Barbados changes everything

Everything regarding a rather sensitive proposition.

The proposition tried to draw a divide between races. A divide between those that are brown skinned and those that are white skinned.

University professors were shunned from society for pointing out what seemed quite obvious. Nations comprising predominantly brown skinned people performed much worse than nations that were predominantly white skinned. Hear me out for you will cherish the conclusion.

I have been to places such as Jamaica, Ethiopia, Kenya and seen the ills of corruption, bribery and short-term thinking in action. I have seen the problems and apparent lack of will to ‘sort the country out’. However, upon spending several weeks in Barbados my attitude changed entirely.

What did I witness? Order. Respect. Respect for women. Food is expensive so not wasted. Crime is low. Thefts minimal. Things are organised albeit a little too rigidly in some areas but that surpasses chaos seen elsewhere. Most government functions work. It is not perfect but jolly decent overall. The hospital was not over funded shall we say, yet by using scarce resources wisely it was impressive. They will never keep up with demand but will keep effective systems in place. Back and forth there for many days gave me an insight into their achievements.

The system is the be all and end all. A system can be put in place, but to make it work one needs people to support it. Barbados benefits from tourist income whilst African nations have resource income. How those inputs are used matters. A good system will produce economic growth, knowledge growth, infrastructure growth. We have seen this work wonders in Europe. Europeans have developed systems, policies and principles. And largely stuck to them, defending them where necessary.

It just so happens that most Europeans are white. However, the skin colour is irrelevant. One may spot a notable correlation between high performing nations and skin colour, but skin colour is not the deciding factor; it is an irrelevant factor.

Europe and Barbados have a connection. The people of these lands instil ideas into their offspring. Children learn from a young age that theft is wrong, criminality is wrong. Respect is essential. Bribery will not be tolerated. Brown skinned people are no less nor more intelligent than white skinned people. We do have many defunct nations that are populated largely by darker skinned people. The systems in those nations are different, and they produce a different result.

Mentally is not intelligence. You might think that intelligent people would push for a different system, but systems take generations to adopt.

I will be honest in that I did once consider whether genetic physical advantages, aka fast running speed for instance, was coupled with lower intellect as a trade-off. How wrong that thought was. There is no skin colour intellect differential. Better schooling produces people that appear more intelligent, but the intellect potential was/is always there.

The system produces better schools and thereby more productive people. More inventions. More innovation. More advanced technology.

I suspect there will be many that firmly believe that skin colour dictates how prosperous, how ordered, how fair, how consistent, how enlightened, how decent, how respectful to all, how a lot of things tend to be in a country. I also suspect that such a view is not aired much but held inside the head and private. Only a few brave enough to speak about the idea. The view though is categorically wrong and unfair. Yes, there is a correlation. Yes, it aligns very well indeed. However, whilst it may correlate accurately enough, the reason people give is wrong. Completely wrong. It is system not skin colour. Barbados shows us. Barbados is an example to the world. Please cite this example to the many that still believe that skin colour is a factor in a nation’s performance.

30th May 2026 © IgnoranceParadox