Everywhere is Not Here

I wrote a piece about racism in cyberspace, reflecting on the experiences, I, and the members of PC-Jam (personal computers of Jamaica) experienced in 1995 when we first got onto the Superhighway.

One of the peculiar experiences we had was the attitude of Afro-Americans, (I think that’s the political correct term).

We, as many others, live in countries where the Prime Minister is Black, the Chief Justice is Black, the Chief of Police is Black…(you get where I’m going).

In many countries skin colour is not any more important ‘than the colour of the eyes’.

Afro-Americans don’t know this.  They think from Antarctica to Zambia they will experience racism.

They think everywhere is America, because America is a nation which believes that the whole world shares their culture, their ideas, their prejudice.

When I wrote an item about troubleshooting a business and mentioned ‘Keisha’ I was attacked by an Afro-American saying;  “You’re racist!  No Black woman would hold that position at a 5 Star Hotel!”

Excuse me?

The problem one faces when they believe that what they think they know is universal is that they make fools of themselves universally.

Like the people in Orwell’s 1984, they believe what they are told regardless of reality.

In Jamaica more people are killed by Police than in America.

As of July 136 Black people were killed by police in America. America has over 200 Million People.

Jamaica has under 3 Million.

On average, One person is killed by the police EVERY DAY.

The person killed is Black.  The Police Officer who kills him is Black.    Unfortunately, we can’t use racism as the catch bag for the why.

WE can talk class, politics, and cowardice on the part of police.  We can discuss any psychological or sociological topic, but we can’t talk ‘race’.

Many times in Court, one will see a Black Judge, a Black prosecutor, a Black defendant, Black Court Staff, and maybe one white attorney… maybe, for 99% of all attorneys are Black.

Yet, there are people in America who continue to believe that all over the world those who trace their ancestry to Africa are being subjected to racism.

I use this example because it is so glaring, but there are many other assumptions based on one using their nationality as the meter board and judging every where else on their scale.

We, in Jamaica, learned that assumptions are made about 3rd world and 4th world nations and the citizens.

A friend of mine was a computer engineer who, because he came from Jamaica was treated as if he wouldn’t know a mother board from a checker board.

Now that he has been abducted and forced to work for a major computer manufacturer in America, the same words he typed pre-abduction which were slapped away, are given credence.

What one has to do, to avoid becoming a universal fool is to pause before making that blanket statement.  Pause, because unless you live in the country you are discussing, you really don’t know.

I recall six years ago when something happened in a section of Kingston.  The BBC made it seem the entire island was in riot.

I was living 5 miles from Central Kingston, and I didn’t know anything was going on until I heard it on the News. I had gone to the petrol station, the supermarket, spoke to people, it was an average day.

Having lived through that I am very cautious about discussing events in other countries where I don’t live, especially when all I know about the situation is what Perfidious Albion, (the BBC) decides to broadcast.

Aware of the bias of the various news broadcasters, I am not sure if what they are telling me is true, false, partially true, conscious bias, propaganda, or prank.

This prevents me from accepting what I hear as true.

As time passes and there are less places for the average person to post their reality, the grip of the bias broadcasters increases.

Originally, many writing sites had people all over the world who would post what was happening ‘on the ground’ so that one got flavours of reality different from the ‘Official’ version.

As time has passed, many of these sites no longer exist, and those that do will prevent people from posting by having ridiculous requirements for images with the exact size specified, (meaning that the photograph which belongs to the prose can NOT be used) or other such silly hurdles to discourage free speech.

Those who drive in Cyber-Space have to recognise that where they live is not the world, it is in the world.  What they read from official channels may not be true.