Prime Minister Andrew Holness is seemingly worried about the influence that “Daggering” might have on our children.
Addressing a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council Four Annual General Meeting on Sunday, held at the Rusea’s High School in Lucea, Hanover he stated the following.
“The guys who are doing this ‘Daggering’ dance, they are creative, but they need to understand that what they are projecting into the minds of our children is that violence is acceptable. And then that becomes the projection of Jamaica overseas that we are a violent people. And, then, you have a dispute and the only way to resolve the dispute is what you have been taught coming up for years. Box him down! Stab him up!” Holness warned.
“We have to stop this. The new dance that has evolved now… I don’t have nothing against the culture… I am a big reggae fan and I listen to dancehall. And, I tell you something, we cannot allow violence to take away our true culture and that is being projected as the culture of Jamaica. We must stand up, talk to the entertainers, talk to the promoters,” he added.
Holness also hit out against the use of violence as a means of punishing and having control over another person, arguing that this has become a part of our culture which must be expunged.
Holness argued that this is manifested in some relationships of domestic abuse.
“Boy, if him no beat mi, him no love mi,” Holness said.
He also cited corporal punishment in schools as another example.
“But, what are we teaching our children when we use violence? That violence is the only means to correct someone who does something wrong? Violence is a tool of control when other societies have evolved past that? They don’t need to use violence on their children in order to discipline and correct them and they don’t have any murders there,” Holness said.
