Devon Dick
JAMAICA'S TOURISM season officially started last week and, as usual, there are calls supporting casinos with the hackneyed stereotyping of church leaders who oppose casinos as hypocrites.
This is an old trick of attacking the messenger rather than dealing with the merits of the message. Even if the church leaders are hypocrites on the issue of gambling, it does not necessarily invalidate their arguments.
A hypocrite is one who does not practise what he or she preaches. It is one who proclaims certain moral standards, but the lifestyle does not correspond to that pronouncement. Nevertheless, a hypocrite can
speak the truth. In other words, a preacher might postulate that
adultery is wrong while he or she is in an adulterous relationship. That preacher is a hypocrite, but his message that adultery is wrong still stands. Therefore, the church
leaders' position cannot be
dismissed simply because others describe them as hypocrites.
That charge of hypocrisy is based on the false accusation that the church turns a blind eye to other forms of gambling therefore it should not say anything about casinos. The reality is that the church has consistently opposed all forms of gambling as stated in 'Rebellion to Riot: The Jamaican Church in Nation Building'. However, even if the allegation was true it would not be cogent reasoning as it would be like saying if someone thinks that one type of car is no good then that person can never claim that another type of car is better. In fact, one could be opposed more to casino gambling than other forms of gambling and still not be a hypocrite.
BILL ON GAMBLING
If one listened to this contention of hypocrisy, one would believe that only Christians oppose casinos. But that is not so in the UK. The Tony Blair government has introduced a bill on gambling, which Blair claims is to better regulate the gambling industry. The opponents oppose this bill because it is claimed that it would lead to the proliferation of casinos and attendant ills. Guess which institution is opposing this bill? All the major newspapers in the UK! In addition, 90 per cent of the British public oppose this bill although a survey of them showed that the majority of those same persons gambled in 2003.
I suppose that the Jamaican pro-casino lobbyists would claim that British people are hypocrites because they gamble while opposing the proliferation of casinos.
Another group opposing casinos in Britain is the Small Gamblers Business Association. Are they hypocrites or astute business people? The reality is that there are compelling arguments against the introduction of casinos in Jamaica, which are not being addressed. A little over a year ago, tourism officials invited some church leaders to listen to a professor who specialises in casino research. The professor gave a balanced presentation about the pros and cons of casinos. He also outlined the conditions under which introducing casinos would make sense. It is time the president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association revealed that presentation. For example, the professor said it would only make sense to introduce casinos if persons who visit the island came with disposable income that could be used at casinos. Where is the study which answers that condition and the other conditions for casinos to make sense?
SURVEY
The only survey that has been made public was one done by pollster Don Anderson. On July 7, Don Anderson shared the results of a survey on the viability of Jamaica hosting a Jamaica Music Revue. Don Anderson also found that when cruise ship and stop-over visitors in Jamaica were asked what other facilities they would like to be associated with this musical treat, not even one 'degeh, degeh' visitor wanted casinos. This is a most important discovery because the pro-casino lobby has consistently said that casinos would be a major earner of foreign currency.
The other implication of this survey is that tourists are not interested in casinos, so to make casinos viable, Jamaica would have to try and attract gamblers to visit Jamaica rather than hope that those who visit might gamble; or launch a massive advertising campaign to get visitors to play the tables. The other alternative is that casinos be marketed to Jamaicans.
Foreign investors who have transacted business in Jamaica's tourism continue to say that Jamaica has a good product because of its people, culture and scenery.
Where is the survey to show that casinos would add more to Jamaica's revenue when compared to investing in its human capital, culture and environment? There are many compelling arguments against casinos and no amount of classifying church leaders as hypocrites can deny that reality.
The Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of "Rebellion to Riot: the Jamaican Church in Nation Building."
