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The death of objectivity
Dr Raulston Nembhard
Saturday, June 26, 2010
In a country given to nine-day wonders, it is difficult to stay focused on any subject for any reasonable amount of time. It is equally difficult to maintain objectivity on any presenting issue. This is made worse by the fact that any discussion of these issues tend to be driven by biases, prejudices and tribal political and sectional interests that often have no time for what appears on the other side of the ledger.
If you are a loyal member of one of the political parties then your loyalty should ensure that you never criticise anything that that party says or does, however egregious or despicable the saying or action. This is no less true of other sectors of the society which are no less tribal in their allegiance as adherents of our two political tribes.
One of the most glaring areas in which we see this lack of objectivity is in the fight against crime. Every Jamaican with any semblance of sanity is agreed that crime has reached a level in Jamaica where every facet of what remains of a functioning democracy in the country is under siege.
There is almost universal agreement both in Jamaica and in the so-called diaspora, that the country is under the inexorable threat of being hijacked by narco-terrorists. Organised crime is at a sophisticated level that we have never seen in Jamaica before. The dignity of human life is not even a philosophical construct in the minds of the murderous criminal elements in our midst. To them life means nothing. The life of an animal will be more easily spared than that of a human being as far as this criminal psyche is played out.
And let us be clear when we are talking about organised crime in Jamaica. To be sure we are not talking about the "shottas" in the garrisons or even the hardcore enforcers of discipline in the inner-city communities euphemistically called "dons". My belief is that organised crime in Jamaica runs deeper than that and is masterminded by so-called respectable people from respectable enclaves in Jamaica. "Shottas" and even "dons" are mere foot soldiers to these bigger bosses; they are peripheral to the nerve centre of serious organised crime and camouflage their activities well by appearing to be persons whom society should admire.
In the early days of this administration when the government appeared to be lax in their approach to the crime monster, they were rightly and roundly criticised for their inaction. My own feeling is that it is not that Bruce was against taking on the monster but that he allowed himself to be a hostage to the garrison phenomenon that gave him political succour and guaranteed his ascendancy to the highest political office in the land. That is why he defended Dudus in the first nine months of the US request for his extradition. Now that he has been forced by public clamour and the newfound power of civil society to take on the monster, the same voices that were critical of his laxity are now just as vocal in their criticism of this new resolve. We cannot have it both ways, and objectivity demands that we cannot eat our cake and take it home at the same time.
But one cannot understand the discrepancy that fails to recognise that we face a serious threat to our very way of life. Even that great defender of American freedom, Abraham Lincoln, recognised during the Civil War that it was necessary to suspend habeas corpus arrangements in order to preserve the integrity of the union. He did so reluctantly but did what needed to be done. Mr Golding must of necessity do what has to be done.
We are not saying that he should break off sticks in his ears and listen to no one. Neither are we saying that the security forces should have a free run and trample over the rights of our people. But we are saying, for the sake of objectivity, that the enemy has to be engaged and he should be engaged with determination and fixity of purpose. This column urges the government not to relent in this new determination; we will never have another chance and neither should we wish it.
stead6655@aol.com
www. drraulston.com
Dr Raulston Nembhard
Saturday, June 26, 2010
In a country given to nine-day wonders, it is difficult to stay focused on any subject for any reasonable amount of time. It is equally difficult to maintain objectivity on any presenting issue. This is made worse by the fact that any discussion of these issues tend to be driven by biases, prejudices and tribal political and sectional interests that often have no time for what appears on the other side of the ledger.
If you are a loyal member of one of the political parties then your loyalty should ensure that you never criticise anything that that party says or does, however egregious or despicable the saying or action. This is no less true of other sectors of the society which are no less tribal in their allegiance as adherents of our two political tribes.
One of the most glaring areas in which we see this lack of objectivity is in the fight against crime. Every Jamaican with any semblance of sanity is agreed that crime has reached a level in Jamaica where every facet of what remains of a functioning democracy in the country is under siege.
There is almost universal agreement both in Jamaica and in the so-called diaspora, that the country is under the inexorable threat of being hijacked by narco-terrorists. Organised crime is at a sophisticated level that we have never seen in Jamaica before. The dignity of human life is not even a philosophical construct in the minds of the murderous criminal elements in our midst. To them life means nothing. The life of an animal will be more easily spared than that of a human being as far as this criminal psyche is played out.
And let us be clear when we are talking about organised crime in Jamaica. To be sure we are not talking about the "shottas" in the garrisons or even the hardcore enforcers of discipline in the inner-city communities euphemistically called "dons". My belief is that organised crime in Jamaica runs deeper than that and is masterminded by so-called respectable people from respectable enclaves in Jamaica. "Shottas" and even "dons" are mere foot soldiers to these bigger bosses; they are peripheral to the nerve centre of serious organised crime and camouflage their activities well by appearing to be persons whom society should admire.
In the early days of this administration when the government appeared to be lax in their approach to the crime monster, they were rightly and roundly criticised for their inaction. My own feeling is that it is not that Bruce was against taking on the monster but that he allowed himself to be a hostage to the garrison phenomenon that gave him political succour and guaranteed his ascendancy to the highest political office in the land. That is why he defended Dudus in the first nine months of the US request for his extradition. Now that he has been forced by public clamour and the newfound power of civil society to take on the monster, the same voices that were critical of his laxity are now just as vocal in their criticism of this new resolve. We cannot have it both ways, and objectivity demands that we cannot eat our cake and take it home at the same time.
But one cannot understand the discrepancy that fails to recognise that we face a serious threat to our very way of life. Even that great defender of American freedom, Abraham Lincoln, recognised during the Civil War that it was necessary to suspend habeas corpus arrangements in order to preserve the integrity of the union. He did so reluctantly but did what needed to be done. Mr Golding must of necessity do what has to be done.
We are not saying that he should break off sticks in his ears and listen to no one. Neither are we saying that the security forces should have a free run and trample over the rights of our people. But we are saying, for the sake of objectivity, that the enemy has to be engaged and he should be engaged with determination and fixity of purpose. This column urges the government not to relent in this new determination; we will never have another chance and neither should we wish it.
stead6655@aol.com
www. drraulston.com