JAMAICA and other member states of our Caribbean Community have long been sharing the applause of nations of the world for the richness of their cultural traditions, including the creative and performing arts. But a mix of spreading mindless criminality and declining moral virtues have combined to seriously undermine long cherished ethical and spiritual norms in our region — from Jamaica and the Bahamas in the north to Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana in southern region and across the Eastern Caribbean.
CARICOM member states now seem locked in a losing battle to a degrading ‘wuk-up’ culture, largely being sustained, ironically, by some of the best known names among our performing artists and entertainers.
Countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, with high profile cultural contributions, are increasingly challenged by an invasion of immoral behaviour during carnivals and other national entertainment events.
They would also be aware that Barbados, once frequently referenced as a quiet, pastoral Caribbean society with endearing social behaviour and encouraging moral rectitude, is currently on the offensive against lewdness in public life involving adults and children as they do their ‘wuk-up’ thing at the “Crop-Over” festival — Bajans’ annual mid-year carnival season.
Some have become so irritated and demoralized by the constant flaunting of rude and crude sexual behaviour, not only during crop-over, that  they have even resorted to extending blame against their most internationally famous entertainer, Rihanna, for sending “wrong messages” to the youth with the performances of her songs and music.

Rihanna’s envoy status
A week ago, in the ‘Sunday Sun’ of the Nation Publishing company, a letter writer (Pamela Cumberbatch) called for the revocation of the honour bestowed upon superstar Rihanna as Barbados’ Ambassador for Youth and Culture because her lifestyle was hardly an example to the youth.
More precisely, argued Cumberbatch, Rihanna was “abusing the leverage given her to promote this country.” I do not know Cumberbatch, whose letter to the editor was published as a ‘Guest Column,’ but the sentiments she expressed clearly reflect the hurt she and other Barbadians feel about the deteriorating moral values in Barbados,  with the ‘Rihanna influence’ being a significant factor. So far there has been no response from Rihanna and it is doubtful that the Barbados Government is so inclined.
Nor does one have to be a prude to concur that in her incredible rise to international stardom Rihanna’s own confessional lyrics of “Good Girl Gone Bad” suggest an attitude of moral rectitude that can hardly endear her to Barbadians of various walks of life, now increasingly revealing a mix of sadness and anger over declining morals and the penchant for lewdness and conflicts among youth.
Objectively, the print and electronic media in Barbados — and elsewhere in the Caribbean – cannot be exempted from criticisms for contributing to what some cynically view as “the new face of Barbados” where raw lewdness, involving even gyrations of adults and children during the just-concluded “Crop-Over” season, can find coverage in both media.

‘Child abuse’ and media role
For President of the National 0rganization of Women (NOW), Marilyn Rice-Bowen, some of these lewd acts captured during Kadooment Day and forwarded for the attention of the Police and Child Care Board, constitute “child abuse”. And she has appealed to women “to respect themselves and embrace their roles as shapers of the society….”
Long before sections of the Barbados media were being castigated over claimed abuse of press freedom in encouraging lewdness and general decline in moral behaviour by their photographic coverage of ‘Crop-Over’ events, the media in Trinidad and Tobago had to cope with the wrath shown by the people of this CARICOM state who railed against what’s better known in Barbados as sheer “wuk-up” culture, down from the waist.
Leading media enterprises in T&T, therefore, started paying more critical attention in the editing of television footage and use of photographs in newspapers, with the understanding, that those, who pride their freedom to engage in lewd behaviour during carnival, should not expect the media to be a party to such acts by devoting coverage to them.
Within recent weeks in Barbados there have been repeated denunciations from various pulpits against the extent of media coverage provided to a few quite disgusting behaviour in unmistakable sexual gestures.
I am aware that leading media enterprises in this and other CARICOM states have professional code of ethics, or at least, basic guidelines to adhere to, when dealing with coverage of vulgarities that so often masquerade as “just having fun” or “spreading body joy”.
More attention should, therefore, be paid to what representative voices are currently condemning with the hope of arresting the spreading patterns of immoral behaviour. But do not expect a response from Rihanna to the call for revocation by the government of her status as Barbados Ambassador for Youth and Culture.

Prime Minister Stuart
It would be surprising if Rihanna will have time to even bother about offering a response to calls for revocation of her ambassadorial status. And I doubt that the government, which has been making use of her fame to further boost the key foreign exchange earning tourism industry, has any such intention.
For now, let Barbados’ Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, have the last comment, as expressed in his address to the Caribbean International Youth Convention on July 28:
“There are many inducements out there in the world to sidetrack and to ensnare our young people to divert them from the path of right and from the path of good into unwholesome, dangerous and soul-destroying activities…
“A heavy responsibility devolves, therefore,” said the Prime Minister, “on the shoulders of our adults to ensure that we take proper care of our young people and be the examples for them which they can proudly and confidently follow…”
I have reasons to believe that Stuart’s sentiment would find endorsement among all of his CARICOM Heads of Government colleagues. Question of interest is the related initiatives they intend to pursue to arrest the general decline in social behaviour and moral rectitude.