# "One Love"? RIGHT. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 27, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271 "2004-09-27T06:16:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/1 "2004-09-27T06:16:19Z")
Quoth [365Gay.com:](http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/09/092704tatchell.htm) > [@](#): > > London police are giving British gay rights leader Peter Tatchell round the clock protection following death threats from supporters of anti-gay Jamaican reggae artists. > > Police believe that a violent gang of Jamaicans known as the Yardies have been hired to kill Tatchell, leader of the LGBT civil rights group Outrage. … > > Numerous messages posted on reggae fan websites call for Tatchell to be killed. A message posted on one dancehall reggae website by a man calling himself Killarock says: “Where are the shottas (gunmen) over in England, I bet if the shottas dem kill a few a dem they will calm down, cause right now England battyman dem ago start a world movement.” I don’t have the words for how absolutely disgusting and grotesque this kind of behaviour is. The cognitive dissonance necessary for homophobia is present in its most deranged form in that subset of reggae fans and singers who can say “one love” out of one side of their mouth and “fire burn the batty boys” out of the other side. I can only hope that Peter Tatchell is taking comfort from the notion that if he’s getting death threats from deranged homophobes, he’s doing something right. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/2 "2004-09-27T06:29:40Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Quoth [365Gay.com:](http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/09/092704tatchell.htm) > > I don’t have the words for how absolutely disgusting and grotesque this kind of behaviour is. The cognitive dissonance necessary for homophobia is present in its most deranged form in that subset of reggae fans and singers who can say “one love” out of one side of their mouth and “fire burn the batty boys” out of the other side. > > I can only hope that Peter Tatchell is taking comfort from the notion that if he’s getting death threats from deranged homophobes, he’s doing something right. You have to give it to them though, that is a very _original_ death threat. Serious issue of grave importance to human rights everywhere I know carry on don’t mind me. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/3 "2004-09-27T06:30:09Z")
I was reading about this in the NYTimes. Pretty baffling. ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/4 "2004-09-27T08:27:00Z")
Whenever a group is pitching the “Right Way” to live (one love, Jesus is my Master, there is no God but Allah, etc.,) be vary suspicious of their motives. Universal love, universal acceptance is hard to find, even where it is preached. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/5 "2004-09-27T11:05:19Z")
> [@sevastopol](#): > > You have to give it to them though, that is a very _original_ death threat. For values of ‘original’ that converge on complete incomprehensibility. Maybe I’m showing my parochialism, but I can’t really understand that quote at all. Can someone translate it? Is he, in fact, speaking gibberish? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/6 "2004-09-27T11:33:23Z")
I just had A-A two hands in a row, and was outdrawn on the fucking river both times. Thanks for listening. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/7 "2004-09-27T11:34:25Z")
Sorry, that was supposed to be a new thread. Not only do I suck at poker, I can’t handle message board posting either. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/8 "2004-09-27T11:51:41Z")
**Derleth:** _Maybe I’m showing my parochialism, but I can’t really understand that quote at all. Can someone translate it? Is he, in fact, speaking gibberish?_ I think he’s speaking the Jamaican-English dialect known as [“Jamaican patois”](http://www.everytingjamaican.com/jamaicatalk/archive/t-1797.html). I can’t translate it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/9 "2004-09-27T11:54:02Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I think he’s speaking the Jamaican-English dialect known as [“Jamaican patois”](http://www.everytingjamaican.com/jamaicatalk/archive/t-1797.html). I can’t translate it, though. Well, I knew that he was speaking in patios. I simply wondered if anyone here could translate it, or if it was just plain nonsense in any language. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/10 "2004-09-27T11:55:16Z")
Oh wait, I think I got it: “Where are the gunmen over in England? I bet if the gunmen kill a few of them [homosexuals], then they [the homosexuals] will calm down. Because right now English homosexuals are going to start a world movement.” “Fire burn the batty boys” presumably requires no translation. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/11 "2004-09-27T11:55:55Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Can someone translate it? Well, if you’re serious… Killarock is asking why those who share his views and live in England have not yet taken violent action. He suggests that some of the aforementioned people shoot a few English gay rights activists. He believes that this will cause the English gay community to be less willing to fight for civil rights. Killarock worries that unless they are dissuaded from their activities by strategic murders, the activists will be very successful in bringing about improvements in gay rights both nationally and internationally. He doesn’t like that idea too much. – elfbabe, dialect decoder ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/12 "2004-09-27T11:57:51Z")
damn! simulpost! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/13 "2004-09-27T12:34:51Z")
Thank you, **elfbabe** and **Kimstu**. That really is stupid, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/14 "2004-09-27T12:37:38Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > That really is stupid, isn’t it? Yep. Even disregarding the stupidity of his views themselves, anyone who honestly thinks shooting a couple of activists will make the rest go away quietly has more than a few screws loose. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/15 "2004-09-27T12:53:32Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] I don’t have the words for how absolutely disgusting and grotesque this kind of behaviour is. The cognitive dissonance necessary for homophobia is present in its most deranged form in that subset of reggae fans and singers who can say “one love” out of one side of their mouth and “fire burn the batty boys” out of the other side. [QUOTE] Not to miss the point of the rant, because I feel those sentiments to be equally disturbing and disgusting, but the dancehall mc’s talking about killin gays, etc., are not the same guys singing “one love.” Don’t confuse Bob Marley with Beenie Man and Elephant Man (both in terms of musical ability and in terms of philosophy). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/16 "2004-09-27T13:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > dancehall mc’s talking about killin gays, etc., are not the same guys singing “one love.” First I’d like to say I know that this problem isn’t common to all Jamaican-derived music (I used the word “subset” in the OP). However, I referred to “one love” because I read an interview with one of these people in the _Hour_ in which he used that sentiment practically in the same breath as [condemning us to death:](http://www.hour.ca/music/music.aspx?iIDArticle=3876) > [@](#): > > But Sizzla is unrepentant. > > “It is wrong! Once we stoop to sodomites and homosexuals, it is wrong!” Sizzla says, his voice rising. “Wherever I go it is the same thing - burn sodomite, burn battyman. Burn all things that are wrong. Burn it… We must get rid of Sodom and Gomorrah right now and they must give us [the African diaspora] repatriation [to Africa] right now.” > > Then, just before hanging up the phone, Sizzla calmly says, “Much love to the people. As you know, Jah is love.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/17 "2004-09-27T13:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] Oh wait, I think I got it: “Where are the gunmen over in England? I bet if the gunmen kill a few of them [homosexuals], then they [the homosexuals] will calm down. Because right now English homosexuals are going to start a world movement.” [QUOTE] _Start_ a world movement? The Empire was FOUNDED by English homosexuals! Respect. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/18 "2004-09-27T14:02:51Z")
Unfortunately, it’s not much of a surprise. Rastafarianism has always been pretty anti-gay. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/19 "2004-09-27T14:30:45Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > “Fire burn the batty boys” presumably requires no translation. Something about cricket? The latest bad pop song hitting the charts? Seriously, I’m not sure unless there’s an out-of-date bit of slang being used there. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271/20 "2004-09-27T14:43:22Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > > [@Kimstu](#): > > > > “Fire burn the batty boys” presumably requires no translation. > > Something about cricket? The latest bad pop song hitting the charts? > > Seriously, I’m not sure unless there’s an out-of-date bit of slang being used there. From the article linked by **matt\_mcl** : > [@](#): > > And their lives are being made all the more miserable by international Jamaican dancehall superstars like Buju Banton, Beenie Man, T.O.K., Capleton and Sizzla, the latter two ultra-orthodox Boboshanti Rastas, called “Bobo Dreads,” who exhort their fans with “ **fire burn** ” lyrics, which profess the literal torching of all symbols of Babylon. > > Many gays - or people perceived to be gay - have since been set afire in Jamaica by mobs chanting “Fiya burn!” > [@](#): > > derogatory terms for gay men - ‘chi chi men’ or **'battybwoys’** So chi chi men or battymen or battyboys or battybwoys are gay men. And “fire burn” represents burning. With fire. He is advocating burning people to death because of their sexual orientation. I would think this would be obvious in context. … do people really find these words that difficult to understand, or are you all claiming not to understand the language as a way to dismiss the views expressed? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-love-right/266271.md?page=2)