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Jamaica is a beautiful country with many beautiful,
hard-working people. There is, however, a major problem
with Jamaica, the Hustler or as the locals call them "Gigolos".
The Hustler is a guy that trolls the beach, or more commonly sits
in one place waiting to try pressure you into buying anything
that you do or don't want. The first two times I went there, the
Hustlers were tormenting, with their incessant begging and cheating.
I'm not talking about Rastafarians in general, although the religion
does preach black superiority and that the white man needs to
be punished for all of their "trickery", which to me
is like accusing me directly of tricking them directly. Why punish
me for something that someone did to someone else? Most Rastas
don't bother anyone else, they live humble lives in the hills.
I've heard as many as 60% of Jamaicans were either Rastafarians
or Rastafarian sympathizers. But I would believe that less than
1% of Jamaicans are Hustlers.
The first time I went, I started thinking that all Jamaicans were
Hustlers, but the next time I went, I got to see another side,
a non-tourist town (Lucea), which only had one guy that followed
us around, and he really wasn't even begging.
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The beautiful white sand beaches of Negril, Jamaica
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This time, I wasn't a smiley-eyed, happy-go-lucky, foreigner,
like I was before, and it paid dividends. The locals seem to despise
the happy tourist, but respond well to the angry looking white man.
I learned this last time, as the days went on, I slowly started
getting angrier, and the locals slowly stopped their harassment.
This time, I wasn't harassed even once, when someone started, I
looked them dead in the eye and said emphatically, "NO!",
I didn't have any problems.
I got it down to a science this time, navigating through people
without looking at them, as they interperate you looking at them
as either a threat, or as a welcome to their swindling.
After a while, it even started to become a bit fun, messing with
them, as it is hours of fun for them to mess with us. I loved to
act like I didn't understand, or that I couldn't hear them right. |
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How embarassing it must be for the average Jamaican
to have their national image degraded by these human-sized mosquitos.
In the taxi, on the way down to Negril, I was talking to the driver
about a movie idea I had. I call the movie "Jamaican Batman".
The movie is about a local that gets so sick of the Hustlers that
he starts taking the law into his own hands, and just starts beating
the hell out of them. He doesn't dress up or anything, but he
becomes a sort of super folk hero to Jamaica. I told the driver
that, Jamaican Batman isn't "fair". If he thinks you
look like a Hustler, he's going to punish you. He is caught by
the police, but the sheriff, in a touching moment, lets him go
and tells the public (Who loves him) that he must have escaped.
The sheriff sees him again on the street, and just nods and continues
on.
The driver loved the idea, and told me that he wanted to be Jamaican
Batman.
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