Ire of the guilty and insecure

THE EDITOR: I am amazed at the ire that has been raised (largely that of the uneducated, the guilty and the insecure) by Cro Cro’s calypso. It is true that when satire and otherwise acceptable forms of expression are applied to an unconventional literary medium such as calypso (rap or reggae) it can become very crude and perhaps offensive. Cro Cro right to freedom of speech is equal to that of the so many who do not find offensive the insidious and oppressive crimes that Cro Cro is obviously very incensed about.

These crimes are the mother of all others, including kidnapping and present a greater threat to society than Cro Cro. It is more than passing strange that those in the Chamber of Commerce/TTMF/ DOMA/UNC and others who are so angry about the calypso did not take the time to even acknowledge what was Cro Cro’s essential message - it is frightening to contemplate but is it that they just did not want to understand it? Is it also that Cro Cro’s argument is that the responsibility for crime should be placed squarely on the shoulders of those who make up this group of objectors? To paraphrase Macbeth are so many of us so steeped in corruption and crime that we are finding “to return would be as tedious as to go on.” 

Cro Cro is perennial and popular and has helped to create an informal sub-culture in which his message resounds and is understood. Like that of the rap artist this message has to be felt/experienced/known to be understood. In many respects, like Abu Bakr he is a creation of the society in that he delivers in areas where society, for lack of its interest and commitment, has failed. His validation is that he does so despite his many objectors/detractors and with his message and music as his only resource. The objection most often heard is that Cro Cro openly incites criminals to kidnap but this was going on before Cro Cro and if other things were done, most, if not all of the kidnapping would go away, and so would Cro Cro — perhaps.

In closing, if I may advise, the best way to deal with Cro Cro is via his own medium. Objectors should write or commission a calypso about him or his views as expressed in his calypso or whatever — be free. If Cro Cro can incite kidnapping via this medium with his limited resources just think what such a calypso can do with the resources of those very powerful and influential objectors.

EUGENE A REYNALD
Port-of-Spain