THE CARIBBEAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (CBC) has "gone overboard" with its socaholic pledge.
That's the contention of former Anglican Bishop of Barbados Rufus Brome.
"I would like to see and hear more persons making the scout pledge instead of some socaholic pledge," he said yesterday while delivering the sermon at the St Peter's Parish Church Scouts 40th anniversary service at the church.
"I believe that CBC has gone overboard. I am in support of Crop-Over.
I believe that CBC has made some improvement in its programming. I'm not saying that the mere use of the word socaholic will encourage people to be alcoholics; that would be irrational.
"What I'm saying is that the operative words in the so-called pledge all have negative connotations," he said.
He explained that "holic" is an excessive use of something. To be "hooked on soca" meant to be obsessed with something and "is often used in connection with drugs", and "I am addicted" was to become dependent on something.
"We should be able to enjoy what is good without become a compulsive user," Brome said before declaring that he was not a "christianholic".
Saying that society had to get its priorities right, the former bishop questioned the quality and content of the electronic media, saying that instead of wholesome programming, they seemed to have gone the way of entertaining rather than informing the public.
"It is important that media practitioners produce wide-ranging programmes suitable for mass audiences and not become more and more a part of the entertainment industry," he said.
"People across the Caribbean are wondering in surprise that Barbados, once considered the most conservative island in the region, now seems to be the capital for year-round entertainment.
"Trinidad artistes who can't perform in Trinidad after the season of Lent, come to Barbados and find a ready market," the cleric added.
He said concern about the quality of that entertainment must be raised.
"We must be concerned about what people call music. We must be concerned about lyrics and we must not give the impression that Barbadian culture is, not as somebody has said, from the waist down."
Brome said linking the Crop-Over Festival with the Season of Emancipation must not be "trivialised" because the message "is often lost amidst the clutter of mediocrity and vulgarity being presented as Barbadian culture".
Brome asked to what extent was that medium, and the Internet, responsible for the decline in morals and public behaviour.
