As a whole city of them thinks, so it is; and as a nation of them think, so it is.
It is important to pay attention to the local environment that someone is from, as the dominant belief systems from that environment will be found in that person you are interacting with. Even if that person claims they do not hold such beliefs, remnants of that belief system will be deeply ingrained into the person where it will surface in your interactions with them.
The belief has to start with just one man, then spreads to another man. Those two men will exponentially spread that belief and all the conscious and subconscious systems within their physical and digital environment. This is why online communities are formed just as natural as physical communities. The community will attract others from the outside who gravitate towards that belief.
Integrity behavioral transfer at city level
In Jamaica, we have an integrity issue that is deeply rooted within the entire society. Some belief systems will try to unwind such behaviors, with some success. However, in other cases where the beliefs are embraced as used, and others congregate in the same environment for that behavior, then you will find that behavior in even the people who are fighting against that beliefs.
An example is scamming. Montego Bay and some parts of the country areas contains pockets of scammers who will call the Americans with false knowledge of winnings from raffles and other games or methods.
I have spent time in that city and lived amongst them. I’ve stayed with people who believed they were the complete opposite of the scammers. However, after some time, I started observing similar pre-requisite behavior necessary for scamming, related to integrity and honesty.
I’ve been around men who are well off financially but conduct business in shady ways where they do not tell the full story about the product they are selling. Or they will misrepresent the products.
Some of these men are well read in terms of the knowledge they consume on the mind, and they use these dark psychology and manipulation techniques on the people around them, including their own family members.
Integrity of the family and church
I’ve observed them scamming their own daughter out of some money and a few gold pieces by running tactics referred to as triangulation interference on her relationship. This can be learnt in psychology books related to narcissism and cluster b personality disorders.
These behaviors are from men whose fathers were going around as holy men. The church is an environment rampant with false and dishonest belief systems where the members are scammed of their energies and monies. Then these members and their children will do what they see done to them and believe it is ok.
This is how beliefs spread, false beliefs of poor integrity, disguised under holy teachings and those from guardians who should be teaching the children what is right from wrong in society.
The good thing is that we have a built in moral compass and the holy texts, can be used as a source material where one’s own moral compass and spirit can interpret the text towards moral good. Even if the pastor and the rest do not agree, as they will spread the interpretation toward the beliefs that is in their best interest.
A country like Jamaica has a lot of nature where folks can spend time to themselves, listening to the internal moral compass, formulate their own ideologies and then create their own church. It is a country with many churches per square mile, and this demonstrates a good thing. All the different denominations means that people are thinking for themselves.
So the church may eventually override false beliefs coming out of the homes.
The integrity of the academic schooling system
It is these same people from the communities who are teachers, and the same children from the homes who are creating friendships and transferring behaviors to others.
However, the value systems that are instilled in the schools may skew the belief systems towards a moral system of good. But from what we can see, the homes primarily override the value systems taught in schools if the schools do not have strong values and the teachers are strong willed.
This is why certain schools are ranked higher than others, because of how well the integrity and value systems are enforced.
The Anomaly
Of course there are anomalies in the system. A minority who will break out from the belief and go against the belief system of the majority. How? Why does this happen?
You can observe this phenomenon from all angles. Raised in a religious home, there will be one rebelling against the system, going out and having sex with anyone of the opposite sex they can lay eyes on. Raised in a crooked home, there will be one who will be heads down in their books while the rest are outside playing and the parents are shouting at each other.
The anomalies are my deepest interest. My father was an anomaly in a "poor" mentality home and he was one of the few who left the environment to create a life for himself. I know many more like him as I've come across them throughout my life, listened to their stories and have asked them questions of "what makes you different"?
This is why when I read scientific studies, I don't just look at the highest statistical values. If it shows to be 99% effective, then who are the 1%? Why did it not work on that population? That is where the true knowledge and insight are.
Conclusion
When a city or an entire country comes with a reputation of a certain behavior, then one can assume that the individual who have spent a significant amount of time in that environment, will be displaying that behavior.
If Montego Bay Jamaica is known for scamming, then assume the residents may skew towards that behavior. Assume the neighboring towns will also display that behavior. Assume the entire country will display similar levels of integrity and deception. It will vary on different levels.
This will impact the entire country on the level of IT systems such as phone calls being automatically blocked from Jamaica by telecoms, which means cold calls from Jamaican businesses will have a low conversion rate compared to numbers from other countries.
The good will suffer for the bad in the same environment because the beliefs is known to spread. Guilty by association.
But this cannot be the case, because of the anomalies. The underdog. The difference maker.
We cannot pass judgement on the individual because of the group. But we must still be wary and observe properly. Maybe the observation should be biased towards what we hope to find? Just like in a job interview, we want to hire you, so we are looking for any reason to actually hire you rather than the small mess ups you think you may have.
Maybe if we ourselves believe there is good, we will see it. But what happens when we are blind to the bad?
Hopefully this book will show some guidance in this direction.