Ghetto Entertainment at It's Worst

I was sent the following link and on this site there are two videos showing a fight between two families in the Ghetto. The video to say the least is very disturbing on so many levels but basically I divide what was happening into two parts.

First there are the families involved in the fight, I do not know why they are fighting but they seem very upset and willing and ready to inflict grievous bodily harm on each other, as stick, stone and fist fly. Clearly they lack the basic concepts of problem/solution and have chosen to resort to violence. In all my years of living uptown I have never seen such a situation played out in public, people living uptown are not that intimate with each other’s life and seem to be educated enough to apply problem/solution skills to settle their differences and rarely resort to such violence. Although I must admit that a undercurrent of aggression pervades in all levels of our society regardless of uptown or downtown, even the political class is not immune, some of them are worst.

Part 1 Only

Watching the two families fight is disturbing but what is more disturbing is the reaction of the public, the families are acting on their basic emotions and have some sort of excuse but the public was even more disgusting not only enjoying the moment but actively encouraging it, this is collective deprivation at its worst. At the start of the video a mother was trying to prevent her two daughters from fighting as she held on to them with a vice grip but the onlookers and the person filming the event was encouraging the mother to let them go, he wanted action so he could upload his video to YouTube. In the end the mother not only released her daughters allowing them to engage the other families but also joined the fight, as I said before stick, stone and fist fly as they unleashed the dogs of war.

Its A Family Affair- Part 1 and 2

This was ghetto entertainment at is very worst, the spectators was having a wonderful time as they watched, laughed and cheered the pain of others, the only person missing was the peanut vendor who normally turns up at every event in Jamaica, even weddings. During the fight almost every person watching the fight pulled out some form of modern high tech phone device with enough storage to film the event as they ran behind the actors to capture every action, ghetto people hungry but ghetto people somehow always have money to buy the latest expensive ghetto fashion and electronic devices.

What also shock me is that not only did everyone had a phone to record the event but no one seemed to called the police as the main purpose of the phone was to record the event and the police would certainly have gotten in the way and cut the merriment short. Another shocker was that no one tried to break up the fight, there was no voice of reason, no village elders to step in and calm nerves, no one even tried.

If I was totally embarrassed watching this over the internet then why weren't they? People were encouraging the fight, children ran behind the fighters cheering and laughing as they dodge stones. People took pictures of the public nudity on display but no one, no real men or women tried to prevent the mayhem that followed or moved the children along, there was a time when low income and low class was not one and the same but not so today.

• I am worried about the Jamaican society.
• I am worried that as a society we are not addressing this level of ignorance.
• I am worried that our political class is satisfied with the current state of events.
• I am worried that the educated class is also satisfied this level of ignorance.
• I am worried that the church is also satisfied this level of ignorance.

Yes it is a low income community but it does not have to be a low class community.

Fact: The Jamaican society is not the only society suffering from this level of depravity