Gogouyave.com's Forum



Gouyave Talk
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
Mother Country : how bad a mother is a bad mother in 'conditioning' her colonial siblings?

Picking up another seam post thread, with regard to 'Pre (and or Post) Colonial Caribbean folk’s conservatism' nature - From a sociological perspective, I believe that the Caribbean folks, during their slavery days, were 'conditioned' to accepting or adopting values - did they have a choice? The formatting of new names? These adoptive values from a visual perspective, based on plantation owners expectations and values. Most of the plantation owners, may have flaunted their conservative ideologies to 'voiceless' slaves - after all we read of a range of professionals seeking new wealth away from the shores of the Mother Country!

Being taken by force into slavery, could have turned the table around for some of the slaves, as some of the 'voiceless' slaves, may have emerged from royal dynasty and would of course had their own tribal values, and may have had the privileged of been weighted on hands and foot by their own slaves.(Mother Country was having none of this behaviour, maybe that is when Mother started her reign of 'badness')

The slaves would have psychologically held their own values, one read about slave rebellions during the slavery period, - which of course may have resulted in 'lashes' across their back. Even today, some parents dictate their own values to their children, and some folks may now with alternative lifestyles, employment aspects, some values of 'do what you like' may be mind boggling, but it may allow the child like a bird to be set free to discover and roam to new 'undreamed of' heights of par excellence, some parents who may have lovingly showed excellence by dictating with authority their values, for example, their academic expectations for their little darlings, some of these at times self seeking passed down values have resulted in 'losing' their children to other societal trends, even to the breaking of parental hearts.

As my own life line journey continues by the grace of God, I am open to more subjective reflective thoughts, that the Caribbean folks were 'conditioned' to these conservative stereotypical values - I hasten to add that I am sitting nicely on any 'political' fence, and not in the condemnation business. Many black folks have flourished professionally or socially, under any type of national governing body - some excelling academically, artistically or... simple, just as a song goes ....'with a little bit with a little bit of luck'.

So, I open a new can of worms, with a question, subjectively, I believe that the Caribbean folks during and after slavery were subjected to 'conditioning conservatism' by of course, their dominant, possibly 'conservative leader style' plantation owners of whatever government ideologies' they pursue on their 'voiceless slaves' to ensure their self-fulfilling prophecies of whatever nature - as Mother's badness has no doubt passed down several generations.

Re: Mother Country : how bad a mother is a bad mother in 'conditioning' her colonial siblings?

Dear Lady<

You doh play ha ting in ur skin nuh.

Re: Mother Country : how bad a mother is a bad mother in 'conditioning' her colonial siblings?

Lady G,

>>>>>>.....Being taken by force into slavery, could have turned the table around for some of the slaves, as some of the 'voiceless' slaves, may have emerged from royal dynasty and would of course had their own tribal values, and may have had the privileged of been weighted on hands and foot by their own slaves.(Mother Country was having none of this behavior, maybe that is when Mother started her reign of 'badness')........<<<<<<<

This segment of your theory is a novel attempt at providing an Anthropological thesis on the possible origins of conservatism in some of our Black folks; one that can even rival Darwin’s "Evolution of the Species through Natural Selection" Theory. I can certainly see this taking root on this side of the pond among those who sometimes have a hard time explaining-way their ubiquitous position while sitting nicely on that 'political' fence, in full condemnation (unlike you, of course) of their Black Brothers and Sisters. The preamble to your theory is also worthy of noting, as it recognizes the immorality of our Mother Country Masters and the social, cultural and even political predicament of our Forefathers that may have led to shaping their minds.

But as I am a "discriminating customer" who thrives on exercising my first line of defense; frugality and scrutiny whenever I see a new product (as in the case cited above), I find it necessary to interject with a commonly used phraseology in our Gouyave lexicon and with its associated parlance by saying, "eh-eh!, ah doh buying dat".

Lady G, there seems to be a hidden implication here; one that suggests a Black African predisposition to conservatism by way of one's social, economic and (in this case) monarchical inherent status and that our "West Indian brand of socialism" may have been a delayed construct of these traits. I will argue however, that our "brand" is a derivative of the innate biological attributes inherent in everyone (not just Blacks) that became the last vestiges of hope in fighting this new evil designation of slavery. I say so in recognition of the fact that whatever luxuries of accommodation some may have been accustomed to in Africa, they all went away with their capture and most certainly, with their deaths. But these innate biological attributes continues to survive even with generational changes, hence the difference. So the word conservative, when used to describe West Indians at best (being kind here) provides a spurious relationship within the nomenclature of a conservative designation, hence leaving the so-called, self-designated Black Conservatives scrambling to explain "who 'Put' dem so!"

>>>>>>>>......subjectively, I believe that the Caribbean folks during and after slavery were subjected to 'conditioning conservatism' by of course, their dominant, possibly 'conservative leader style' plantation owners of whatever government ideologies' they pursue on their 'voiceless slaves' to ensure their self-fulfilling prophecies of whatever nature......<<<<<<<

Indeed! and may I add, which was a stark contrast to the psychotic Plantation Owners of North America and the Chattel Slavery prolonged by an antagonistic political establishment that followed and exists even today, hence the difference between the two forms of Conservatisms.

VJL