Garth Rattray
I WASN'T too surprised when a violent mob of University of the West Indies (UWI) students attacked an alleged male homosexual. Only a few days prior to this incident, a good friend of mine, who works at the University of Technology (UTech), bemoaned the lack of discipline, ill-mannered and foul-mouthed behaviour of more than just a few students attending that institution of higher learning. She remarked that they were sometimes no better than wayward primary school children.
Not many years ago, a group of people (students among them) chased and caused the death of an alleged car thief on the UTech campus. These occurrences not only speak volumes about our troubled society, they also put those campuses of tertiary education in a bad light, portray glaring negatives about our education system and paint a rather gloomy picture of our future. After all, these students are the policy makers and leaders of tomorrow.
FRIGHTENING AND SHAMEFUL
True, the students involved were reflecting our violent and undisciplined society, but obviously their education is sorely lacking if it is almost entirely confined to their specific and narrow areas of interest. The pervasive corruption and indiscipline that permeate our modern-day society testify to our inability to retrain those young minds that have been tainted by the destructive, yet surprisingly accustomed hate and violence within Jamaica. It appears as if our primary, secondary and even tertiary institutions have failed in this regard.
It's frightening and shameful that some of our intellectual élite can so easily resort to uncivil, potentially deadly or even to deadly violence. What then are we to expect of our 'ordinary' citizens? Being educated is far more than the mere ability to regurgitate information. A truly educated individual is disciplined, cultured, sophisti-cated and skilled. There is an urgent need for mandatory core subjects designed to teach tolerance, discipline and honesty.
And, regarding this specific UWI attack, I can't fathom all this venom towards homo-sexuals. I have male and female friends, acquaintances and many patients who are either homo-sexual or bi-sexual. I am comfortable and confident in my heterosexuality, therefore I do not feel threatened by or in any way fearful of any of them. In fact, it is through them that I have come to understand that most are simply born with a homosexual (or bisexual) 'programming'. Granted, there appear to be some people who are so lascivious that they drift across the gender divide in lustful search of sexual adventure, but those seem to be in the minority.
There must be more to this unnatural dread and hate of homosexuals than religious or moral fervour. The bottom line on homosexual intolerance may, I believe, have roots in psychology. I recall way back in my introductory psychology classes learning about a defence mechanism called 'projection' (the attribution of unacceptable impulses to others). People who explode with irrational righteous indignation may be sub-consciously projecting their own deep, inner flaws onto others and then seeking to destroy them by hurting or killing their victim(s).
UNRAVELLING AT THE SEAMS
It seems to me that, as long as there is no molestation or recruitment involved, the sexual leaning of others is between them and God. All this anti-homosexual behaviour makes heterosexuals appear rabid, paranoid, unintelligent and (worst of all) insecure. It also gives ammunition, resolve and strength to the in-your-face pro-gay organisations.
Our society is slowly unravelling at the seams as the threads of discipline and propriety are eaten away by selfishness, greed, corruption and disorderliness. Hopefully this incident will highlight the need for an intensive, multi-level, educational programme aimed at significantly improving tolerance and social consciousness within all our students.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
