No…No…NO!

By: Mike Rudon Jr.

Mr. Barrow really does not give a damn what people think or what they say or how they feel about the things that he does. To those who don’t know him very well, his arrogance is simply astounding. He makes the most ludicrous decisions which cause right-thinking persons to question his sanity (or agenda) and then enfolds himself in a little golden bubble in which he is king and nothing else matters. To those who know him very well, this is vintage Dean. Contrary to what he has stated on several occasions in the House, Mr. Barrow does not admit when he is wrong because he cannot conceive of an instance when he would be wrong. Mr. Barrow does not take advice well because he is convinced that he is the smartest person he knows and the only one who can dispense advice worth considering. And Mr. Barrow cannot stand to be corrected because he has managed over years to fool himself into believing that he knows everything about everything.

Now if Mr. Barrow were a harmless fellow who lived in a little cottage in the deep woods all by himself, we could pass moments wallowing in pity or minutes discussing his particular psychosis and delusions of grandeur before moving on to more important business. But we don’t have that luxury. Like it or not, and I certainly don’t, Mr. Barrow was elected king of the land for the next couple years at least, so his peculiarities are messing things up for us in a big way.

On Friday, it was announced that the son of the Prime Minister was officially the new Music Ambassador of Belize and would head the music program in NICH, ‘putting in train the formal music education in our schools and learning institutions.’ My first reaction to the announcement was ‘what the (insert expletive)! How can the Prime Minister do something like that? How can he make his son the musical ambassador of Belize, the man in charge of the music programme in schools, the man who will be an example to our children as they explore their musical talents? His son is a deportee who recently served almost 10 years for shooting off a firearm in a nightclub. Is this the man we want as an example? If we wanted a deportee, couldn’t we just have called Berne?

And then I calmed down a bit and decided to Google this man who will teach my kids appreciation of music. I thought maybe I was just being a bit harsh on Mr. Barrow because I think he’s stupid and petty and dictatorial, which is a pretty dangerous combination. So anyway, I looked at some of Shyne’s lyrics. To give Mr. Barrow the benefit of the doubt I assumed he closely scrutinized Shyne’s lyrics before deciding that the message Shyne was sending out is exactly what our children need to hear.

Need I say more? I would actually include some of Shyne’s lyrics here just to make my point but they are pretty damned offensive. Our Music Ambasssador is heavily into ‘cutting kilos and busting guns.’ He also has a lot to say about ‘bitches and hos.’ His music is all about sex and drugs and guns. And nope, he doesn’t say those things are bad. In fact, Shyne glorifies that type of lifestyle. His music is great if you feel like smacking down bitches and smoking niggaz in your spare time.

Shyne’s music is every bit as offensive as his father’s decision to make him Music Ambassador. How in the world could Mr. Barrow have foisted his deportee son on our children with not a care in the world? How could Mr.Barrow, after even a cursory look into the lyrics and lifestyle of his son Shyne, believe that he could be a role model for our children? This is absolute lunacy. What can Shyne teach our children about music?

Considering the man who stood as our Music Ambassador before, the appointment of Shyne is an insult to Belizeans and an insult to the name of the late Andy Palacio. Andy Palacio was a legend who played his heart out for Belize on the world stage. What has Shyne done for Belize or for Belizean music? What does Shyne know about Belizean music? There are many many people who could have been appointed Music Ambassador. There are many many people who love Belize and love music and could have done so much more for our children.

But instead of that we’ve been given a criminal deportee whose only other qualification is highly offensive music.

Mr. Barrow doesn’t care. He is busy making us pay for his past transgressions.

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