Last week’s news hit me like never before. I blame the BBC and the Antigua OBSERVER for my short-term depression, and the reminder that I need to slowly creep into the process of consuming the current affairs of the day or hour or minute.

Whenever this onslaught of negativity occurs, I adopt new approaches, like reading the comics or features sections first. The international publications would go further and provide some info on the fashion world or the arts and culture. Even sport is not guaranteed to provide positive vibes, what with all the allegations of corruption in FIFA, and the massive security glitches for the Olympics in London. The news can really suck, and certainly should be taken in small doses.

This week was real pressure. Some time during the week, the BBC featured the story about French politicians who apparently dropped ‘The Honourable’ from their respective titles as Members of Parliament to holler at a female socialist government representative in a way, that I am sure, they wouldn’t like their daughters, wives, or mothers to be treated by other men.

These guys seated in parliament should be ashamed that they were going beyond the usual political time wastage game to further hurl sexist comments to their opponent based on her choice of fashion.

The female colleague, who sits in a government of 50 percent men to women, felt the brunt of the legacy of sexism in France. The conservative French men thought it necessary to over comment on her dress- a blue floral one. It is summer, and she should be absolutely free to wear her summer dress, without having to worry about being harassed like that by a bunch of men. It’s not acceptable in public, the office, and certainly not in parliament for the stake of some nasty and frankly boring distraction tactic.

The BBC didn’t let up. They assaulted me again last week with news of a medical student, who strolled into a Cineplex in suburban Denver, decked off in very similar gear to the Dark Knight character in the new Batman flick, and proceeded to terrorise the cinema fans. Talk about a moment I was happy to not have a child around. The word that came out of my mouth would have called for some major explanations.

There is no doubt there is something wrong with the man, but something is terribly wrong in Denver … remember the Columbine shooting? According to the reports, Columbine is 10 miles away from the Cineplex. The insanity of violence being a normal thing amongst men is more terrorising than the idea of the Jihadist striking a city centre near you. Don’t you think that the Dark Knight Shooting can occur here with the guns circulating throughout our society? Some may say, “‘t’all!’” But we can’t take this lightly. The faces I see in St John’s tell some tales I really wish not to hear. But I hope, that on this island, the state could lure into public health practice 25 psychologists and psychiatrists to respond to the mental health needs that most populations neglect until it’s too late.

Talking about mental health, I lost my mind when I read the full – page story of “Mr Fix it” Davis, hailed by the OBSERVER as a sexual predator, liar, and manipulator.  This man apparently had no self – regulation or awareness. A man, who I am left to think, was savage because he wore a broad smile when he apologised to the court for repeatedly raping a minor who was cognitively underdeveloped.

Now you see, these crimes, I can’t deal with at all. I am not in support of the anti-buggery law, but I would have used it to put him behind bars for life, and not only for 20 years. Davis left me with the thought that he was an old dog, incapable of disciplining. As a few people have mentioned to me thus far, “like that man was insane.” I can’t blame them, I don’t have a clue how someone would repeatedly rape a minor with such a condition, then blame the minor, and show no sincere remorse. And this is the crux of the matter: remorse, responsibility, and humanity has all gone out the door.

I stepped out of a taxi before I had the displeasure of hearing this news last Friday and was greeted by a lovely smiling young woman.  I embraced it as a welcome to a beautiful day on a beautiful island, full of beautiful people. But, when I read the news I couldn’t help thinking that more teenagers aren’t smiling because they may have encountered a sleazy sinister character claiming to be a trusted adult, furthermore a man who terrorised them in some way, whether verbally, emotionally or sexually.

So men, as it pertains to our little rock, let’s sincerely work together to eliminate the culture of all types of abuse that currently prevails over the land. We need to work towards knocking the 6 off of the 60 reports the police received for the year, and ensure no more smiles are stolen from our children.