For two weeks recently, the radio and television programmes in the United States were dominated by one topic, the fulmination of a foul-mouthed American mega star named Don Imus.

It started when he dismissed the achievements of the Rutgers University's basketball team, calling them "nappy-headed hos". Except for two young white women, the rest of the team was black, and in America, the term 'nappy-head' refers to the hair of black women, and 'hos' is contracted from the word whores.

There was a storm of protest in newspapers, magazines, radio and television programmes. There were demonstrations - I do not recall seeing the word 'justice' on any of the placards, but they were nevertheless protests.

Don Imus seemed unperturbed at first. He noted that black male singers and black comedians used these words to describe their own black women. Objections before had been muted, and he felt his judges were operating on a double standard.

History of insulting blacks

The problem was that he had a long history of insulting blacks, Latinos, Vietnamese and other minority groups. In addition, the owners and managers of the radio and television stations from which his views were broadcast were indifferent to any criticisms before as their advertisers supported his programme with millions of dollars of commercials, with Imus, it was said, earning upwards of US$50 million annually. His was a gold mine of insults.

In a token response, he was suspended from his radio programme for two weeks on full pay, a wonderful holiday. As the protests mounted, however, he was finally fired. We do not know what his dismissal pay package was.

Is there a lesson for us in Jamaica? Of course there is. There are radio hosts - male and female - whose popularity has been based on crassness. The cruder the insult of others, the higher their ratings, and the more money they can lodge to their bank accounts. It is the same, too, with many of our dancehall 'entertainers' with their vulgar descriptions of women. And then there are the advertisements of massage parlours which describe their exotic services with clever words which leave nothing to the imagination.

Sometimes, I think the messages from these sources have gone too far to be recalled. The ruling forces in today's society are sex and money. Everything is commercialised and based on the bottom line.

We have forgotten basic principles of good societal living like respect; laws only punish and cannot change behaviour. Teachers and parsons - except for a few - are no longer role models in our communities. They must resume their role in our country.

It is not only dumped garbage in our towns which stink and smell. It is our attitude and behaviour.