Cultural Penetration, Values and Identity

The Jamaican society is fast losing its identity. We have allowed external forces to shape, educate and to inform us as to who we are and how we are to behave as a people. The Jamaican identity is being eroded and, to a great extent, is being replaced by an alien disruptive culture. This alien culture is fast replacing our strong traditional values and attitudes which our forefathers passed down to us. This new culture by far is North American by origin. Culture defined in its simplest form is the values, traditions, language and ideas of a people which are passed from generation to generation. One can summarize that culture is the sum total of a community’s customs.  Jamaica’s proximity to the United States of America and our dependence on tourism has exposed our society, willingly or not, to many ideas, values, practices that were once taboo in Jamaica and which are not necessarily wholesome for good family relations. This strong economic dependence on the United States was reinforced recently when Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett stated “as the nation’s largest economic engine, Jamaica’s travel and tourist industry employs 170,000 workers and impacts an additional 120,000 jobs from other industries, fuelling more than one third of the country’s economy.” He added Jamaica has earned an estimated US$80 million from approximately 40,000 tourists since the Government opened the borders on June 15.  The overwhelming majority of the tourists who have arrived on the island since the reopening of the borders are from the United States of America. The week ended July 25, 2020 Jamaica recorded 67 cases of the coronavirus with the majority of the cases being imported.  Undoubtedly, the Jamaican economy is quite vulnerable to external shocks. Our culture is rather fluid and as such we tend to embrace, the good, the bad and the indifferent from other cultures. In recent years we have witnessed an invasion of major fast food restaurants in Jamaica. While these establishments are welcome given the employment opportunities they provide it comes at a high price. Increasingly, Jamaicans are no longer cooking on Fridays. On any given Friday scores of Jamaicans flock to fast food outlets in search of their favourite fried chicken or pizza along with sodas. We have seen the related increases in the number of Jamaicans who are now obese and are suffering from non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. All these health issues add to the already overburdened public health care system.  It is not unusual for Jamaicans to be given 6 months or even close to 1 year appointment to have surgery done at our public hospitals.
A New Culture Created From Cable Television
Another aspect of our lives which has been affected is our security or lack therefore. Jamaica continues to witness an increase in the number of murders.  The Gleaner reported that as of June 14, a total of 584 people had been murdered across the country.  The nature of some of these crimes has changed. Some of these murders are copied right from the silver screen. Kidnappings, once unheard in Jamaica have slowly crept in. Our dependence on the United States for entertainment via subscriber television, commonly known as cable television has created an avenue for this new culture to enter our society. Studies have shown a co-relation between violence on television and real violence. In the 1990’s the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a non-commercial television station in the USA, aired a programme entitled “Does TV Kill”? The programme noted that before the average American child leaves elementary school he or she will have witnessed more than 8,000 murders on television.  It would be interesting to know what the statistics are in the Jamaican society.  Professor Leonard Eron did some research a few years ago on third grade children and found that the more violent the programmes that children watched at home, the more aggressive they were in school. The television which has become somewhat of a surrogate parent has managed to undo some very good child rearing practices we had. Some families no longer spend time together, not even to have a meal around the dining table. I dare say some homes no longer have a dining table. The process of socialization has been hijacked by the television to the detriment of the society. Another care of our culture which has not escaped this cultural invasion is the matter of dress. We have seen a rather disturbing trend among some of our young men who walk around with their pants well below their waist, exposing their buttocks and undergarments. Yes, people have the right to choose what they wear, watch, read etc. The best of us sometimes we need guidance in making these fundamental choices. There are so many good practices to adopt yet; there is a strong impulse for us to gravitate toward those things which are not always good for us and the wider Jamaican society.  This cultural invasion and indeed cultural penetration will only worsen as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues.
waykam@yahoo.com
@WayneCamo
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