Our once tranquil paradise has, over the last five decades, become a very toxic, angry, suicidal society. During those years we have misguidedly allowed ourselves to become seduced by toxic leaders posing as societal doctors, while all the while spewing the venom of the deadly viper. Like the snake charmer we allowed them into our hearts and into our homes, and clung them to our breasts, which has afforded them the opportunity to gradually inject their toxins into our very psyche. They have thus been able to capture many souls.
We have been under the spell of noxious negativism for so long that we have build up an immunity to the verbal, physical, emotional and spiritual toxicity which now envelops us. The contagious disease of negativism has so consumed us that even the badly needed shots of penicillin truth, honesty and respect serum are resisted. We have become a society firmly ensconced in the grip of an addiction at cornucopia dimensions. We have, over the decades, developed an addictive personality of the alcoholic or drug abuser who simply cannot stay away from the very practices, places and properties that are leading him to self-destruction.
As the alcoholic or drug abuse joneses for just one little hit to cure him of his delirium tremours (D.T.’s or shakes) after an overnight binge, our society too seems strongly attracted to those destructive attitudes and behaviours that are sucking us into the black hole of hopelessness and despair. We can’t wait to get a hold of our favorite tabloid or arrive at the office to hear the latest gossip about some personality’s demise. Never a day goes by without the bold headlines and main stories of violence, crime or political contention bombarding us. Then the daily contentious and confrontational talk shows further emphasize the problem, along with the electronic media’s dramatization of the negative news.
The first third of this year has seen us bogged down with one political flight after another. We have been struggling with Guana Cay and LNG, Abaco and the Haitian problem there, the re-development of the Cable Beach Strip, the investment in Inagua, and other government and politically partisan fights.
Here are some of the unsettling and emotionally destabilizing headlines our nation has been held hostage to over the past few weeks: Gov’t Pushes LNG, Children Hurt in Jitney Crash, Gunfire Terror on Jitney, Designer Taylor on Trial, Company Hires PM’s Brother-in-law, Prison Corruption Task Force, Airport Security Fears, Teenage Girls ‘Bus Terror,’ Bid to Silence Official on LNG, Student Stabbed To Death, PM Hits Back At Article, Death Sentences Challenged, BEST Chairman In Conflict, Haitian Mafia in Schools, Youth in Custody After Murder, FNM’s Wants Tommy Out, Tommy “Backstabbed.” These were some of the headlines from our dailies. The tabloids with their salaciously titillating tales carried many more eye-catching headlines and stories.
What makes all this negativism so damaging to the social and emotional well-being of the nation is the centralization and control of everything from the capital. The national government tries to micro and macro-manage the country of a hundred thousand square miles from the cabinet office. The national prison is centered in the capital but smallest of islands, the national college and all other tertiary institutions are centered here. This is the center of business, tourism etc., where two thirds of the population reside; and are bombarded with hardcore and fearful news daily.
Whatever news occurs anywhere in the country is carried in our national news media. As a result the majority of the country’s population finds itself over-stimulated with negative news, leaving paralyzed with fear on the one hand and apathy on the other. Young people are murdered and abused or commit the murder and abuse with impunity. There is the momentary hue and cry from the public and the police make statements to re-assure the public, but we never seem to deal with the root causes of our destructive behaviour; nor do we maintain any positive sustained, systematic effort at solutions, other than cry for the hanging of murderers and rapists, and the return of the cane in schools and the application of the cat-o-nine tail to prisoners.
Of late there is a thrust to improve parenting skills in the nation, usually meaning New Providence the exporter of lots of negativism to the other islands. Until the necessary study and resources are put in place to sustain this effort and other efforts to encourage and sustain proper and adequate culture and recreational expression in our schools and in our communities, there probably won’t be any significant change in the patient. The disease created by our toxic leadership will continue to spread and make us dysfunctional.
By: Vimcent L. Ferguson, The Bahama Journal
