You're wrong, Mr Boyne THE EDITOR, Sir: I'm writing in response to an article written by Ian Boyne in The Sunday Gleaner last week. I have a particular problem with Mr. Boyne's position about our current crime problem. I doubt very much that at any time in Mr. Boyne's adult life he has had to go to bed hungry and to compound matters, not be certain of a meal when he gets up in the morning. I'm particularly tired of our "well learned intellectuals" who believe that rhetoric administered in sufficiently large doses will ultimately be the panacea this country needs. The fact is, Mr. Boyne, our problem is fundamentally one of economics. The first need that man must satisfy is his physiological needs; this means the need to have food, clothing and shelter which is fundamental to man's survival and continued existence. Mr. Boyne, Jamaicans for the most part are being forced into a situation where the physiological needs cannot be met and these people are the ones who traditionally have been able to eke out some form of existence. One can easily see how those at the bottom of the economic ladder can so easily resort to crime as a means of continued survival. I dare any man to deprive another human of these needs and then teach him values and norms and all the wonderful things that human societies have sought to ensure its survival. I dare you Mr. Boyne to show me the man in Jamaica who has a decent job and wonderful family and despite all of that chooses to murder and rob the next man. I say to them, Mr. Boyne, the next time you so desire to bore the Jamaican reading public with your rhetoric you think long and hard about our problems and do your best to come up with sound solutions. If by chance you are unable to do this Mr. Boyne I suggest you take your points to church. I am, etc., THUGNATURE BRENTON SWEETON E-mail: ja@hotmail.com 25 Sealy Way Pembroke Hall Kingston 20 Via Go-Jamaica
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