But that said, I would personally argue that statement that the "whole movement" or every "rasfafari" falls into your assumption is 100% not true. On comparison - If I'd point out that every christian in States is fundamental lunatic there would be people wanting to lynch me.
And just to point out; this is purely anecdata on my own behalf. I've been in contact with various people / mansions for past 33 years and i am "officially" part one of the biggest / global houses but i dont really go under that banner anymore because of the fundamental views of some people within those circles make me sick. But its still not the whole movement.
Thus proving your point to be correct?
There are Koisan Rastifari. In https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/article/download/60344/... you can see mention of separate Rastafarian groups:
> At the time, he was the sole Khoisan Rastafari in this predominantly Xhosa neighborhood. ... King Yellow often conceptualized himself as culture breaker or a mediator occupying a third position between Khoisan and Xhosa ethnicities, which he clearly distinguishes as separate groups existing in the Rastafarian movement ... "You get a lot of racist wars here in the Rasta community also (...) me, that’s why I went to live in marcus Garvey to break that barrier... (King Yellow 2013)
> ... In this crowd, my eye is caught by a group of young, barefoot, bearded men, who are wearing what appears to be sack cloth. I am told by my friend that they are ‘Sakman’, members of a local Khoisan Rastafarian sect, who surrender their life completely to devotion and supposedly live in isolation somewhere outside of the city.
Or from https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/2017/08/29/khoisan-rastafaria... :
> By fusing indigenousness within a universally established religious identity, the Khoisan Rastafarian movement encourages members of the Colored community to discover their roots and to perceive themselves as a part of a global community of Black people who have all experienced oppression through colonialism and/or slavery. As a result, Rastafari promotes peace in South Africa and a larger movement towards recognizing the indigenous KhoiSan people.
Anecdotally I have 5 peaceful Rastafarians in my life for every one of your militant variety, and they are wonderful people to be around.
The article omits talking about what this culture stands for in that regard somehow completely. It talks about Rastafari men only.
[1] https://academic.oup.com/book/595/chapter-abstract/135316411
Since you are confident enough to guarantee my experience with any adherent to this religion, can you expand on the depth and breadth of your experiences with the many individuals that are part of it?
I guess it’s just a religion with thousands of adherents across a very large diaspora, maybe vague implications that they’re all… less than peaceful(?) is so obviously true that a downvote is more conducive to curious conversation than adding any additional words.
The rastas that I spend time with are among the most friendly people I've ever met.
"They are seen as unwelcome influence in much of the Caribbean."
This is absolutely not an okay argument against a religious community. It is very reminiscent of what antisemitics use as an argument for their hate.
Generally, saying a religion, or any belief really, isn't culturally acceptable is perfectly fine in my mind. That would apply equally to Scientology, Rastafarianism, Judaism, Christianity, etc.
Is the ethnic makeup of the Caribbean such that we should not believe so? Are Rastafarians ethnically coherent enough that it could be interpreted as such a prejudice?
Maybe OP should have made a better appeal if you didn't like my anecdote.
A lot of individual rastas are personally apolitical like any other religion. But overall the religion certainly has its own outward politics, historically closely linked to the black liberation struggle. There are active and mainstream currents of black nationalism & separatism in the religion. Which, whatever you think of their merits, are not particularly chill worldviews.
I haven't validated this thought but here goes: dive deep into any religion and I bet none of them have chill worldviews (i.e. accepting of all, etc.). In my mind the only candidate might be buddhism but I haven't dove into that hardly to see what lurks
And then you get into theory vs practice I guess without a useful distinction either way. The pali canon might be chill, but devout buddhists have still done genocide. The archetypal tolstoyan pious serf might be chill but the russian orthodox church certainly never has been.
I'm genuinely asking because it's interesting, not to harp on you but because I'd like to know more.
Jamaica has been known as the most homophobic country in the world, where homosexuality remains illegal, despite slowly changing attitudes.
Homosexuals are all over the damn place since about the 2010s
0: https://www.jah-lyrics.com/song/prince-buster-ten-commandmen...