Safety? Tolerance? Freedom? Peace? - "Not here"

“Not here,” seems to be the dominant theme in today’s Compass editorial. It also seems to be the head-turning attitude toward anything not wholly Caymanian entering these islands.

“Not here.”

In today’s editorial The Compass is referring to the predominant Caymanian attitude toward homosexuality and suggests that the Caymanian attitude is that for all of the social and political evolution undergone here in Cayman over the past 500-plus years, one idea is strictly taboo; and that is homosexuality. It is not an accepted part of the Caymanian culture.

Culture – noun – 1) a particular civilization at a particular stage; 2) The tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group; 3) All the knowledge and values shared by a society.

I was thinking about it and realized something which may startle a lot of people. The Compass is 100% correct about the Caymanian culture and homosexuality.

“Not here.”

Because Cayman, 1) refuses to grow out of their homophobic stage; 2) exhibits poor taste and a lack of manners toward divergent cultures and philosophies and; 3) has little knowledge of their own values and a complete shared ignorance and indignation toward the values of others.

“Not here.”

And to go along with their “not here” philosophy, they’ve actually come up with a sort of mathematical formula (proof) for this process whereby they either accept or reject things in accordance with another mantra, “That’s not Caymanian.” The formula is:

Controversial position, gradually formed, strongly held = culture

Let’s give it a shot: Homosexuality in Cayman (controversial position) + Gay tourists (gradually formed)+ homosexuals respected as human beings (not strongly held)= culture

Homosexuality in Cayman = Caymanian culture – gay tourists – no regard for gays = “Not here.”

The formula works.

Now, let’s try it for murder.

Murder in Cayman + attitude toward murders + no one seems to care = culture

There have been, what… five murders in Cayman this year to only one “gay kiss?” Which means that we, as a society, are less tolerant of a gay kiss than of a murder. Gay people kissing is somehow more socially damning and repugnant than murder.

There have been more letters written to my blog and to the newspapers about two gay people kissing than about people getting set on fire, hacked and beaten to death with machetes and blunt objects, or shot.

The Compass states “…what they (homosexuals) are up against here is a cultural position, honed over time, and taken very seriously.” So Compass ed-board… what are the murder victims up against?

Has the concept of murder just not had enough time to take root in the psyche of Cayman, or have we simply not honed our attitude toward murder to a point whereby people might actually start taking the problem of an increase in violent crime seriously?

That is the preposterousness of the entire situation: people in Cayman are more concerned about homosexuality than about murder. Fools…

You go on to state in your column that “… how firmly these cultural decisions are held; once made, they are virtually unshakable…” This being the case, I would suggest that Cayman as a society is in for a much tougher test with the ever-increasing penchant for murder than we are with incidents of two same-sex people sharing a moment of tenderness in public.

Furthermore, your column seems to suggest that public acts of homosexuality are applied to your “not here” philosophy, but so long as these acts take place behind closed doors it’s okay. However, not the same can be said for murder.

I expected more out of the Compass. I expected more than just a simple, “We’re Caymanian – You’re not,” or a “Not in our house” attitude toward homosexuality. I expected more than the closing, “I told you so” conclusion.

I certainly expected more from everyone regarding Cayman’s five-to-one ratio of murders to gay kisses (thus far) in Cayman and the accompanying wholesale ignoring of the spike in violent crime in Cayman.

And I expected more than the Compass telling us, “You may not have noticed, but that culture you say Cayman doesn’t have? It just jumped up in your face.”

Well Cayman, you may not have noticed but that culture you say Cayman doesn’t have just jumped up in your face, beat you, shot you, hacked you to death with a machete, stuffed you in a car and set you on fire while you were watching two gay people kiss.

Welcome to your new culture of violence and murder. “That’s Caymanian” - and it’s not “not here” any more.

Comments

[Mike]

Wonderful analogy and very well written. Thank you and keep up the good work! Silence does indeed equal death, especially in the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and evidently, the Caribbean, in general. I, as well as most other people will not be traveling there, spending money or helping out these nations which depend on the tourist industry. What we are doing for sure is boycotting these homophobic countries and everything thereof, including their exported hate music. Each time I see a Jamaican or Cayman Island travel ad, I suddenly get furious.

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YOU ARE NOT ALONE. THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS - rtm

[HELLO]

The formula seems to work. As all this is going on, there is a story of a 15 year old tourist who was raped on seven mile beach. Is this story true and if so, why has no one in the media addressed it? How would the formula work with say... 15 year old tourist...beach...rape?

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LET'S SEE... THE FORMULA GOES LIKE THIS: CONTROVERSIAL POSITION + GRADUALLY FORMED + STRONGLY HELD = CULTURE.

RAPING KIDS + RAPING KIDS BECOMING FREQUENT + IGNORING IT SO IT WILL GO AWAY = CAYMANIAN CULTURE

WOW... IT WORKS PERFECTLY.

CAYMAN IS QUICKLY BECOMING AN UNDESIRABLE PLACE. IT'S A "NATALEE HALLOWAY" AWAY FROM TURNING INTO A BLACK-LISTED COUNTRY ON THE US STATE DEPARTMENT'S LIST. - rtm

[Hrag]

Good luck changing the culture...but don't worry ALL cultures eventually change but they need to be pushed.

[Red Knot]

That was Dave Martin's weekly column, not a compass editorial, although it appears as such on the website.
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SO I'VE HEARD. THANKS FOR THE CLARIFICATION. - rtm