Teenagers make mistakes and they are expected to but hopefully not ones that sees them fatally wounded.

Their youth should enable them to bounce back, learn from experiences and keep moving forward.

Many in Jamaica rounded on 16-year-old Samantha Azan for comments she made on boarding a private jet bound for Jamaica after Hurricane Beryl.

In the video, she is seen smiling and in a jovial mood with who presumably are family or friends on the jet—typical teenagers posing it up for the cameras.

What got many in a tizzy was a caption by young Samantha that read “ Us coming back to Jamaica after abandoning it for the hurricane then acting like it didn’t do anything to the country.” 

This unleashed a torrent of opprobrium and vitriol. Class and race resentments again came to the fore. People called for Azan businesses to be boycotted, the hate on social media was tremendous.

We all have our different realities—that’s life. That is what the haters failed to grasp. 

Her family (and by that, I mean her extended family) are successful businesspeople who may have found it prudent to get their children and relatives out of Jamaica upon hearing of the destruction that would be wrought on Jamaica by Hurricane Beryl. That’s understandable and many parents in that position would do the same. That doesn’t mean that all Azans should be subjected to insults and invective and their well-being and businesses threatened.

Teenagers make mistakes—whether they are from uptown or downtown. You live and learn. 

In this era, so many of us run to social media and post a stream of “consciousness” without evaluating what we are saying or the ramifications of these posts. So many have found themselves in trouble for their lack of foresight and have regrets—particularly the young. We live in an age of short attention spans and where we all want attention—it’s all about instant gratification and solipsism. This will not elevate humankind and is already setting it back. Social media should be regulated.

A sixteen-year-old kid began a firestorm that threatened long-standing businesses. People did not choose to reprimand an errant teenager—they chose to destroy businesses, and they reflexively went for the class and race card. That says something about the psyche of Jamaicans and the hypocrisy.

Many would readily switch places with Samantha Azan and would “floss” and “bling” it out—it’s the culture. The ‘sky-boxification’ of Jamaica is real; everyone wants to “step up inna life”. So to condemn her so forcefully is a bit much.

What she wrote was insensitive to the plight of most Jamaicans and the optics were jarring. A sixteen-year-old does not have the bandwidth, sensitivity or wherewithal to process that. She’s with her friends and family, they are on a private jet, and she wants to post.

The fallout saw members of the family perhaps insisting that she go on social media and apologise, which was the right thing to do.

The cynics are saying it was done to prevent Azan businesses from facing the wrath of the common people. Very predictable.

In young Samantha’s apology, she made it clear she has no connection to the Azan businesses in Jamaica. That was a mistake. 

Maybe the fear of the anger levelled at the businesses drew that out. It only led to people digging into her background and her connection to the Azans in Jamaica.

Again, the elders in the family would have been perturbed and would have scrambled to find a balm for this wound.

The lesson here is that parents must monitor their children’s social media posts. Teenagers and young children cannot be relied upon to be discerning enough to consider the consequences and weight of their digital missives.

It was never going to be the case that the Azan businesses would be boycotted and rendered no more. It was all a lot of hot air and indignation from people, who like Samantha, are not thinking through what they post on social media. Come school time parents will all get down to Bascho, people will go into the shops to buy goods because life goes on.

The troublemakers on social media may go” viral” for a day or two and then it will be onto something else – more often than not to some “hot gal on Instagram” or a dancing cat on TikTok. Then again, they will get hungry and focus their minds on running down to KFC. 

In fact, a week later, this has all turned into a nothing burger as it should.

There are no complaints or vexation when people in the ghetto party drink Hennessy, bleach out, wear fake Versace or Tommy Hilfiger, clutch Coach purses, wear top-end sandals, and have ornate gold jewellery around their necks. It’s just ‘boasey’, right?!

But for a kid from a well-to-do family to go on a private jet and write something silly, everyone wants to roast her on social media and drive the family into the sea—go figure!

For young Samantha Azan, this is a sobering lesson and she must learn from it. Her parents must pay closer attention to what she puts out on her social media platforms. Jamaicans must be less censorious and judgmental because many of them put out nonsense verbiage on social media and are not held to account.

Not too long ago, the prime minister talked about the dark side of social media and how closer attention must be paid to its impact. He has a point. The ability to just say anything you like unfiltered is destructive and we are already on a path that is already destabilising and poses a threat to orderly society. It makes parenting a nightmare.

Targeting the Azans revealed the dark, horrible resentment many harbour for their own plight. Samantha and the Azans were just the harbingers for this envy and “bad-mindedness.”

“The wicked envy and hate, it is their way of admiring.”

Victor Hugo.