The go-to spot in the Caribbean for escaping winter’s doldrums is trying for a little respect. The island’s government has banned all explicit references of a sexual and / or violent nature from that country’s radio and TV airwaves.

Actually, the country’s broadcast commission banned just about anything that might be deemed nasty, including any song or music video showing sexual acts or glorifying violence, murder, rape and arson.

We’re not too sure how arson figured into it. That is, as opposed to other crimes, like robbing a bank, mugging someone or writing bad checks.

Banning sex, violence and glorifying criminal acts involving fire marks the latest attempt by the island-nation to present a more respectable (sterile?) image.

Earlier this month, the government banned any videos that depicted “daggering,” a dance move that pretty much involves pelvises, crotches and a lot of grinding.

But Jamaica’s daggering controversy is more than just about bumping body parts. The island’s reggae advocates are taking aim at a genre of music popular on the island called dancehall. It is dancehall from which daggering arose, and it’s dancehall that some reggae lovers are claiming will lead the country to ruin.

What’s more, there will be a public forum, not in Jamaica, but March 4 in New York City that will explore the effects of dancehall music. According to Jamaican publication The Gleaner, the forum is tagged as “Could dancehall be the ruination of reggae and by extension, brand Jamaica?”

The publication also quotes Sandra Gordon and Carlyle McKitty of the Coalition to Preserve Reggae Music as claiming dancehall will undercut reggae’s popularity, saying, “instead of music portraying truths, rights, love and respect, we see a popular sound that is demeaning, hateful, destructive and downward vulgar.”

Sounds kinda like what parents in the 1950s said about rock ‘n roll, doesn’t it?

But if you’re still wondering about what all the fuss is about, take a look at the following video from dancehall star Mr. Vegas, appropriately called, “Daggering.”

Read The Gleaner’s article here.