Can you spot the difference between the ‘looter’ and the ‘finder’?*
All hell is breaking loose in Haiti.
The earthquake was just the beginning.
As David Brooks pointed out in The New York Times this morning:
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services.
I have not seen a single appearance by the President of Haiti, any Haitian official, or for that matter, any Haitian at all.
This morning on The Today Show, there were two rather poignant interviews with earthquake survivors.
One was from Alaska, had been teaching English in Haiti, had a leg amputated and was air-evac’d to Miami. Â The other was a missionary who was rescued by her husband and who was interviewed from Virginia.
What do these two people have in common?
Well, they’re white, for starters.
And they got excellent medical care.
That makes them different from the possible 1 million people in Haiti directly effected by the quake.
In two ways.
As David Brooks points out, there is no infrastructure in Haiti. Â It was and remains the poorest country in the hemisphere.
Observed by our white reporters, no doubt, the looting will start soon.
But you have to ask yourself, if your children are starving to death, and don’t have food or water, is it ‘looting’?
I guess, as the reporting from New Orleans proved a few years ago, that depends….
*I am indebted to Patrick Sleightholm, of Houston, Texas, who found this.
10 Comments
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D McGuire January 19, 2010
Surprised that you can see through the “looter” stereotype and not through David Brooks. This might help:
D McGuire January 19, 2010
I guess you are not allowed to add links. Just add http to this: ://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/01/18/translating-david-brooks-haiti/
$ January 16, 2010
Completely agree about Afghanistan and Iraq.
Without question.
Kevin January 17, 2010
Hear, Hear!
Michael Rosenblum January 16, 2010
I don’t disagree, but hasten to add that we should apply the same logic to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Vanessa January 19, 2010
I don’t disagree either. good point about Afghanistan and Iraq.
$ January 16, 2010
I must add, let’s remember Haiti was a French colony, not an American colony.
These people have been free to govern themselves for many years.
They have overthrown many dictators with and without the help of outside governments.
And still, the situation remains the same for how they live.
At some point they have to take responsibility for their own situation.
We should help them recover from this awful earthquake.
But keep your expectations based in reality when it’s time to see how they continue to run their own country.
Or sit back and not run it as the case may be.
$ January 16, 2010
In regards to Haiti, “you can’t fix stupid”.
Sad for the people but the problems there, ultimately, have to be solved by the Haitians themselves.
Not by handouts of cash and a paternalistic foreign relations policy by wealthier nations filled with citizens who think they know better.
Ralph January 15, 2010
We (Americans) don’t care until after the fact. The poverty that we shared in producing and profiting from isn’t even discussed. Let this be a lesson for us as we survey other poor countries in our region (Cuba).