1) He says that white Jamaicans are called "local whites" (p5). My wife's best friend is a white Jamaican, and she says she's never been called a "local white" in her 50 years of existence.
2) He says, "In spite of the British legacy, Jamaica has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the English-speaking Caribbean." (p5). He goes on to say, "Illiteracy rates in Jamaica currently stand at between 13 and 15 per cent." (p30). Now, this is where his lack of knowledge about the country is exposed. If he had read "Beautiful Jamaica" by Jamaican journalist/novelist Evon Blake (1980), he would've seen that when Jamaica gained independence from the British, the colonial masters' "legacy" was that more than 50 per cent of the Jamaican population was illiterate, thanks to a deliberate policy by the British of not educating the black majority. So, 13-15 per cent is an improvement on that. Any unbiased book would've included that fact. This is why I prefer to read travel books written by either people who are from the country, or lived in the country for a number of years, over some charlatan who's visited for a few weeks and claims to be an expert.
3) He says that during a hurricane, "Most of the shoppers were reportedly women: the men were busy bracing themselves with rum." I find that very offensive....when I was bracing for Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, I was taping louvred windows, chopping overhanging trees, etc, and that's what all my male friends were doing. None of us were drinking rum. I've got a newsflash for Mr Thomson - Jamaican men are not the alcoholics that Englishmen are...he should look a little closer to home when making these stupid, throwaway comments.
4) He says that Norman Manley became prime minister in 1955 (p33). Wrong...he became premier. The post of prime minister did not exist until independence in 1962. A more informed writer, such as Jamaican Evon Blake, would not make that silly mistake....
5) He says that one of his subjects, "was careful not to talk to the locals in patwa (sic), which might have insulted their dignity, and possibly led to violence." (p44). What a load of rubbish! I don't know of any such situation...sounds like somebody was spinning this poor fool a yarn, and he swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.
6) He says that, "Homosexuals are occasionally stoned, 'cutlassed', shot and raped." (p46). Hearsay...he's taking rumour for fact. I've heard these rumours before, only for them to have been found to be totally without substance.
7) This one's classic...."So, Jamaican mothers, with their spoiling ways, have helped to create an 'almost entirely feminine' environment for their male offspring, argued the Jamaican journalist Morris Cargill in a 1965 essay. Unfortunately, there is no father-image to leaven the imbalance; so while the boy may, and usually does, grow up into 'a fine example of the masculine physique', according to Cargill, his attitude to life is 'extraordinarily feminine'. Jamaican men may compensate for their 'femininity' by a precarious, over-exaggerated masculinity, which can express itself, like a long-pent-up balloon, in eruptions of violence and even sexual peculiarity." (pp46-7). What a load of rubbish! THis man is quoting an article by a racist, white Jamaican, who has long been discredited with writing trash....
8) This guy is obsessed with talking to white Jamaicans, and he quotes what they say as if they're fact. He says that a certain McConnell's mother was murdered in 1967, "a killing that shocked even Jamaica" (p51). That implies that Jamaica had a history of gun murders in 1967, and I spoke to my mother about that, and she said that Jamaica was quiet then, and the murders only came in the 1970s. A Jamaican writer such as Evon Blake would not have made that mistake....as for "shocking" Jamaica, my mother doesn't remember hearing anything about this so-called McConnell murder.
9) Thomson has a completely warped version of Jamaican history. In talking about the 1938 strike and riots at Frome estate in Westmoreland, he claims that the only people shot were the white owners and managers (p67). However, when you read CV Black's much more reliable 'History of Jamaica' (p229), a lot of black strikers were killed by a trigger-happy police force. There's no mention of that in Thomson's white-biased narrative....
10) He says that residents of the Kingston suburb of Patrick City lived in fear of the nearby "Brooke Valley badlands" (p71). Well, when I first met my wife, she lived in Patrick City, and I moved in with her, and I didn't even know where Brooke Valley was, much less live in fear of it....
11) He quotes a returning resident as saying that Jamaicans "rarely queued, they argued noisily and in public, and they were uneducated" (p80). Much like London, then!
More to come....
