Jamaica’s political life has taken on a most intriguing twist, thanks to the youth arms of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and the Opposition People’s National Party. Not that either of these two entities is exciting the imagination of a primarily “bored” and cynical electorate who nevertheless continues to salivate over the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Trafigura scandals.

Left to themselves, both the G2K and the PNP-YO are for the most part mere distractions as they come across as narrowly partisan and tribal, sometimes even more so than their elders in their respective parties. However, there have emerged two bright sparks on the political horizon in the personages of the PNP-YO’s Damion Crawford and the G2K’s Delano Seiveright, both of whom are the leaders of the youth arm of the PNP and JLP respectively.

On a lighter note, with no offence intended, the hirsute and wiry Mr Crawford may well be described as “The Dreadlocks” while the clean-shaven and somewhat corpulent Mr. Seiveright can be easily dubbed “The Baldhead”. Now, one has to be careful here because in Jamaican culture “dreadlocks” represents the Rastafarian sect which is for the most part anti-establishment and somewhat revolutionary while “baldhead” represents uptown, pro-establishment thinking. Against this background, one suspects that is why the late Bob Marley might have chanted about “chasing those crazy baldheads out of town”.

Not that one is saying the goodly Mr Seiveright, who has become an excellent spin doctor for the JLP, is a “crazy baldhead”, even though renowned psychiatrist Dr Fred Hickling, in a letter to the editor of The Gleaner on Monday, sought to suggest that if one is bored then one may well be ill. Interestingly, last Friday, TVJ in its prime-time newscast used Mr Seiveright’s utterance about his being bored with the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP) affair as their news byte of the week. Ouch!

Says Dr Hickling, “The psychological therapeutic advice to the bored is not to succumb to the tedium of the boredom, but to submerge and to flood (implode) oneself with the emotional and perceptual realities of the boring object.” Hopefully, by the time the G2K head honcho figures that one out, a commission of inquiry will have been launched. I am still trying to figure out Dr Hickling’s seeming gobbledegook. Hope he doesn’t set about to analyse my state of mind! “Head sick, mad, no good!” And what’s worse, I am a baldhead!

Mr Crawford who sees himself as the intellectual firebrand in the PNP is, on the other hand, far from being bored. He and his colleagues have already staged a vigil and there have been threats about staging a march on Jamaica House. It has been said that one clear sign of insanity in an individual is when that person continues to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Hasn’t Jamaica had enough of roadblocks, vigils and marches?

Then again, if we are to go with Dr Hickling’s diagnosis of boredom and that definition of insanity, one may well be inclined to come to the conclusion that both the JLP and PNP, inclusive of the G2K and YO, are mad as hell! Perhaps we are all mad, given the current state of affairs whereby one wrong is being used to justify another. In the meantime, the JLP continues to grapple with the MPP distraction, desperately seeking to foist on a cynical Jamaican people an “attraction”. The economy is poised for growth, the IMF tests are being passed, crime (or is it murder?) is down, interest rates are trending down and Prime Minister Bruce Golding has apologised and asked for forgiveness. After all, to err is human; to forgive is divine, right Rev Al Miller, et al?

Of course, one of the best “cockfights” to watch these days on television is when the Dreadlocks and the Baldhead meet on a panel discussion. Expect fireworks every time. But putting fun and joke aside, their contributions in any such debate tend to be so mundane and lacking in intellectual depth, one wonders if this is really the future of Jamaican politics. One must admit that in the case of the Dreadlocks, he sometimes comes across as sanguine and deeply patriotic. Indeed, one admirable quality is that he often appears willing to build bridges of understanding and consensus with his opponent. Every now and then, too, his responses contain well-reasoned and researched data.

The Baldhead, who was one of the JLP’s communication (techie) wizards during the 2007 general election, has the seeming ability to turn water into wine at the flip of a hat, and God help anyone who is subject to his propagandising skills. He is undoubtedly an asset to the JLP, but he has become somewhat overzealous in his attempts to defend the leader, Bruce Golding. My advice to him is to slow down and smell the coffee. All is not lost. However, if he continues to come across as a ranting and raving Dr Goebbels, then whether wittingly or unwittingly, he may help to remove the tongue from the JLP’s bell (no pun intended).

It is my belief that both youth arms should have one of its major objectives – that of attracting as many of their peers to either organisation. The recent debate about getting rid of the dinosaurs in the parties lacks much currency because their young counterparts are being seen as nothing but a case of “no better herring, no better barrel.” Youth heeds nothing? Their most serious challenge, therefore, is to devise ways and means of establishing a national platform on which both dreadlocks and baldheads can co-exist, all the while pursuing a variety of paths with the same ultimate objective – that of fulfilling the Jamaican dream. If not, all well-thinking Jamaicans will have to chase not only the crazy baldheads but the insane dreadlocks out of town!

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com