So Rev Chisholm departs from his JCHS colleagues on the Phonebook kerfuffle

As I live and breathe I never thought I would see a departure by partner in crime to the antigay establishment of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS although he hardly names them in a letter to the Observer on the issue entitled "Yellow Pages teacup storm" also see my take on the issue on sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica "Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society gets worked up over a phonebook!"

The selectivity on issues by this one group supposedly in the name of a healthy society is so hypocritical it's not funny. But first let us see what the goodly Reverend had to say:

Dear Editor,

If you have a problem with the front cover of your copy of the current Jamaican Yellow Pages telephone directory (dancehall scene) why not just flip it over to the back cover (ska/rocksteady scene), or better still just tear off the flipping front cover.

This is a simple solution to a simple problem in my view. The cover is almost literally a flat (two-dimensional) cardboard photo and that disturbs or turns on some of us? Give me a break!

Now, though I am trained in music and philosophy, and have been a Christian for 49 years, I would not venture to do any kind of research at a live dancehall session because I personally could not “plead the blood of Jesus” fervently enough to keep all sections of my anatomy calm. Even then, my possible response to the visual stimuli in that setting would be essentially saying much more about me than about the gyrating female bodies I would be viewing.

Apropos this stimulus/response issue, two illustrations have been brought to my attention in recent months. One, squeeze a peeled orange as hard and as long as you can and you will never ever get lime juice from the effort. This is because of the internal make-up of orange which determines its response to squeezing. If a skimpily clad lady, or one who is not exactly small-breasted or of a small derriere, turns me on sexually that response is essentially because of my internal make-up.

The other illustration relates to grains of sand in an eye as opposed to in an oyster. Sand in an eye irritates and harms, but in an oyster a pearl is likely because the make-up of the eye does not allow for a response other than irritation/harm, whereas the make-up of the oyster leads to a pearl response.

Whether it is the sculpture at Emancipation Park, the current Yellow Pages ‘dancehall cover’, or whatever, let’s not forget or downplay the fact that our response to any given work of art may be more suggestive of the kind of person we are than about the aesthetico-moral calibre of the work of art.

Maybe I just need Jesus, but Church leaders need to revisit their definition (if they have one) and defence of what we regard as pornography.

This ‘controversy’ is really more like fomenting a category 5 storm in a thimble than a storm in a teacup. For the young and innocent, a thimble is a tiny sewing device.

Rev Clinton Chisholm
clintchis@yahoo.com

ENDS

one of the substitute covers

the cover that send some haywire

Wow the response is very direct and indirect as I hinted above but his point on the response to artwork is interesting though and is worth exploring to really see what he says makes sense. Meanwhile it was noticeable that Dr Wayne West the head of the JCHS made an appearance on Love 101FM's Moment of Hope show on Sunday morning last talking about HIV/AIDS and prevalence rates in teens while carefully staying clear of the Phonebook issue. Even his responses to the questions asked were markedly different as the usual combative style was not there.

Has something happened since this phonebook fiasco behind the scenes hence a change of strategy and Chisholm's public difference to the matter? a response most strange to me.

Yet to be seen if ever but duly noted.

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:

JCHS gets worked up over a phonebook and Leighton Levy's take: Nothing wrong with Yellow Pages cover