14 july 2003
there are many, many things that i want to talk about at guyanatruth and even though this means guyanatruth will be populated mostly by my thoughts and opinions, i'm sure that a lot of people out there are concerned with the issues mentioned.

i've always felt hesitant to approach certain issues because they seem be better handled as part of a larger topic. for example, i've never wanted to discuss kfc selling unhealthy, really disgusting deep-fried chicken to guyanese under the guise of it being a "super deal" or a "wholesome meal" because i felt this issue would be better handled as evidence in support of the larger issue: the corporate exploitation of guyana, mainly by foreign companies that are expert in mind control and marketing.

today, however, i am going to talk about an issue--the party-mentality among young guyanese--even though i feel it would be better placed in a document/essay as support of a larger issue: the "deculturisation" and americanisation of guyanese at home, chiefly young guyanese.

everything that i say from this point is based on what i know of guyana up to 2000 (when i left to attend school in the states) and three trips to guyana since then. things may have changed entirely. most likely, they haven't.

the party-mentality among young guyanese is the idea that if they're not partying, they're wasting their youth. it's the obsession with the fabled party/club scene as portrayed by the american media: television, magazines and the internet. it's the "work hard, play hard" american sensibility thrown across to a country that just can't afford it. literally.

every week, there are advertisements everywhere for the biggest "bashment" yet, to take place that very weekend. there are countless tv shows that claim to do the people a favour by bringing them the hottest, latest music videos. of course the videos are illegally duplicated in the states and then broadcasted in guyana, demonstrating the lengths we'll go to for american entertainment. most of the shows are really one-hour commercials for coca-cola, pepsi or some type of alcohol, with names like "the coca-cola football after show", "royal extra musical flavaz" or "banks beer top ten music video countdown". at this point, the problem borders on the corporate exploitation of guyanese. american popular music (especially hip-hop and rap) are coupled with the unrealistic "biggest bashment ever" to drive product sales to the heavens. many guyanese who buy into this market-in-disguise, spend most of whatever money they've earned to attend and thoroughly enjoy themselves at the event.

since people are not born with this "party hard" attitude, it is surely learnt. a powerful force, probably the initial force, behind the growth of this attitude in its worst form is the show rhythm nation, hosted by a woman called dimple singh. the show's offering is mainly music videos--of course, copied from american cable channels and replayed in guyana. the show itself is littered with ads for beers, bashments, and bars. the main sponsor of the show back in 2000 was a nightclub called "night flight". night flight was destroyed by fire a while back. this show and its host are greatly responsible for the rise of the club culture in guyana. the show glamourises and fanaticises partying, drinking, and a seemingly hedonistic approach to life.

i understand that people have the right to do as they please, but the core audience of this show is teenagers. the show, therefore, is daily tv viewing for teens, telling them indirectly how to walk, talk, act and dress--in a word, american.

i know i'm not the only one who believes that singh is american-minded. one show was just amateur footage of her in new york city doing things that would attest to her hip-hop-ness. rhythm nation reinforces the noxious belief among a lot of guyanese, that the only way you can better yourself is by adopting american habits, regardless of how unfitting they may be in guyana.

at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, i think rhythm nation really misleads young people in guyana, who already have so many forces pulling them toward a culture that is not their own. we're loosing our people and our country before we even have a chance to develop into something great.

the problem with rhythm nation, dimple singh, and the night flight mindset is that it is just another small tread of so many ropes that are pulling guyana into a state of cultural liquidation and social destabilisation as guyanese after guyanese willingly and mindlessly throw themselves into superficial worlds of happiness and delight to escape from their normally difficult lives. whether it's the stupid miss whatever pageants (since there are about one every week now), or the next jam session sponsored by carib beer or banks beer because they care so much about guyanese, people give into these things without questioning them because they offer escape.

as much as we may like hip-hop and other things american, we cannot immerse ourselves so much into another peoples' culture that it severs us from our own immediate national and personal obligations.

how can the next big bushy park carib-fest be important when we have a government and a system of governing that relies on the race-vote to survive? how can the latest music video be important when we are continually losing our culture to foreign corporate-created culture? how can we be occupied with partying and clubbing when guyanese are being tricked and lied to by people and businesses whose only goal is to make money. young people don't have a chance if all they're exposed to is dimple singh showing them a few rap videos, then telling them that going to some club is going to be the coolest thing ever, the best way they can use their time.

upsetting as it may be for some to admit, guyana is not a country that can afford to waste time and mind imitating the america we see on tv.

we need to be disciplined. saturday night is not a night to sport at buddy's because a foreign culture instructs us so. it is a time to read che guevara's guerrilla warfare, writings by walter rodney, cheddi jagan's the west on trial, verses by martin carter, unbiased history books (or both sides of biased texts), or a novel by v.s. naipaul. we need education and enlightenment in all forms possible.

the partying isn't the problem. it's the fact that that's all there is. things need to be balanced. for every saturday night of excessive partying, there should be six days of conscious, righteous, intelligent work for the betterment of guyana. when all you're doing is looking forward to the day of the next bushy park session and not to the day when no guyanese are living in poverty, no guyanese are illiterate, no guyanese are hungry or ignorant or weak, then there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

there are so many things in guyana that falsely offer american culture as a superior alternative to the natural one. our people are completely defenceless if they're not prepared. since the government is not going to prepare us, we must prepare ourselves and people must help prepare other people. i like to think that with guyanatruth i'm helping at least one person out there, making it all worthwhile.