One man steps inside a store while another tries to make his way through the doorway. Their shoulders brushed causing a bag belonging to the man exiting the store to fall.

What follows next is an all-too-familiar script.

The man whose bag fell, turned rather angrily to shout at the other man, who replied equally egregiously, “A diss you a diss me?”

The verbal back-and-forth escalated and one man pulled a gun and shot the other dead.

While this story is fictional, it indicates how easily a seemingly innocent situation can turn deadly. In fact, in similar real-life circumstances, murders have indeed taken place.

It begs the question of why so many people hide their grudge, anger, and asocial attitude behind that little four-letter word. It is uncanny that everything done or said to someone constitutes a disrespect.

We have seen too many instances where it is said someone was disrespected, resulting in someone getting killed.

In June the grizzly murder of a woman and her four children in the usually quiet Clarendon district of Coco Piece riled up the entire nation. The man who later confessed to the murders said he was disrespected by the woman, who, ironically, was his relative.

His action in response to this perceived “diss” was to stab, cut, and slash the throats of everyone in the house, including the woman’s 23-month-old toddler.

Evidently the diss culture has taken solid root in Jamaica and is flourishing. Many dancehall artists’ lyrics speak of them being dissed and the repercussions of same. Blood must run and brains must be blown out, some of the lyrics say.

Are you kidding me? Is this what our people are being fed?

And, on the face of it, we expect our youth to act differently when anger and violence are what they consume almost 24 hours per day.

These types of violent lyrics from one of our most popular genres of music might play a role in how we manage disagreements.

We have for too long culturised violence as a way of life in Jamaica and our high murder rate testifies to this fact. A detailed examination will prove a direct correlation between the diss culture and the murder rate.

I believe parts of this way of life play a role in perpetuating this culture of violence we are now witnessing in our country. It is simply a case of life imitating art, and, as the saying goes, one fool makes many.

To stem the unending high level of violence the Government can do precious little, if this is the case, unless we, the people, find a way to get the monkey off our backs. I believe it is now time we effectively shake the chip off our shoulders and try instead to “Liv Gud” with each other.

Historic levels of investment continue to be made in the national security architecture, and several pieces of legislation have been or are in the throes of being amended, including the new Firearms Act that is designed to make it way more difficult for anyone to get their hands on an illegal weapon. Correspondingly, the punishment will finally fit the crime.

However, even with 10 domestic violence intervention centres established across the island, domestic/interfamily violence, according to police data, represents approximately 16 per cent of all murders. This is ridiculous, to say the least.

According to police statistics, in 2021 there were 8,160 reported cases of domestic violence in which 67 people were murdered. In terms of police divisions, the St Catherine North Division accounted for the most reports and murders — 1,642 and 16, respectively.

Those divisions are followed by St Catherine South with nine murders, Clarendon with eight, Portland and St Ann with six, and Kingston Central with four murders, the majority killed with an illegal gun.

As a nation we have managed to weave the diss culture and the need for guns into one big mess. Doubled with anger, vengeance, and hate, we are witnessing a seriously devastating mix that will destroy Jamaica as we know it unless we make a complete turnaround.

The deadly effect of domestic abuse must be dealt with post-haste. There can be no time to waste. Too many people, primarily our young women, are being beaten and killed. Way too many of our men have been murdered because they allegedly dissed someone.

The police have been doing an admirable job of maintaining the peace; however, they can’t be everywhere.

Maintaining the peace is not for the police alone to do. We as citizens also have a mighty big role in this. We must, as a matter of urgency, develop thicker skins. Not all rebuke, correction, question, or statement is a diss.

Our men in particular must now recognise that problems cannot be solved by abusing our women, and vice versa. It takes understanding and sound reasoning as a mechanism for a peaceful resolution.

paul.clarke@mns.gov.jm