Does Dancehall Music Affect The Society Negatively?
A Greek philosopher once said, "In argument, truth is born." Even though sometimes feelings and emotions come into play that confuse the issue at hand, usually an argument results in a new insight on the subject. Even if a person holds strong views that are unshaken by anything his adversary may say, he may nevertheless gain from the debate. It forces him to organize and analyze his views, leaving him with a clearer understanding of the subject than before. Further, his opponent's arguments help him better appreciate his views and their differences. Finally, the argument forces both to look inwards, at their character and value system. For these reasons, I enjoy debating issues that are important to me and of which I hold strong views. One such issue receiving great national attention is the negative effect of Dancehall music on the society. While music and culture has always been important to the Jamaican community on a whole, and more specifically to the inner-city communities where the music is a major part of their socializing and recreational activity, the focus has been shifted from the point of origin of Dancehall music’s content to spotlight its destination, as well as cowardly intensify debates around it, knowing that
not many scholars or professors are entrenched in this genre. The fallacy of this argument is that it doesn't differentiate between belief and action and leads to what I term as unfortunate loss in cultural and civic pride, as a country is divided between its own culture and that of others. Our Patois, drumming, dancing, singing and worshiping were attemtedly beaten out of us, but those traits embedded in our blood stream would not die. We were told that to pile up the plate with food was wrong, but they heaped the scraps off their lavish banquet tables unto our plates to feed us. The very fact that dancehall’s lyrics are in Patois automatically makes it wrong. This attitude displayed by the upper class, which seemed to be indicative of slave masters, has prevailed to this day as the saga continues. Since I attend a private Christian institution, in discussing this topic with my peers, I often find myself in the minority. Most of them support the view of Dancehall’s impact on society as negative, while I adhere to the views that dancehall is a key cultural matrix and social institution as well as an important alternative economy, especially for the poor, who are chronically unemployed or who want to avoid the rigors of minimum wage labour. Once we say society, it means that the accusation against Dancehall is generalized, however, the statistics are clear. From year to year the majority of gang, drugs and turf related violence has taken place, and continues to, in the ghettoes and the rate of increase of violence in other areas of the society can be accounted for by the increase
Some topics in this essay:
Riverton City,
,
Rocksteady Mento,
Dancehall Earlier,
St Andrew,
negative effect,
music culture,
accusation dancehall,
strong views,
half world,
upper class,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 1084
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
Example Essays Home
