This Jamaican Skullscape

So this morning, I paused for about 10 minutes looking at Las May's latest depiction of the crime situation in Jamaica (printed in today's Gleaner).

The imagery was really striking and though (since I work for the newspaper and sometimes hear the shots that take the lives of people in the surrounding communities), I came to the realization that not only have I (and I believe many others) become immune to feelings of discontent regarding these incidents of mass-murder, but that the issue has gone way passed the point of no return!

While I should be in fear of my life in these times, passing yellow tape on a street corner and hearing the echo of a gunshot has failed to have any effect on my psyche, the damage already done, I am too used to these things. WE are too used to these things, and so we have become apathetic, and thus we have become part of the problem.

If we have no feelings for the death of another, then how are we to be of any assistance to those who are concerned enough to combat the problem? Of course I know that it is not out of selfishness, rather a feeling of impotence; we ask ourselves, what can we do? Crime Stop doesn't work, even for those who are close enough to the criminals to report their activity.

To find a solution we must first identify the cause....yeah, yeah, yeah we all say POVERTY...but there has ALWAYS been poverty, and these days robbery is rarely ever the motive for a murder. It is the ruthless disregard for human life: there are people who have been killed simply as a rite of passage for gang initiation. "Gangstas" with bleached faces and skin-tight jeans brag about how many 'duppies' they've created, while Mavado continues to proclaim that he will remain a "gangsta for life", and thousands flock to buy his latest NIKE sneaker.

It is obvious, though many would love to deny it, though many would love to believe we have minds strong enough to resist external (sometimes subliminal) influences, though even I in my youth believed the same: THE DANCEHALL CULTURE IS POPULAR, IT DOES HAVE AN IMPACT. Now I never used to have a problem with dancehall music, I once admired it as a poetic form, and it is not as though the lyrical content has drastically changed in recent years, but we MUST admit that of those who need an image from which to model their own that which is most popular is the image of choice. We do not ALL suffer from a crisis of identity, but there are MANY of us who do.

Thus, becoming a 'badman', a 'shotta' or an 'outlaw' is seen as something to aspire to. The ladies love them, the public fears them, and fear is confused with respect in a society where respect is rarely shown to those deserving.

I pay my respects to positive roots/rock/reggae bands like Rootz Underground, who I saw live for the first time last Weekend at the Calabash Literary Festival in Treasure Beach, the only place (as someone pointed out) where the Police don't charge people for performing works with expletives in its content. I fell in love with a song called "Farming" and will quote the line which mesmerized me:

"Music, well it's farming, be careful what you plant..."

Penis (Coitus) Captivus

So more and more, each day, I am realizing that we are more like animals than we want to admit. I have often watched dogs in heat, and seen how a bitch can reject a male by simply sitting on herself to bar him entry...and subsequently wished it were that easy for us..I've never seen a bitch get raped if you know what I mean.

Today, however, THE STAR reports: "Couple Stuck During Sex":

Reports reaching THE STAR say that the man and the woman showed up to the hospital in an inseparable sexual position, similar to that of two canines that had got stuck during the mating process. It is understood that the woman had to be injected with muscle relaxant by medical staff to release her severe grip on the man. By this time, however, it was too late as oxygen and blood had stopped circulating in the man's member for too long, hence it had to be cut off.

Now i've heard of there being a psychological condition that involves a woman being so turned off of sex that she can literally 'lock' her vagina to bar the male entry, it is rare yes, but I have heard of such a thing. Never did I imagine a woman could tighten her vagina to the point where the male (already inside) could be trapped there.
Lo' and behold there is such a condition.

It is called Coitus Captivus and apparently,if a couple finding themselves in such a predicament do not get immediate medical attention the lack of blood and oxygen flow to the penis could deem it necessary to amputate! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Well...they say they like it tight! I'm sorry, is it sadistic to find this shit hilarious? Well call me a sadist if it is. I'm just excited to find that it is possible for the vagina to damage the penis as much as the penis can damage the vagina!

I mean, these are the Cervical Cancer Statistics for 2008, in the U.S only (taken from the National Cancer Institute):
New cases: 11,070
Deaths: 3,870

Striking, is it not?

Now allow me my satisfaction since half of our Dancehall Songs go a little somethin like this: "gyal tap i noise, tap i noise tap i noise....gyal tek hot fuck, back shot yuh back bruk" (Aidonia)/ "Force it up hard in har..." (Mavado).

Just to clarify, for the men who don't know, there are times when in bed, a woman screams IN PAIN, NOT PLEASURE! This is NOT a good thing (for those of us who are not masochists, that is).

My Sympathies to the man whose dick had to get cut off....