Dining on dirt cookies
i hate to sound like rush limbaugh, but there is certainly a part of me that is callous to the suffering going on in haiti. haiti has been a basketcase for it’s entire history after independence, except for the times it has been occupied/controlled by outside powers. it’s people eat dirt cookies on a regular basis.
if our purpose is to take over the country, we’d be supporting people like this:
“The Haitian government has been here for a while, and they give us nothing. The United States should take over the country,” said Andrelita Laguerre, shepherding four children and a grandchild at the camp. “Most of my friends expect the United States to take over. I wish!” [bold emphasis is mine]
supporting this behavior is not a wise investment. yes, these people are hurting badly right now, but if we support them, their exponentially increased descendants will likely still be living in squalor. if our purpose isn’t to take over the country (and thank god it’s not afaik!), then we’re pouring billions in relief aid to haiti so that the populace can go back to munching on dirt cookies?
as a precondition to aid, haiti should be forced to agree to population control, china style. if one child is too few, then a maximum of two should be allowed. obviously this would never fly as it is too heartless. but is it less heartless to condemn haiti’s descendants to repeat their ancestors’ mistakes?
another haitian insanity is their treatment of the haitian diaspora. whereas most nations that experience a brain drain try with all their might to reverse or circulate it, haitians actively discriminate against the smartest, most capable of their own people.
His efforts to build a desalination facility and a portable power plant in Haiti failed in part, he says, because of antipathy toward expatriates. He has been called “diaspore,” an insulting term. Under Haitian law, when he became an American citizen, he automatically “renounced” his birthplace.
For years, educated émigrés like Mr. Armand, from Miami to Montreal, have tried hard to play a more vital role in Haiti’s development, with little success.
the disaster has nullified much of this sentiment for the moment, but the fact it existed at all attests to the shortsightedness of its leaders and people. might it not be more humane to put the sick dog down and let it die? one major factor in europe’s renaissance was that a third of their population died and the remainder, by default, became richer and gained the financial ability to become craftsmen and specialists. it’s harsh, but so is life.
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