Analysis of Bunny Wailer speech
[Bunny Wailer 'homophobic' speech – Part 3: Analysis]
There are four different pages related to that speech included on my website. A) Transcript B) Setlist C) Analysis of the speech D) Peronnal opinion and Analysis of the Rub-A-dub CD sleeve. All the links can be found at the bottom of this page.
Concert: Rebel Salute Festival 2001
Place: St. Elizabeth, Jamaica
Venue: Port Kaiser Sports Club (outdoor venue)
Date: January 13, 2001
I was criticized for considering that speech homophobic. I will put several comments on this page and my opinion at the end.
IN NOVEMBER 2008, I REQUESTED SOME HELP BY JAMAICANS ON A GAY FORUM,
TO VALIDATE THE TRANSCRIP. THIS IS THE MESSAGE I RECEIVE:
"You are way too quick to attach "homophobia" to this so you miss what is actually being said and its implications; very typical north american paternalistic attitude. The commentary - which musicians make all the time when they are performing songs that resonate with them in a particular way - is about how men's and women's interactions in dancehall settings have changed over time. On one hand, he is celebrating heterosexual sexuality as natural and normative, and expressing a desire to have dancehall remain something that BW imagines as "traditional". Homoeroticism has become far more common and explicit in the dancehall, and for BW, threatens the heterosexual sanctity of dancehall space. That's it." WRITER: Tilly (December 20, 2008)
MY REPLY
" The first reading of that speech is in fact an observation on what have change at Jamaican dances over the past 40 years. I was able to see that before you make the remark. But in order to to pass his oppinion he use a low class speech that discriminate gays and lesbians. You should hear with how much passion he screems 'battyman fi dead' when reporting the words of deejays. A subtile, (twisted) way to pass his message? Who knows? I maybe wrong, but it seems to me that he has a (not so) 'hidden' agenda when he pass on his observation. Maybe some people are so accustomed to that kind of hate speech that they accept to live with it. But I don't. I react to this. One of the social goal of my website, is to help people to better chose their music. Maybe for the new Jamaican generations, the message of Bunny Wailer don't mean much, but for international Bob Marley fans he is still considered an icon. Two major websites on Bob Marley close their Bunny Wailer section after hearing this speech. I find it important to print it and to bring people's refelction. Let people choose for themself what they read in that speech".
COMMENT BY PHILLIP PIKE
(NOTE: Phillip Pike is the director of the documentary Songs Of Freedom: Compeling stories of courage and hope by Jamaican gays and lesbians)
Well, I think that the truth of the matter lies somewhere between what this reader has written and what you have written in your response. First I think it is important to understand clearly what Bunny Wailer is saying. As the reader notes, Bunny Wailer is principally commenting upon (and lamenting) the fact that, and here I quote from the reader, "men's and women's interactions in dancehall settings have changed over time". Bunny Wailer would like to see the interaction between men and women return to what it was like in the days of his youth when he went to dance halls. He comments that in those days women and men danced together and hugged each other and did their hip and groin gyrating dancing together.
In Bunny Wailer's comments there are two references to Sodom & Gomorrah, i.e., two references to homosexuality. In the first reference to homosexuality, Bunny Wailer is basically using ridicule to make a point. He is essentially asking his listeners how they can say they are against homosexuality while at the same time they are behaving in what Bunny Wailer terms a homosexual manner by having all the men on one side and all the women on the other side of the dance hall. In the second reference to homosexuality, Bunny Wailer says that he does not like or does not approve [translation of "me no rate it"] of the current style of the interaction between men and women at dancehall dances. He states that for him this is a sign of homosexuality. I think one reasonable way to sum up Bunny Wailer's comments is to say that here is an ostensibly heterosexual Jamaican man of a certain era who is saddened by what he sees of the interactions between men and women in the current dancehall scene in Jamaica. In making these comments this man compares the current dancehall scene in a negative way to homosexuality.
His primary beef is with the way women and men interact with each other in the current dancehall scene. But in making his point he uses homosexuality as a negative comparator. In other words, he is saying something to the effect of; " you dancehall people are becoming or acting just like homosexuals would and I don't think that's a good thing". Are these comments homophobic? Do these comments indicate that Bunny Wailer is a homophobe? Are his comments provoking hatred of homosexuals? These are good questions. I am not sure of the answers, but I have a few comments.
First, in this context, Bunny Wailer seems to me to be using homosexuality almost as a scare tactic to make a point with his listeners and spur them into changing their ways. I can easily imagine that the people he is addressing are the type who would react very strongly when someone compares them or their behaviour to homosexuals. In this sense I don't believe that homosexuals or homosexuality are the targets of Bunny Wailer's comments. At the same time, however, and this would be my second comment, I think it is reasonable to say that Bunny Wailer's comments reflect a man who sees heterosexuality as the norm of the world (or certainly of Jamaica) and homosexuality as the abnormal. To this extent I would say that Bunny Wailer's comments are definitely heterosexist. Heterosexism is defined as: discrimination in favor of heterosexual and against homosexual people; discrimination, favoritism, favouritism - unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice. Are the comments also homophobic? Well here is a definition of homophobia: Fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay men. 2. Behavior based on such a feeling.
Do Bunny Wailer' s comments reflect contempt for lesbians and gay men? Perhaps. They might simply reflect ignorance. Does that make it any different? Perhaps not.
••• BACK TO ORIGINAL WEBSITE •••
PAGE 1: TRANSCRIPT OF BUNNY WAILER 'HOMOPHOBIC' SPEECH
PAGE 2: BUNNY WAILER LIVE AT REBEL SALUTE 2001: SETLIST
PAGE 3: ANALYSIS OF THE SPEECH
PAGE 4: PERSONNAL OPINION + ANALYSIS OF RUB-A-DUB CD SLEEVE