea.

[macyoder]

My concern and biggest heart break being Jamaican is not the crime, abuse and even murder. It's the FACT so many condone it so over the decades it has gotten worse. Evil prevails when good people sit in silence or blame children for their abuse, rape, and eventual murder. Jamaica's ONLY chance, is to change the mindset not of the pervert but the good people to understand without question that child plus MAN means RAPE. Most of the reported cases of sexual abuse in 2014 were with kid under the age of consent of 16.  There is nothing to stop a grown MAN from having sex with a 16 years old, something illegal in the US. There is currently no laws on the book to make imprisonment worse if a MAN kills a pregnant child. The FACT abortion is illegal should make this auto double homicide. 

I think we can hopefully all agree that the big difference is in most normal, civilized, society, people do not in any way shape or form condone or blame a child for her RAPE and MURDER by an ADULT.