West Indians have a saying, “If you don't laugh, you'll cry.” Certainly, the current wave of violence in Jamaica – centered around the government's agreement to extradite Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke [1] to the United States to face drug and arms trafficking charges – is no laughing matter. Bloggers have been earnest in their attempts to disseminate information responsibly [2] in order to get the word out to both their compatriots and the international community about what the situation on the ground is like under the existing state of emergency [3]. But after days of sobering news in which police stations have been set on fire [4] and defense force personnel [5], gang members and ordinary citizens have reportedly been killed, bloggers clearly needed to seek out the amusing aspects of an otherwise untenable situation.
It started when @anniepaul [6] tweeted:
Shortly afterwards, she retweeted @cucumberjuice's amusement over the reporter's pronunciation of Dudus’ name:
Then, in response to @cucumberjuice's tweet about the network's profile of the Top 5 drug lords, @anniepaul quipped:
Doodus not one of dem RT @cucumberjuice: CNN showing the top 5 drug lords [10]
The one-liners continued:
Q: What do Tivoli residents use to screen their windows? A: SHOWER curtains… [11]
…a reference to the name of the gang [12] that ‘Dudus’ allegedly operates in the Tivoli Gardens area of Kingston.
@Fledgist [13], a fellow blogger who knows that @anniepaul [6] has been in Barbados attending a conference, got in on the fun by linking to a Barbados Free Press [14] post bemoaning the fact that a hand painted sign in support of ‘Dudus’ “was seen…on the left-hand side of Collymore Rock Road going towards Wildey from Bridgetown”:
@anniepaul Annie, I know you didn't do this! http://bit.ly/cokbT9 [15]
@persephone101 [16] was also on the ball, linking to an On The Ground News Reports [17] update that stated:
Rogue elements in neighbouring Barbados support Dudus as his supporters in Western #Kingston challenge Jamaican security forces who are trying to arrest him. #Jamaica #Barbados
She tweeted:
@anniepaul How come you didn't break this first? I thought you were the roving reporter! http://bit.ly/cRsGWV [18]
…to which @anniepaul replied:
LOL i'm losing it [19]
Then came the news that the Jamaican government issued a statement “blaming users of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter for spreading what it says is ‘inaccurate and misleading’ information” [20]. Instead of reacting angrily to the accusation, bloggers simply laughed:
@LabrishJamaica [21]: LOL! Government blames social networks over Tivoli http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Government-blames-social-networks-over-Tivoli [22]
@DiWaltham [23]: The ppl on twitter said #blameBruce, but now Bruce blaming the people on Twitter. #blameTwitter [24]
@endzoftheearth [25]: I think it was the 2 days of silence and precious little communication with the country, not social media that is to blame! [26]
Finally, in response to concerns that Jamaica's international image, so critical to its tourism industry, is taking a beating, @Gordonswaby [27] made it clear: