Posted on 01/17/2010 2:30:27 PM PST by B-Chan
As we look with dismay and growing horror at the apocalypse in Haiti, we can't help but feel sympathy for the people of Port-au-Prince. Having lived through a major quake myself (Northridge '94, 6.6 Richter), I can assure you that their terror is profound, their suffering is real. It goes without saying that you all should give generously to Haitian relief via the charity of your choice.
But aid money isn't going to fix Haiti, because Haiti's problems are not economic in nature. (Nor are they related to a voodoo curse, as TV preacher Pat Robertson claimed last week.) Haiti's primary problem is the Haitian people. It's a hard saying, but I'll say it anyway: the people of Haiti — or, rather, their African/slave-derived culture — is the source of the bulk of the nation's misery and heartache. By clinging to their nation's Revolutionary culture and West African religious tradition, the people of Haiti only prolong the conditions that make their nation a world-class hellhole.
And there's no good reason that Haiti should be a hellhole. Biologically, Haitians are just as capable of building a successful country as anyone else. The country is rich in natural resources. The climate (barring an occasional hurricane) is ideal for productive agriculture. The location of Haiti is well suited for tourism, trade, and doing business in the Americas; and the potential for the growth of both low-wage labor employment and higher-wage manufacturing, technical, and service industries in Haiti is quite high, as is demonstrated by Haiti's relatively prosperous next-door neighbor the Dominican Republic. Given all of these advantages, why does life in Haiti suck so hard?
It's the culture. All the money in the world won't matter to the average Haitian until he or she (and, by extension, the society in which they live) are divorced from the anti-human, anti-freedom culture established by the genocides of the Haitian Revolution. The only way to "fix" Haiti is to effect this divorce, and replace the culture of corruption and superstition with one based upon trust and reason.
But how? History shows us that only by conquest and occupation has a native culture been superseded by an imposed culture. Perhaps Haiti needs to be conquered and rebuilt in the image of its conqueror -- for its own good. A case can be made that the best thing that could happen to Haiti would be an invasion and occupation in the style of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's culturally-transformative occupation of Japan (1945-1952).
Of course, I'm not suggesting that the United States repeat its nation-building Japanese performance in Haiti. France, Haiti's former colonial master, is the actor best suited to assume the role of benign conqueror: to take over the country, establish public order (at gunpoint, if necessary), and to root out the voodoo/slave culture that is poisoning the country. Once order is established and a culture based upon the dignity of the human person takes root (c. 10-30 years), Haitians will be free to succeed as the Dominican Republic has. Until then, Haiti will remain the basket case of the Caribbean, a body politic fatally poisoned by the toxins from an nonviable culture, immune to even heroic doses of foreign aid.
That being said: human life comes before everything, and the lives of the people who survive the quake must be preserved. That's why I ask that everyone donate to Haitian quake relief via the charity of your choice.
No, money won't solve Haiti's problems. Only French paratroopers — or a social and cultural order imposed in some other form — will begin to do that. Until the country is reborn in a form that can survive, the Haitian people will only continue to suffer — victims of a way of life that simply does not work.
Voodoo is part of their problem.
We 'lived through" Northridge, too, and it was by no means major. What happened then cannot be compared to what happened in Haiti.
Over a century ago a leading U.S. diplomat described Haiti as a “public nuisance on our doorstep.” His observation is still true today.
As far as whether France would do that, I doubt it! When Reagan was president, I mean, I’m thinking of Granada -
... quoting from Wikipedia ...
The Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, was a 1983 U.S.-led invasion of Grenada, a Caribbean island nation of just over 100,000 population located 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela, triggered by a military coup which ousted a brief revolutionary government. The successful invasion led to a change of government but was controversial due to charges of American imperialism, ...
—— I thought for sure it was spelled “Granada” but I guess I’m wrong! ... Maybe something like this would have happened back in Reagan’s time, but I doubt that France or anyone else will, now.
And Obama hates the idea of “American imperialism.”
Sure it can. In size, the two earthquakes were very similar. The only significant difference is that California generally builds structures that are up to earthquake code and Haiti does not. If Haiti simply built stuff up to code this would have been a significantly smaller disaster.
Furthermore, the only reason Haiti does not implement them is because it is a politically and culturally dysfunctional basket case. It's not like the technology isn't there, or the proper building techniques are not known. They simply didn't see the need to implement them even though they knew they lived on a fault, and money that could have been used to up their building standards was instead poured into extravagant palaces for their dictators...which were also not built up to code.
Sure it can. In size, the two earthquakes were very similar. The only significant difference is that California generally builds structures that are up to earthquake code and Haiti does not. If Haiti simply built stuff up to code this would have been a significantly smaller disaster.
Furthermore, the only reason Haiti does not implement them is because it is a politically and culturally dysfunctional basket case. It's not like the technology isn't there, or the proper building techniques are not known. They simply didn't see the need to implement them even though they knew they lived on a fault, and money that could have been used to up their building standards was instead poured into extravagant palaces for their dictators...which were also not built up to code.
With an average IQ of about 72, I'm sure that will be happening any day now.
There are very sound and well-understood reasons why the successes of Western civilization can't just be magically replicated in any random third world backwater.
Furthermore, the only reason Haiti does not implement them is because it is a politically and culturally dysfunctional basket case. It's not like the technology isn't there, or the proper building techniques are not known. They simply didn't see the need to implement them even though they knew they lived on a fault, and money that could have been used to up their building standards was instead poured into extravagant palaces for their dictators...which were also not built up to code.
Spot-on observation.
Their IQ matches that of the average politician.
“Nor are they related to a voodoo curse”
I still say Voodoo is the problem.
Uhuh just like it is the culture of Zimbabwe, South Africa, Somalia, Detroit, New Orleans and a whole bunch of other places...
It is just an amazing coincidence I'm sure that this 'culture' is shared in so many places.
The similarity in size to which you refer is just an artifact of the logarithmic nature of the Richer scale. In fact, a 7.0 Richter quake (like the one in Haiti) releases just under TWICE the energy of a 6.7 Richter quake (like the one in Northridge).
Otherwise, the rest of your post is spot on, in my opinion.
Only once in modern history was the government of Haiti honest and fair. This was when it was run by the United States Marine Corps.
The first United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915 and ended in mid-August, 1934.
American President Woodrow Wilson sent 330 U.S. Marines to Port-au-Prince on July 28, 1915. The specific order from the Secretary of the Navy to the invasion commander, Admiral William Deville Bundy, was to “protect American and foreign” interests. However, to avoid public criticism the occupation was labeled as a mission to “re-establish peace and order...[and] has nothing to do with any diplomatic negotiations of the past or the future” as disclosed by Rear Admiral Caperton.
For the next nineteen years, advisors of the United States governed the country, enforced by the United States Marine Corps.
Almost needless to say, the Haitians wasted no time in returning Haiti to its pristine state of violent and chaotic poverty.
“Their IQ matches that of the average politician.”
And that is the reason we have so many problems in DC.
No one wants to talk about the elephant in the room but some people are not capable of running a modern society.
So here’s an observation. Switzerland and Haiti have about the same land area if you subtract mountains. The populations are close. Haiti has 9 million and Switzerland 8 million. What would happen if all the Swiss were moved to Haiti and vice versa? I say say in one generation Haiti would be like Switzerland is today and Switzerland would have poverty and snow. So the problem isn’t the places; its the culture and people that live there that is the problem.
“It’s the culture.” says the author, and as you point out, voodoo is a big part of that culture.
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