Jamaica; 4th World Nation
General Definition
A '4th World' nation is one that started out as 3rd World.. an ex-colony, taking independence, making it's strides.
As any 3rd World Country, it began in a position of weakness, experimentation, slow development of local protocols contra those imposed by the Conquering power.
Depending on the Government and the Public, some move far from their previous systems, some keep in the grid, so that what was created by the Colonialists remains at various levels of completeness.
A 4th World Country is one that descends to a far worse level than it held when a colony or shortly after so-called Independence.
Things that worked forty years ago no longer work. Levels that were attended two generations gone are beyond grasp.
In short, a 4th World Country is in the toilet and will never escape the toilet save if invaded by another nation which takes full control over every aspect of life and remains in control for at least forty years; highly unlikely.
A Narrow Focus
One can go from Education to Health Care to Road Maintenance and easily prove that under the British the standards were far Higher.
One can go to the Governance of Michael Manley in the 1970s and see the level of improvement over that the British had set.
And then one goes to the 1980s, and sees Jamaica's plunge into the toilet.
One can chart the decline in education with actual figures... i.e. how there was a 23% pass rate on the English G.C.E. '0' level, and now there is an 11% pass rate on the far easier CXC exams...(for those unfamiliar, the G.C.E is set in England and is standardised. The CXC is set in the Caribbean and is what one can called 'modified'...sort of like special education).
One can see the decline in Health Care, where not only is it priced far beyond the pockets of the average citizens, so that they can not get care they can not pay for, but the quality of nursing is so low that babies die in hospitals do to simple lack of hand washing.
As these topics are rather strong and produce a great deal of anger, I will focus on one little topic; television.
Television then and Now
Jamaica had television one year after it took Independence in 1963. Few shows were local, but those that were produced in Jamaica for Jamaica were first quality. The word were is boldfaced for a reason, for that level of quality died in the 1980s.
What has been produced locally since 1980 is of such poor quality that one is embarrassed to watch it. Whether the kind of loud mouthed broad comedy the world walked away from in the 1920s, or the stilted robotic 'interview' programs, they can not be watched.
Most television programs are imported. They were British and American programs of the highest quality.
Many were seasons old, i.e. Jamaican would get the 1st season of a program when it's home was on the 5th. However, it was worth watching.
In 1993, after holding a monopoly since 1963, JBC was joined by CVM.
Hence the One Television Station that existed for thirty years was now joined by a brand new kid on the block.
So One Would Think
When CVM first began it's competition it worked hard to get Name Brand Shows. It worked to be better.
JBC, changing it's name to TVJ was ready for the fight.
Each evening, JBC would have the news from 7 - 8 and then two soapies, one U.S. one South African. At 9 pm came Big Gun dramas.
Each evening CVM would have a discussion about the news from 7 - 8 and then the news from 8-9 and then...the War started.
Each station strove to get the Best American/British dramas.
By the 2000 one was running from CSI to House to NYPD to Grey's Anatomy to Burn Notice to Hawaii 50 to ...
By 2015 all that came to an end.
There is nothing to watch on Television in Jamaica save the Indian Soapies which come on from 1 - 2 pm each day, and the reruns of them from 12 - 2:30 on Saturday and Sunday, and Empire which airs at 10:30 on Wednesday Night and repeated at 9:15 Friday.
That is it.
24/7 television with nothing to watch. Further...let's look for a schedule.
Go to cvmtv.com.
There is a rerun of the first season of Goodwife which was aired a few years ago. After that...'Drama'...what Drama? Who knows?
Go to Televisionjamaica.com
On the front page is a
'weekly schedule for January 27'
It is April 27th.
Bit old you'd say.
So?
You have to go to another site...
1spotmedia.com.
Go way down to the bottom of that page and click on 'live TV'
Now close the pop up.
Go down and you'll see the 'schedule'.
However....
It is wrong, because tonight at 10:30 isn't 'Layers of Soul' but Empire. It says Layers of Soul because no one at the site knows how to change anything, so most of the shows will not be coming on. You only find out what is coming on if...IF you are watching the Television Station and see the little bulletin running at the bottom.
2016 and Jamaica is running two Television Stations with Less Ability than it ran One in 1980.
The Decline
If Television could have been in existence in Jamaica since 1963...that...why is it so bad?
How did it become so pathetic that it can not even give you a schedule of programs? That it can not even produce programs or air programs that the public wants to see?
Television is the example of how everything in Jamaica has moved from the 3rd to the 4th World.
