Commentary

Too much negativity

LAST SUNDAY I was browsing through the papers when I came upon this tome written by outgoing Opposition Leader Edward Seaga about tsunamis, a word that is going to be used here for the next few years or so now that many have discovered it, and I shudder to think what goes on in that man's mind.

Is there not a positive bone in this man's body, or is it that he has been in opposition so long that the only thing he knows how to do is oppose? Perhaps though, what Mr. Seaga has become a victim of, is the same one that has gripped Jamaica for what seems like forever.

In this country, the people who are mired in the past and those who grew up under their influence can only find negative things to say about Jamaica and its future. What is strange is that these very same people manage to get upset when the foreign press says bad things about us.

It's that same mentality that has many of us who claim that there is nothing good about Jamaica fleeing here as soon as they use taxpayers' money to educate themselves so that they can go to a foreign country and tell people crap about how great Jamaica is. If they truly believed that, wouldn't they still be living here?

Maybe the media of which I am a member should take some of the blame for this existing mindset. We tend to go for negative news to excite the public but in doing so we become purveyors of mental poison. If I am allowed to use this analogy to explain: cocaine may be fine once you don't get hooked, but you are more likely to get hooked if you use it all day everyday.

What good is it, for example, leading our newscasts almost every night with murder after murder after murder? Last year there were almost 1500 murders; doesn't it get boring reporting every single one? And if it's not murder then it's someone saying something bad about the economy or somebody predicting doom for us all. I know we have to report it, but does it have to be the core of what we report?

I mean, how many of us have cereal for breakfast lunch and dinner? If that is indeed the case then the only thing that is going to come out of us when we go to the bathroom is cereal.

Yet, we turn and blame the Government and the police for being inept when the crime rate skyrockets. Yes, we know they are inept, but if we continue to spew negativity at the people on a daily basis what exactly do we expect to get back? Criminals, I believe, copy other criminals. So when we report on what other criminals do, still other criminals or potential criminals try to emulate their example and so a continuing cycle of crime and violence is developed.

Remember those guys last year who beheaded the guy's body in the morgue and walked around downtown Kingston with it? Where do you think they got the idea from? If you can recall that incident occurred during a period when there were almost daily reports of beheadings coming out of Iraq.

Yes, criminals watch the news too and they get ideas from what they see, just like the rest of us. Maybe things would be a bit different if we gave them something else to think about.

Of course, other people like the police, the Government and the people need to step up to the plate but we in the media need to play our part and perhaps lead by example.