Sign #37
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 |Another sign that some parents really have no idea what their kids are doing on the internet.
Lord Fa-da!
Archive for the ‘Social Issues’ Category
URP
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 |Make-work programmes are worse than outright social security handouts, because people think they’re working when they’re wasting time. - BC Pires
We’ll get back to this quote in a little bit. I got back the internet this past Thursday after not having it for about two weeks. Not having access to the internet when I want it is not as bad as going without current or water, but it’s still quite distressing. You never really know how much you value it till it’s gone.
Anyway, I’ve been dying to share with you something I saw just before school closed for Easter. There’s a primary school near where I live that makes use of a bunch of URP workers. My guess would be about 10 or so of them which is easy to estimate since they’re usually sitting together in the shade talking and laughing scandalously i.e. they hardly ever seem to be working.
So one day I was looking out towards the school and I saw three of them doing work for a change, but the manner in which they were doing it was so ridiculous I couldn’t stop watching. Apparently picking up trash in a school yard is such an intricate and unwieldy assignment that it takes no fewer that three URP women working in tandem to accomplish this task - you’d think they were manning a bob sled or piloting Mr. Solo or something.
So these three people were walking together picking up trash in the school yard after recess. One walked with a garden rake, the next a long-handled dust pan and the last armed herself with a trash can. As they came upon a piece of trash URP Woman A places her dust pan in front of the trash while URP Woman B nudged it into the scoop. URP Woman B then completes the trash removal act by emptying the contents of the scoop into (you guessed it) the trash can carried by URP woman C. Rinse and repeat.
Well I was in awe. I never knew that trash collecting required so much manpower. And to think that I reenslave myself everytime my dogs make a mess in the yard. All kicks aside, there is something so obscene about seeing that the other day. What a complete waste of time, money and manpower. 
Whatever happened to someone walking around with stick and a bag? That’s all it takes! I know that we here in T&T are not as technologically advanced as other countries, but for goodness’ sake we could put together a sharp stick and a bag. And the point isn’t really that they are making a mountain out of a mole hill, it’s that they really don’t have anything to do. This is why I put up that quote from an article that BC Pires wrote
(that can be found here in its entirety). I have to agree with him, this can’t be work. How can this be work? The scary thing is that these women probably think that they’re actually making a honest day’s wage, which if you really think about it really skews the debate on adequate compensation.
So how many URP women does it take to pick up a candy wrapper? The answer is not as funny as you would think.
(Before anyone accuses me of being sexist, I should tell you that all the workers at this school are women.)
No Love For The Yout’ Dem
Friday, October 19th, 2007 |I read today that both the UNC Alliance and the People’s National Movement blanked the Youth Forum hosted on Wednesday at the Normandie Hotel. They blanked it big time too. Neither of the aforementioned parties sent a single representative to the forum to hear the concerns of the youth.
The Congress of the People showed up however sending not just a representative, but its political leader Winston Dookeran. The members of the forum took the opportunity to hand over their manifesto to Mr. Dookeran where it detailed the top ten issues that were of concern to the youth which were: crime, employment, health, education, abuse, housing, family life, equal opportunity, corruption and abuse of power. The manifesto was the product of a survey conducted during a Youth Voter Awareness Campaign organized by the Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women from August 6 to August 11, 2007.
Now it’s bad enough that neither the UNC-A or the PNM attended, but something stuck me as very odd this morning. Just yesterday this ad appeared in the Express:
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| Advertisement for UNC’s Youth Vibes Rally |
So let’s get this straight. The UNC-A would rather promote a passa passa fete than to meet with the youth of the nation to discuss real issues?
Get your tickets now, folks for the Youth Vibes Rally featuring man like Richie Spice, man like King David, man like Gitta Dan.
Isn’t there something terribly wrong with this picture?
I cringe when I think of the meeting where this decision was made. Yeah, why don’t we hold a “Youth Vibes Rally” with a lot of reggae start. I hear the kids like that kind of thing”. Sheesh.
Part of me wants to believe that it was merely an oversight, but I refuse to think that the youth of the nation can be so easily forgotten. Notice on that same flier there is no mention of issues or speakers. It is all out fete.
Is that their perception of the youth? Partiers and limers who have no interest in issues? My word!
Security Detail on the Nestum
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 | |
| Photo from today’s Newsday: Where we going? |
Looking at this Newsday photo it occurred to me that things could still be worse. When the Securicor guards with the shotguns start delivering the milk, that’s when you know inflation is out of control. When I was in the Midwest stores it was the firearms and Sudafed they kept under lock and key, here it’s the baby milk.
Nice Move by the UNC
Thursday, June 28th, 2007 |I thought it was a brilliant move on the part of the United National Congress to swear in Cindy Gibbs as a temporary senator. After all, it is Ms Gibbs and the union of which she is a part that will be affected by the Government’s decision to put an end to the local gaming industry. So what better idea is it than for her to come before senate and speak?
In light of so many Trinbagonians complaining that they don’t have a voice in the nation’s matters, I like that the UNC gave Ms Gibbs an opportunity to speak even though it did not change the voting. Maybe more opposition parties will offer everyday citizens to speak in the Senate on matters that directly affect them once that person is eloquent enough to do so. It will unlikely have no effect on the Government’s voting, but it is an opportunity to face one’s “tormentors” as it were.
Personally I don’t agree with gambling, because I think that it’s one of those things that does more harm than good. I do however feel sorry for the casino workers 7,000 of which will be out of a job. To go from well-paying legal job to unemployed and broke must be devastating. So I do hope that if it is phased out, it will be done over a period of at least two years so that the workers are given time to acquire new skills.
So even though this hasn’t gone the way Ms Gibbs would have liked, how many ex-casino workers will have “former senator” listed on their résumés?
Why Hazel, Why???
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 | |
| Protesting Student at Febeau Government Primary |
This came over CNC3’s newscast last night. It’s not so much the fact that this little girl is protesting that bothers me, in fact I’d rather have students protest than have them eat pigeon droppings with their lunches. It’s the sign that gets to me.
You have to wonder what a parent is thinking when she pushes such a placard into the hands of her daughter without giving a second thought to the propriety of a child referring to the Minister of Education by her first name.
Sadly, I guess this is where we are as a society isn’t it?
A school protest is such a commonplace occurrence now, that it’s hard for me to think back to a week when there wasn’t one, but surely it hasn’t become so commonplace now that parents toss respect out the window just as effortlessly as this, has it?
But in a country where parents beat and cuss teachers, this is the kind of thing that will just slip quietly under the radar.
Akon Zen Trinidad Nappy-Headed Hos
Friday, April 20th, 2007 |
Akon
Well, well. If you don’t know the story already, Akon held a concert in Trinidad recently at the Zen nightclub and sometime later, video surfaced showing Akon going ape-shit (I think that’s the scientific term) with a young lady who had responded to his call to wine for a chance to win a trip to Africa. Evidently Akon himself was “Africa” and the display in the video was the young lady’s “prize”. If you haven’t seen the video, I think the best description would be public rape with clothes. Akon can bee seen dry-humping the woman and dragging what you may mistake for her lifeless body all over the stage. The video and the reaction to it are now plastered all over the internet. Google the words “Akon Trinidad” and see for yourself.
Turns out that rumours that the girl ,Deena, is a 14 year old pastor’s daughter is true seeing as the pastor, Dave Alleyne, was interviewed in today’s Express. A 14-year-old pastor’s daughter going to an Akon concert?
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| Before the Incident (Photo from the TriniScene Website) |
First off, what hope do we have when a pastor will let his 14 year old daughter go to an Akon concert? (Does anyone remember R. Kelly?) That alone is bewildering to me. Honestly, what was he thinking? You’re the pastor of a church, man. Yet he defended his daughter saying that “She likes dancing and won a competition”. He also added that she became a victim in a situation where she had no control. He also said, and I quote from the Express, “They are innocent to the wicked ways of the world and it is our responsibility as elders to keep them safe.” I don’t know what you’d call that barely-there red top, matching heels, low-rider jeans and lower back tattoo, but “innocent” isn’t the word that comes to mind. She’s wearing a crucifix though, so I guess it’s all OK.
Secondly, Akon. There’s not much I can say for Akon except that I’m more than just a little disgusted. I don’t think I have ever seen anything more dehumanizing being passed off as entertainment. To see a big strong man like Akon treat another woman like a hump toy without any regards to her personal safety is appalling to me.
Don ImusDre is reporting that YouTube removed the video from its servers on the basis of “copyright infringement”. Apparently Universal Music notified YouTube of the infringement caused by the 48-second video, yet ignored all the other full-length Akon videos on the site. Sounds like UM is afraid of a little lawsuit.
Interestingly enough, the parent company of Universal Music is NBC Universal which in turn is the parent company of MSNBC who suspended radio show host Don Imus over his “nappy-headed hos” comment before he was fired from CBS radio. Do you see where I’m going with this? Ironically Universal Music has other artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, Dre and the late Tupac Shakur under its corporate belt. I’m wondering whether NBC Universal or even Universal Music will take any action over this. Surely it must be worse to treat a woman like a nappy-headed ho, than to call her one, right? Or maybe it is that women are nappy-headed hos at least some of the time.
Further Reading:
Dre
Dre
Karabana
Attillah
Afrobella
Karel McIntosh
| Sorry, no more comments on this post. |
No Indians in Advertisements?
Monday, April 9th, 2007 |Lawyer and newspaper columnist Anand Ramlogan wrote the following piece in yesterday’s Sunday Guardian:
One Indian male to go
Could someone explain why Indian men are so scarce in advertisements? In a country where we’re hardly a minority, the conspicuous absence is glaring and shocking.Is it that we have no purchasing power and companies can comfortably ignore us with impunity?
This is one of the sorest points with the Indo-Trinidadian community, and it is often used or misused to buttress perceptions of and discussions on discrimination, alienation and marginalisation.
I am sick and fed up of hearing people complain about how interracial or mixed couples are always portrayed by reference to a non-Indian man.
Women of all races (and yes, quite a lot of good-looking Indian ones too boot) are frequently shown as partners or spouses of African, mixed and white men, but it is as if it is a criminal offence to show them in a relationship with an Indian man.
Small wonder it is used as ammunition and evidence by those who believe in sinister conspiracy theories about this being part of the attempt to assimilate or “douglarise” us.
Indian men are relegated to the mandatory rum and roti advertisements or flour and oil. And, of course, the Clico ad about the rural rice farmer “who knows where to go for good financial advice.”
The pot-belly, lethargic stereotype from the countryside features a lot, but it’s bad advertising to show young good looking Indian guys in ads.
We don’t go to gyms or play any sports, and hence don’t look good enough to be associated with any product.
I was thrilled to see Denesh Ramdhin and Ramnaresh Sarwan featuring in a Digicel advertisement, with Chris Gayle on the cover of Air Caribbean’s magazine.
In fact, Digicel’s advertisements have been a breath of fresh air! Digicel seems to have discovered that we exist and have broken with tradition by using Indian men in its ads.
(Mind you, we are yet to feature in any of the ads with sexy girls whispering sweet nothings into the ears of their boyfriends—that might have been pushing it too far!)
No company has given us such prominence in ads before.Thank you, Digicel.
Compare Digicel to bmobile. Imagine the Cricket World Cup advertisement with our prince, Brian Lara, calling friends to play cricket with a youth on the beach does not contain a single Indian in it!
I wonder if bmobile would have ever dared to run such an ad with only Indians in it? If it did, I wonder how the non-Indian community would have felt.
Add this to the on-going bmobile soap opera with Margaret trying to use her hunky neighbour’s phone and all the other ads and you will see that we Indian men are simply not the “smart choice” when it comes to bmobile!
(And no, Spalk does not represent us, he is mixed). To make matters worse, the one Indian artiste bmobile sponsors (Raymond Ramnarine) has done his best to look like Shurwayne Winchester, cane rows and all, because he is in the midst of a grave identity crisis, or thinks he would get further with his crossover music if he dilutes his Indian-ness.
Sadly, he’s probably right.
When an Indian guy does feature in an ad, his role is peripheral and subsidiary. Even when it comes to little children, Indian boys are treated in a similar manner—never the centre of attention with the pretty girl.
I challenge readers to conduct their own informal survey. Even with children, the discrimination is the same: Indian girls, yes, Indian boys no, or, with a minor subsidiary role.
Scotiabank’s advertisement of its sponsorship of West Indies Kiddies cricket barely manages a token reference glimpse of an Indian boy.
Could Scotiabank have ever constructed this ad with a young Indian boy hitting a six and smashing the glass in the bank, only to be comforted by an Indian bank manager? I doubt it.
Only last week, the press published pictures of Nataki Dilchan, a clerk from the House of Representatives, and Joseph Dipnarine, whose daughter was murdered.
It reminded many that non-Indian women do, in fact, choose us as their life partners. No ethnic group has a monopoly on racially-mixed couples.
Why not have some balance and reflect our diverse racial groups?
For those without the capacity to walk around in our shoes and see how nasty it feels to be treated as though we have the plague by the advertising industry, I have composed this poem for you to sing:
If yuh mixed, yuh fixed
If yuh Afro, yuh good to go
If yuh Indian, yuh just not Caribbean.
I’m not a fan of Anand Ramlogan in any way, shape, form or fashion. I think he’s one of those people who looks at the world through jaundiced eyes and then complains that the whole world is yellow. Reading his columns from week to week, I think (in my own personal opinion), reveals a man who is willing to believe the worst about us. However, as with anyone, it’s impossible to be wrong 100% of the time and this may be one of those instances.
There really aren’t any Indian men in advertisements save for a few. Why is that? It’s something that’s really easy to ignore if you’re not looking for it, but broaching the subject makes it inescapably apparent.
I tried hard to think up some ads where Indian males were present, and all I could come up with were the Digicel ads and one Scotiabank ad with a some guys playing cricket. That’s about it. There are Indian women of course, but then again, there have always been Indian women. But why no Indian guys? Are there no handsome ones? Surely, if anything, there are light-skinned Indian men, and we know how advertisers just love the light-skinned people. So why not them?
What Mr. Ramlogan said here is particularly striking:
Compare Digicel to bmobile. Imagine the Cricket World Cup advertisement with our prince, Brian Lara, calling friends to play cricket with a youth on the beach does not contain a single Indian in it!I wonder if bmobile would have ever dared to run such an ad with only Indians in it? If it did, I wonder how the non-Indian community would have felt.
Can you see that ever happening? A group of Indian men and women on a beach playing cricket? You and I both know that will never happen.
I think that if a visitor were to sit and watch an hour or so of Trinbagonian TV commercials, and maybe sift through a random selection of newspaper ads before going out into public, they’d be in for a big surprise. The discrepancy between what is fed to us and what is true is huge and it’s a little sad to see that.
Of course there could be other factors coming into play rather than just discrimination. It could be an unwillingness to participate, but I think that’s a stretch at best.
I’ve become tired of listening to conversations about “dem Indian and dem” or “dem Creole and dem” and ever since I began this blog, I’ve made it a point to call a spade a spade. There is just so much abject stupidity floating around these days and people are unwilling to be honest for fear of letting their race down. After all, what kind of Indian are you if you criticize Indians, or what kind of African are you if you criticize Africans? Surely that makes you a race traitor. And so when I began this blog, I wanted it to represent me and my beliefs as closely as possible. That having all been said, what do I think the reason is for this discrepancy? I think advertisers are pandering to stereotypes and prejudices. Somewhere along the way (or maybe it has always been so) the image of the Indo male became unpalatable to some and advertisers decided to ease our discomfort. And so to advertising agencies, Trinbagonian means “African” and, only coincidentally, light-skinned*. I really want this to be not true, but unfortunately, I don’t get to sit in board rooms and make decisions.
*Yes, the incessant light-skinned fare bothers me almost as much. Not that light-skinned people don’t exist in Trinidad and shouldn’t be represented as such, but dark-skinned people - especially dark-skinned women - do also exist.
Ex-Senator Harry Mungalsingh
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 |‘Tis so sad to make familiar mistakes.
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| Harry Mungalsingh (Express Photo) |
He was wrong. He said he was caught up in the heat of the moment (although he was reading from a script at the time) He’s sorry, however. But he was fired (as he should have been). Kudos to the UNC for acting quickly and decisively.
But what got me, is how could a man be so emboldened (to use Dubya’s word) to say what he did? Do people really think and talk like this? Was this a bad joke that Mungalsigh mistook for a good idea.
Although I’m not entirely sure about the topic, this reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine a while back. I think he was talking to me about Hinduism and was trying to illustrate to me some Hindu philosophy or something like that. Anyway, he was telling me about a question he had asked his pundit about crime and the answer his pundit gave. The question was, “Since people who commit crime seem to come from certain areas, would it be ethical to seal of their communities and prevent them from mixing with the rest of us?”
“No,” the pundit says, “you can’t do that because blah, blah, blah.”
After he related the pundit’s answer, he smiled gleefully as though he had laid a golden egg right there in front of me.
The reason I use the “blah, blah, blah there is not to disrespect the pundit or his answer, I think I remember it being right and fitting, but to be honest I can’t really remember it because I was still stuck on the question. I sat there thinking, “you’ve had thoughts about walling-off communities? Who are you? Have I really known you for 20 years?”
And so when it comes to Mungalsing, it’s the thought that counts. While the question is disturbing in itself, it’s Mungalsingh’s thoughts I’m troubled by. Who else thinks like this?
Read Atillah Springer’s thoughts on the matter.
Caribbean Bottlers Limited’s Great Folly
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 | |
I have a big gripe with Caribbean Bottlers Limited. Huge gripe. Caribbean Bottlers Limited is the company that bottles Coca Cola. My particular gripe isn’t with Coca-Cola or any Coca-Cola product. I have a problem with the current radio ad for an energy drink called Ciclon (Also spelled Ciclón) that Caribbean Bottlers Limited is pushing for Carnival. Here is a transcript of the ad:
(soca music playing in background)
Man 1: I really enjoy myself boy, but yuh see me? I had enough. I going home!
Man 2: Wha? But yuh leaving? Hmm. Yuh know we have to take one for the road? Yes! Drunk or sober, we taking one for the road!
Man 1: I could agree with that, but I taking a Ciclon for the road. I looking for relief from all those spirits I just had.
Man 2: Watch, brodda, I eh having it no other way. A beastly cold Ciclon and yuh on the road!
Both: T&T, this carnival, drink Ciclon, energize yourself and get home safe!
When I first heard this ad I wondered, “are these people really saying what I think they’re saying? Are they saying that drinking Ciclon makes you less drunk or even worse yet, fit to drive?” The message in it was so striking, it brought me online here to see if it’s ever been determined if sports drinks like Red Bull have ever been proven to alleviate the effects of alcohol. Of course it hasn’t. And just for the record, Red Bull and Ciclon have the same active ingredients including caffine, taurine, and I guess about a metric tonne of sugar.
Let me say right of the bat that nowhere in the ad is Caribbean Bottlers Limited saying that Ciclon energy drink is some kind of antidote to alcohol or a drink that helps the user feel less drunk. At least the don’t say that in plain English, but anyone who listens to the ad will understand that that is the intent of their message.
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Among college age drinkers in the United States, there is an urban legend that mixing energy drinks and in particular Red Bull, with alcohol “combats the effects of alcohol”. And so may collage-age drinkers tend to mix their alcoholic drinks with Red Bull thinking that they won’t get as drunk. This of course is nowhere near the truth.
They certainly feel less drunk, but their coordination, visual reaction times and breath-alcohol levels do not improve upon drinking alcoholic beverages mixed with energy drinks. Again, Caribbean Bottlers Limited isn’t advocating mixing their drinks with alcohol, but instead consuming them afterwards. I hardly think the effects of drinking a Ciclon and alcohol mix compared to consuming each one after the other could have a great difference in effect.
Not only is there no truth in the belief that mixing energy drinks with Ciclon can make you more sober, but it’s just dangerous. For one, mixing powerful stimulants contained in some energy drinks with depressants in alcohol could cause cardiopulmonary or cardiovascular failures. I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good.
Secondly it gives drivers a false sense of sobriety that encourages them to get behind the wheel. A drinker may feel more alert but the alcohol is actually having the same effect on them. They are still just as impaired. Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at the Yale University School of Medicine, said:
“This is just the combination that might lead to very bad judgments. Feeling less intoxicated and more alert, one might get behind the wheel of a car, but with impaired coordination and reaction time, that decision might spell disaster.”
The combination of energy drinks and alcohol doesn’t reduce the effects of alcohol — it only makes you think it does.
Rersearcher Maria Lucia Souza-Formigoni, PhD, who works in the psychobiology department of Brazil’s Federal University of Sao Paolo did a study to test the alcohol/energy drink Urban Legend. She found that people who consume the mixed drinks are just as impaired as if they drank alcohol alone, but are in denial about it. The 26 men who took part in the study rated themselves much more sober than they actually were. They may have felt that they were more alert and a little more awake, but in reality, their reflexes were not changed whatsoever
And this is the Urban Legend, the lie, that Caribbean Bottlers Limited seems to be selling to us and to drivers. The lie that Ciclon can sober you up. Of course in a court of law, it will be said that never explicitly said this, only surreptitiously. But just look at the words and statements being used and the sentiments being expressed:
“…but I taking a Ciclon for the road. I looking for relief from all those spirits I just had.”“…A beastly cold Ciclon and yuh on the road!”
“T&T, this carnival, drink Ciclon, energize yourself and get home safe!”
You don’t have to work at Scotland Yard to catch their meaning.
Against the backdrop of all our social problems, all our fatal accidents due to alcohol, in a season that’s prone to overindulgence; against the fact that it’s very difficult for police officers to take impaired drivers off the roads, it really boggles the mind how Caribbean Bottlers Limited could put out such a deceptive and slyly-worded ad such as this that is so incredibly dangerous - a virtual loaded weapon to an unsuspecting and sometimes gullible public. Where’s our Consumer Affairs Division anyway?
How do the people at Caribbean Bottlers Limited sleep at night? You think it’s only the bandits, rapists and drug dealers that have lost their souls? Think again.
