A pack of e-jokers
published: Monday | January 6, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HOPE you will accommodate my view on a vexing technological issue that has emerged in the Jamaican. A large percentage of people (including those in senior managerial positions) have proved themselves to be a 'pack of e-jokers.' This is manifested in the number of 'so-called' jokes, riddled with expletives and verbiage, that are being transmitted to hard-working and professional Jamaicans, both in the USA and other parts of the world. It is appalling to most of us Jamaicans living abroad, how management and rank and file workers in Jamaica, are engaged in this new type of 'keeping in touch' style.
How can employees use paid time to read, and then, forward pages and pages of garbage to another person's workplace? Where are the ethical values in business there? It is apparent that these people, can no longer write an intelligent line of conversation to their friends abroad. Is this the way people embrace technology in Jamaica? Or, am I missing something here? Is this the new mind-set in Jamaica now? Obviously, organisations have no control mechanisms in place to eliminate pilfering and abusing of information systems on the job.
I work in a multi-racial corporation, and no other ethnic group in my work-place receive tons of garbage, like us Jamaicans. The situation is no longer seen as humour, but as a profound sense of shallowness and annoyance on the parties involved. My 27-year-old son who is an intern at a law firm here in the US, nearly lost his internship because of this very problem. He met a Jamaican girl back home recently, and within the space of two days, his e-mail was inundated with over 12 of the most low-level lyrics one could think of. What happens to productivity and one's mode of thinking when it is guided by such imperatives?
I call on the private and public sectors to develop and implement strategies that can curb this unproductive office practice. I call on those involved, to 'stop this nonsense' and use the Internet as a tool to educate yourselves.
