Building the Jamaican nation

Peter Phillips, like most so-called patriotic folks who throw around the concept of "nation", generally do so in a self-serving way. PNP and Labourite at Christmas dinner as an example of tolerance of diversity?? Are you kidding me? There is nothing anywhere - in the media, education, politics, churches, etc. --- that promotes tolerance or diversity. What you hear and see and is reinforced everyday in Jamaica, Jamaican immigrant communities and via these websites is that there is only ONE way to think and act, and if you don't you are not "respectable", "decent", "normal", or -- and this is the icing on the cake -- "Jamaican". What bullshit. If we did tolerate diversity, our conversations about culture wouldn't focus almost solely on promoting or quibbling about some dancehall/reggae concert, entertainer or money-making event, our discussions about "building Jamaica" would not rest so heavily on what the gov't is doing or not doing, nor would we be so singularly invested in believing that just because a Jamaican - especially one with a degree, high colour or living abroad - does something that means it has value or merit. Give me a break already! We haven't discovered what is best about us yet, because we haven't given ourselves permission to do so, and are not likely to soon. And since the "value" of national identity is increasingly a monetary one -- how much can we make from the 'brand jamaica' -- I don't see much change anytime soon. Depressing really.

Speak the truth and speak it ever...