Devon DickEVERYBODY HAS a price was the statement made by Mr. Howard Mitchell when he announced the sale of Jamaica Lottery Company to former rival Supreme Ventures. That startling, well known statement is a profound analysis on that transaction and also gives an insight into the nature of gambling and ethos of the society.
It must have been a very good price for the Jamaica Lottery Company to fold its hand and call it a day because it was this same Lottery company that took Supreme Ventures to court over the use of a name. It is this same company that did not want its agents to sell the competitor's lottery tickets. Money makes the mare run.
On the surface everybody has a price could mean that everybody has a threshold and the secret of getting one to conform is to ascertain that threshold. If conditions are right, then one can always make a deal. If the incentives are right, then a compromise is possible. The MOU between the trade unions and the Govern-ment is one such example.
THE IMPLICATIONS
However, the implications of the connotation of that dictum is frightening. It has meaning for a country's values and attitudes, moral fibre and national security.
The intelligence community predicates its action on the philosophy that 'everybody has a price'. For their operations to succeed then they have to 'buy out ' people to betray secrets. So Jamaica is very vulnerable to other government's intelligence agents working against our national interests.
Furthermore, Jamaica is also at the mercy of the billion dollar illicit drug industry. The drug dons are filthy rich, well organised and ruthless. Last week, CVM TV showed a documentary researched by our own Lydia Thompson which gave insights into why persons get involved in the narcotics trade and how some get their arms twisted. Jamaica is fertile ground for 'druggists' to buy out police, politicians and pastors. In this environment the media and the judicial system have a price.
This is really one of the strong negatives of gambling. It reinforces the value of everyone having a price through the 'get rich quick' mentality. Just as how the USA value is summarised as 'greed',( as so proudly dramatised in the game show by that name), Jamaica will soon be defined as a place where everybody has a price.
The lottery advertisements have tended to encourage people to invest the winnings into something productive through transporting people or goods or buying a tractor for a farm. Though, there are some that stereotypes women has just wanting the earnings to get, 'facial and footcial' or to jump off a plane or out of a taxi. But the main message that comes across is that one should try to 'step up inna life'. Nevertheless, gambling generally fosters an environment that undergirds the thought that everyone has a price.
NATIONAL PROBLEM
This is not only the lottery companies' but a national problem. That so many people are giving themselves a chance through lottery is an indictment on the economic system of Jamaica and the world. The odds are stacked against winning lottery but that so many persons feel that those odds are better than studying hard and getting a good education and getting a good job or creating one is a sad reflection on the government, private sector, civil society and church. It would be sad also if they are working on a good education but lottery is like an insurance policy. It is an unjust system wherein persons work hard and long and still cannot make two ends meet. It is said that poverty is institutionalised through the minimum wage which cannot feed a family of five at a basic level. It is scandalous that Jamaica has one of the widest income level disparities between the 'haves' and 'have nots'. The nation must co-operate to offer the citizens some more hope.
The church does not believe in the power of money over lives. It does not support materialism over the spiritual. The Bible said that we have been bought with a price by the blood of Jesus and so we belong to him. We have been made in the image of God so we are priceless. We have been restored to being what we ought to be by the death of Christ for our sins. Therefore, all our activities should bring glory to God and be an expression of love for humankind and the world.
Everybody having a price is a dangerous principle and it is time Jamaicans recognise that that philosophy is fatal to national security and morality. Each human being is priceless and should behave accordingly.
The Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church.
