Johng,
To adequately address your question, it needs to be reworded as to allow for an answer. You state "To lump all the "Bad man" with the majority of still great people is very unfair but the question still beg What has happened to the Jamaicans???."
As you point out, nothing has happened to "the Jamaicans" as a whole, but why are some Jamaicans turning to the violent behaviour you question? This topic is brought up nearly daily at the places we hang, and to a person, the average Jamaican is frustrated by this trend. They are not at the end of any rope and are wanting to do things about it.
There is some obvious truth that the importation of violent behaviour from international violence is a factor. The world is not what it was in 1975. Around this planet in the realities of 2016, people are blown up or gunned down sitting in restaurants and bars, shot or stabbed while shopping, gunned down at school and movie theatres and even killed during routine traffic stops. To expect Jamaica to exist in a vacuum is not realistic. Of course there is some residual effects taking place. But that certainly does not explain the type of violence we are seeing here.
I would put as much emphasis on the "gun lyrics" theory as the often espoused "violent video game" theory. There may be a contributing factor, but most people can and do make the separation between fantasy and reality.
The JA Goverment conspiracy theory of "divide and conquer" would make sense if there was something to divide or conquer. With the majority of Jamaicans living from paycheck to paycheck trying to make ends meet, if there is a paycheck, the "conquering" is a moot point. Cant divide what has already been divided. Plus, this flies in the face of the logic of what has recently taken place on the island.
Earlier this month, the USA FBI and ATF set up on-island offices inside the US Embassy. Why have these foreign investigation agencies whose mandate is to operate within USA boarders opened offices in the Jamaican US Embassy (which is considered US soil)? There are two quick answers. The first is the continuing international "lotto scam" in which Americans send millions of dollars to Jamaicans because they "won" millions of dollars in a contest they never entered and need to send payment to collect their "winnings". The second reason is to help determine more precisely where all these guns are coming from by tracing their routes through their serial numbers. This is a quote from the US Ambassador in Jamaica:
"Having the FBI means that if there is a federal crime committed here which affects both Jamaica and the United States(read lotto scam), I don’t have to wait for the office in Miami for international affairs to send me agents. Once we have an office here full-time, that guy will go out, train people, and will liaise and exchange information,” he explained.
The ambassador said the ATF is crucial, as it can trace serial numbers and conduct forensic tests on guns coming through the United States and Central America in the drugs for gun trade.
He pointed out that the US has invested and will continue to invest tens of millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours in improving the capabilities of Jamaica’s security forces and the judiciary."
Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...-at-US-Embassy
So Johng, this is indeed a problem with international roots. For lotto scammers, they can become rich nearly overnight which can be very enticing to the youth and even some otherwise hardworking people wanting to get in on the riches. This is where much if not most of the recent violence originates. Since the FBI has been and is now effectively working on the island, anyone who "knows too much" about a scammer's business becomes an instant target.
All it takes is for the scammer to think they may be turned in for them to take action. With the limitation of wire-transfer amounts, the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars often need to be physically brought to the island. When the money carrier does not have all the funds or the scammer feels they cannot be trusted, action is once again taken almost immediately.
What started out in the eyes of most Jamaicans as seeming almost as a victim-less crime has mushroomed into an international problem which has brought the FBI to the island. So to do your part, please let others know to stay away from the lotto scam. If someone you know gets a call and are told they won anything but have to pay money first to get it, ask them to please just hang up.
