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BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Silence means consent

Can you believe it's October already? Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian cousins! We had another shooting this week. When is it going to stop? When are we as a Country going to decide that enough is enough? Well, some citizens of the Country know what is happening but will not pass on the information to the authorities, so that crimes can be solved and justice served. Silence means consent. More on this after the top 20.Making the big jump to #1 is Rolling In The Deep by Adele. You have to like this track. It's different. She has a sultry, unique voice and sound and there are a ton of versions of this song to satisfy everybody. Tumbling to #2 is the hottest anthem on the planet: Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock. I truly like this song; it bangs. It's the kind of song that you can't not dance to wherever you may be and especially if you're in a club or at a party. It's also the kind of track that gets you singing along with it. You hear this track everywhere.Halting its advance at #3 is I'm Into You by Jennifer Lopez featuring L'il Wayne. Motivation by Kelly Rowland featuring L'il Wayne moves back up into the #4 spot this week. Falling to #5 is Last Friday (TGIF) by Katy Perry.Slipping to #6 is Give Me Everything by Pitbull, Neo, AfroJack & Nayer, another dance anthem that packs dance floors worldwide. You should check out Pitbull's CD; he has racked up a ton of hits in the past two years. Up to #7 is Chris Brown's hit entitled, She Ain't You. Sliding to #8 is Enrique Iglesias' current hit Tonight I'm Loving You. Dance music still rules worldwide and this track is yet another worldwide banger. I find myself bopping my head as I type and think about it even though it isn't playing in the background.Up to #9 is a former essential new tune, I Wanna Go from Britney Spears. You have to give Britney her due she has bounced back in a big way with a bangin' CD and has behaved herself pretty well. Well done to Britney. Let's hope she can stay out of trouble and keep dropping hits. Tumbling to #10 is the Latin/soca anthem Danza Kuduro by Don Omar, Pit Bull, Lucenzo, DJ Laz and Qwote. Falling to #11 is Run the World (Girls) by Beyonce.Improving to # 12 is Put Your Hands Up (If You…) by Kylie Minogue. Down one space to #13 is Just Can't Get Enough by the Black Eyed Peas. Falling to #14 is Beautiful People by Chris Brown featuring Benny Benassi. Chris Brown too has a hot CD. Up to #15, is Wotless by Kes The Band and improving to # 16 is Bend Over by Machel Montano.Now some reggae. Climbing to #17 is Fly Away by Mavado, one of the hottest dancehall hits of the year. Improving to #18 is his other hit, Pepper.Down to #19 is Best Thing I Never Had by Beyonce and on its way out at #20 is 6 Foot 7 Foot by L'il Wayne featuring Cory Gunz.Now back to this week's topic: silence when we know about criminal activity means consent.We all have to be concerned about our Country's inability to eradicate the scourge of drugs, crime, violence, shootings, gang activity, thug life and all the other forms of antisocial behaviour related to this lifestyle.We had another shooting earlier this week. Thankfully, it appears that nobody was harmed. Traffic was backed up on Wednesday for hours as Police mounted an investigation and search into the incident.We actually have the answers and the solutions. The answer is in the Crimestoppers banners that have been erected at strategic locations throughout the Island and which encourage people to provide information to the authorities whenever crime or illegal activity is known or witnessed.The problem, again, is that too many of us will not provide this information to the authorities. Then people will take potshots at the judicial system for not bringing criminals to justice. As soon as members of the general public begin regularly providing the police with information about illegal activity, crime will start to decline. Until such time, it is really the people who have information about crimes, but refuse to report it, who are at fault.You cannot expect the police to cover every piece of land in Bermuda. Any police force anywhere in the world is aided by tips, information, reports from concerned citizens and eyewitnesses. The day we begin to help them is the day that we will begin to really take our communities back from the hands of the criminals.My prayer is that we as a Country will decide now that we are fed up with crime, violence, etc, really implement community policing and provide the authorities with sufficient information to round up the criminals, bring them before the courts and lock them away. In doing so we will reduce crime, thereby returning Bermuda to the safe, cool, happy place it used to be.If we choose not to report crimes even if the culprits are our family members and/or friends by our silence we are endorsing the behaviour. There is an old adage that goes, “silence means consent”. Peace ... DJLT