The media are among the major agents of socialisation, and I would argue that in many societies, they have surpassed the influence of the family. Therefore, there should be an awareness of the tremendous role media play in the moulding of young minds and the setting of acceptable standards (morals and values) for the general populace.

The rubbish being played by disc jockeys clearly indicates the abandonment of principles and acceptable societal norms to make way for coarseness, crudeness and downright nastiness because it is considered easier to sell. This means more listenership and an easier market to pour toxin into the minds of many of our uneducated and untrainable youth.

The Broadcasting Commission seems to have found the avalanche of nastiness too powerful to handle, or the stench has so much permeated the society, that it is in a state of inertia.

Limited education

The renegade dancehall artistes who are endowed with limited education, but seize the opportunity to make a dollar by grabbing a mike and spewing a 'barrage' of lyrics about killing informer, 'dissing' our, women and other ineffable nonsense can always ride the old worn-out excuse that they are merely talking about their life experiences. However, what excuses do our managers and owners of these radio stations put forward for their complicity in the degradation and massacre of the Jamaican moral fibre?

There are also academics who run to the rescue of these foul-mouthed deejays whenever someone points out the negative impact their violent lyrics are likely to have on an already violent society.

I am not for one second saying that these deejays are all the same, as there are many whom I consider to be very good lyricists, almost bordering on genius. They are also from the inner city and were from poor backgrounds, with death and mayhem playing a major part in their daily lives, but they were far more witty and creative in their lyrical content. This further erodes the argument that these present deejays are echoing the experiences of all ghetto youth by spouting their venom of hate and violence through their music.

BLEEPING DOES NOT HELP

It is time for the defenders of decency and acceptable moral values to take a stand against those who believe that crudeness, nastiness and slackness are acceptable behaviour because "a we culcha".

The radio stations must stop playing songs that are not fit for airplay. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate the radio stations from the dancehall. Bleeping out parts of a song is not good enough and does not make sense at all.

The managers of radio stations also need to employ people who are trained in communication and not just to play music. The spoken language by some of our radio presenters is sometimes bad enough to give any listener a heart attack.

I am, etc.,

ROSE KIFFIN

Kiffin2@yahoo.com