Dear Editor,
I write in support of a letter to editor by Noel Matherson, titled ‘We need to be resocialised’, published on Monday, July 25, 2016.
We do seem to have a subculture of self-destructiveness and indifference which manifests itself in outright suicidal tendencies. We can see a pattern in the Jamaican society centred on the concept of being “bad”, “cool”, or “notorious”. Our males are misguided on the concept of what being a “man” is and tend to associate the concept with issues such as aggression, exaggerated masculinity, being “street” or being a gangster. It is the task of our leaders to infiltrate and redirect the respect directed towards gangsters so that society’s image of a role model can be that of a progressive and law-abiding citizen that supports his children.
The average Jamaican male should see more respectable role models being adored on TV and not just males who degrade women and teach people to live carefree. We should see more movies showing popular males who practise good ethics and show respect to women. This is the message that will get males to aspire to becoming respectable and productive members of society.
From a psychological perspective, a major incentive in reshaping male behaviour involves also changing the female perception of men. For example, the only reason why males wear their pants below their waist is because they think it makes them look gangster and to them girls like gangsters. If a certain type of male is wanted by most women then the up-and-coming generation of males will try to be like that type of male. If we want our males to feel confident investing time in academics and aspiring to high positions in society, while dressing respectably, then we must convince our females to aspire to socially productive males and not the carefree bad boy image which is heavily sold by dancehall and rap cultures. If we are serious about re-engineering our society then we must turn the academically inclined and ambitious male into a widely glorified sex symbol and dethrone the “bad man” image and discard it to the dustbin of society.
If that is done then popularity and glorification will centre on the image of an ambitious and productive male who abides by the law and contributes to the betterment of society. This is the formula for positive social engineering and the media is the tool which can accomplish this desperately needed task.
Toraino Beckford
torainobeckford@gmail.com
I write in support of a letter to editor by Noel Matherson, titled ‘We need to be resocialised’, published on Monday, July 25, 2016.
We do seem to have a subculture of self-destructiveness and indifference which manifests itself in outright suicidal tendencies. We can see a pattern in the Jamaican society centred on the concept of being “bad”, “cool”, or “notorious”. Our males are misguided on the concept of what being a “man” is and tend to associate the concept with issues such as aggression, exaggerated masculinity, being “street” or being a gangster. It is the task of our leaders to infiltrate and redirect the respect directed towards gangsters so that society’s image of a role model can be that of a progressive and law-abiding citizen that supports his children.
The average Jamaican male should see more respectable role models being adored on TV and not just males who degrade women and teach people to live carefree. We should see more movies showing popular males who practise good ethics and show respect to women. This is the message that will get males to aspire to becoming respectable and productive members of society.
From a psychological perspective, a major incentive in reshaping male behaviour involves also changing the female perception of men. For example, the only reason why males wear their pants below their waist is because they think it makes them look gangster and to them girls like gangsters. If a certain type of male is wanted by most women then the up-and-coming generation of males will try to be like that type of male. If we want our males to feel confident investing time in academics and aspiring to high positions in society, while dressing respectably, then we must convince our females to aspire to socially productive males and not the carefree bad boy image which is heavily sold by dancehall and rap cultures. If we are serious about re-engineering our society then we must turn the academically inclined and ambitious male into a widely glorified sex symbol and dethrone the “bad man” image and discard it to the dustbin of society.
If that is done then popularity and glorification will centre on the image of an ambitious and productive male who abides by the law and contributes to the betterment of society. This is the formula for positive social engineering and the media is the tool which can accomplish this desperately needed task.
Toraino Beckford
torainobeckford@gmail.com