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On the Disaster in Haiti, and the Coverage
The footage from Haiti is absolutely heartbreaking.
If you’ve got a loved one in Haiti, my thoughts are with you. I can only imagine the anguish you must feel today.
Every person there is precious. Every injured person and every fatality represents a disaster for a family. I can only hope that rescuers arrive swiftly to save all those who can be saved, and that relief arrives promptly with food, clean water, and hospital supplies.
I’m donating, as I’m hoping you’ll do, too. Every little bit helps.
And I don’t want to fixate on the casualty figures, as Wolf Blitzer is doing. He acts like he’ll be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t exceed 100,000. He’s turning himself into a pornographer of disaster, a carnival barker of death.
And I don’t want to hear, as I did on the Weather Channel, of all places, about how pathetic Haiti is, and always was. Nor do any of us need to hear the rantings of Pat Robertson blaming yet another calamity on the victims.
I had to turn to BET to hear some welcome insight about how Haiti has a rich history of fighting for freedom and how its art, music, religious practices, and literature add tremendously to the world’s cultural stockpile.
What I want to hear, now, is how the people in Haiti themselves are fighting heroically to save lives.
And I want to know, now, is that our government is doing all it can in this regard, too.
We are not Americans. They are not Haitians. We are all human beings.
- Posted in
25 Comments so far
Show All"We are not Americans. They are not Haitians. We are all human beings."
Yes, but some of us human beings have enough money to buy off the common good in countries like Haiti.
The problem is wealth distribution and the abuses of the rich against the poor, and if you've got a few million dollars to spare (for often self-interested "aid"), you're probably a part of the problem yourself.
Personally, I can't give any money to the people of Haiti because I only make enough to keep myself housed and fed. But then again, I will never be the one to buy off the elites of a third-world country so that I can pay "my" workers 20 cents an hour.
I'm just not wealthy enough to try to control other people's lives, and I don't have the hubris to think that my own, personal wealth is helping anyone else on earth.
Looks to me like there was inadequate preparation for disaster relief and coordination of same, and now inadequate reporting on what could/should be done and isn't. Instead, an endless stream of heads telling over and over how difficult things are and repetitive video shots.
More substance needed. How much water per day can the Carl Vinson produce? How many C-47s would it take to fly in an adequate amount of antibiotics, half of one I would guess.
Has anyone read the sickening editorial by David Brooks in the New York Times this morning regarding Haiti?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/opinion/15brooks.html?ref=opinion
The thrust of his editorial is so incredibly untruthful and evil as to defy further comment. The common wisdom of a conventional fool...
Yup, the thrust of this editorial is blame the victim - and is more than a little racist.
And to compare Haiti with Barbados is laughable. As a British Commonwealth country, they have a degree of self-governance that doesn't come close to US-meddled Haiti.
The Dominican Republic, while certainly much better than Haiti with respect to GNP, suffers from extreme maldistribution of wealth. Ranking 107 in Gini index (52), it would be much worse off if it weren't for the El-Salvadoran levels of enigrant remittances from the US. It is still the 2nd or 3rd poorest Carribian nation.
I just read his article and I was surprised.
David Brooks - writing in the New York Times - blames domestic voodoo religion as one of the reasons for the tragedy. Meanwhile, some gifted writer at the Stormfront Times blames international Judaism. Is it Voodoo or Judaism? Is the New York Times right, or is it Stormfront?
It's getting harder to tell them apart.
Matthew, thank you for expressing what many of us feel. A lot of the coverage is disaster porn, although at least it is generating funds for the victims.
I'm especially disgusted with the oft repeated "Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere" as if this is just the way it is somehow, no reasons given. No mention of the US sponsored coup, or the enforced structural adjustments that left so many without jobs or homes.
Yes, we are all human beings and that alone demands our compassion. But on top of that, we owe them, big time, for what our leaders have done to their country.
We, as individuals do not owe anyone anything because of the actions of "our leaders." Our "leaders" do not represent us as a people, they represent themselves and the wealthy few who have access to their power and influence. However, we *ARE* responsible for holding our "leaders" accountable for what they do in our name. I believe it is way past time to do just this. How about we start with those in the Bu$h regime and THEN look forward.
I agree with this author about the pathetic reporting of the disaster. I am sickened by the sensationlism put on tv in order to get viewers.
I worked in over two dozen disasters and the real news comes out of the morning sitrep - situation reports. Those sitreps summarize all the aid that is being provided and the status of incoming help from aid agencies and NGOs. Those meetings also give a summation of heads of organizations on needs and abilities that they have and ask for or can share. This is what I want to see and hear - real progress reports. If there are no such meetings, then I, as a previous disaster manager and responder, want to know why.
I pity the poor souls that have lost their loved ones, but showing people digging for bodies is tabloidism - not journalism.
It doesn't matter that they're the "poorest country" or that they weren't prepared. What matters is that there are children alone, looking for their parents. Children who are hungry and thirsty and frightened. There are families torn apart. There are people suffering and dying. We get so hung up by invisible lines drawn on a map that we (conveniently) forget we all share one planet and are in this together.
As far as Pat f-ing Robertson.....evangelists have always used his sick, twisted "logic" as an evil excuse to whip the sheep back in line and to gloat over the tragedy of another, and to make a few bucks in the process. Sick bastard.
My wife has already heard a couple of people at work who have remarked something to the effect that the Hatians had it coming. Presumably they are people with a fundamentalist bias and I suppose they are referring to Vodou. Depressing.
They need to be referred to as "fundementaless."
Once again, as with Katrina, press reports describe as "looters" disaster victims who are facing starvation and are picking through the ruins for something to eat. And like Katrina, after the charge of looting comes martial law and the primacy of "order" by firearms rather than disaster relief. Racism combined with the elevation of private property over human life is the message of the day from the corporate media and the primary motivation of our government.
Tony Vodvarka
Tony,
I cried when I read your post. Your assessment is accurate and horrific.
If the people were white, they would be described as "desperate people scavenging for food" just as happened after Katrina.
You are quite right as to why the term "Looter" used. It will ensure that there little empathy for them when they are fired upon.
In the first few days of the Katrina disaster, there was, among reports of black people "looting", the report of a young white couple surviving by "salvaging" flood-damaged goods in a supermarket. For six days, the "authorities" held up all supplies on the pretense (which was false) that it was too dangerous for anyone to enter. The way was never physically blocked to the stadium that thousands of people languished in for six days without food or water, just blocked by police.
Tony Vodvarka
Right. Colin Powell was on the tube yesterday gathering the vultures to "invest."
I wouldn't be surprised if there is another Haitian Revolution resulting from this within the next 20 years. Maybe one or more of the escaped inmates will lead it. Certainly, this is what would happen in centuries gone by, before most everyone became lulled into a false sense of security by the neocons and by the marvels of modern technology.
Here is interesting information about the first one that I have been reading:
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/history/revolution/revolution.htm
Yes, yes, but you should give some credit to Democracy Now and, specifically, to my friend Ansel Herz in Port-au-Prince, who's been interviewed on Democracy Now and elsewhere. There is some enlightened and intelligent journalism about Haiti.
Pat Robertson Moses versus Weepy Pastor Matthew Rothschild of the Progressive Church? Egad! Let there be no God for poseurs to posture before!
Two, Three, Six months from now you'll be impressed by a report that states something along the lines of: "American aid to Haiti used to buy weapons", or "U.S. Aid to Haiti Found to have lined pockets of Destructive Regimes".
If we can so easily drop bombs on people in the other side of the world, why can't we airdrop essentials to the people of Haiti before they die waiting for help? Can we make it a crime to profit from disasters?
The media are lying big time on this one. Go to Google earth and hover over Port A Prince. The airport is 2.5 miles from the CENTER of the city. Anyone who could walk could have gone there with 12 hours of the quake. Bodies blocking the roads? Lies. Gangs fighting over food with machetes? Lies. Difficulty reaching places in the city? Only if you need more tha 4 hours to get there. This is a propaganda circus for disater capitalism.
Naomi Klein knows the score. Check out what she says in Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.
PS As a former air traffic controller, I can tell you that the airport can have a functioning control "tower" in the time it takes a C-130 to fly a turn-key tower used by the USAF (it fits on the back of a pick up truck). All this hand wringing about logistical problems and road blocks is absolutely monstrous propaganda.
The coverage is horrendous, with no historical context for the racist policies that have consistently undermined any effort to bring this oppressed nation out of misery.
The coverage is much like that of Katrina. The emphasis is on maintaining control over an impoverished Black people. Indeed one of the first reports was of the escape of convicts from a prison that had collapsed. Forget that an entire city was literally crushed, but be fearful of the black prisoners now set loose. After three days now we are subjected to tales of "impending" riots as people struggle to get to food and water. And as I did during the Katrina disaster I wonder why news media can get to the victims, but rescue crews are mysteriously absent. According to the news reports it is because they are afraid of the disorder and potential rioting that is expected to break out when water and food arrive. This is disgusting.
LJG1000-I read it.
Brooks blamed voodoo????
What a douchebag he is?
Some guy at work today mentioned something about gangs with machetes. Everytime he tells me something at work, I go home, look into it, and it turns out to be bullshit. Whenever I ask him where he got his info from, he says "Limbaugh."
"They are going to replace parts of the local culture with a highly demanding, highly intensive culture of achievement — involving everything from new child-rearing practices to stricter schools to better job performance."
Someone smack this privileged shithead. Or better yet, drop him off in Haiti! Let him tell Haitians that to their faces.
He wants paternalism too. Ugh.
Kill neocons now! Or neoliberals! They're all the same to me.
I have not watched the coverage. I knew it would be the same old, same old -- harping on the death total, as I've read Blitzer is doing. I know that if I turned on the TV to watch I would be sickened by the excitement in the voice of those reporting. It's bad enough when you hear the announcements for the evening and late night newscasts. The worse the disaster the more excited -- almost gleeful -- the announcer sounds.
I refuse to read pieces by the likes of Brooks, Limbaugh or Robertson. What point would it serve? To get myself angry?
No, I prefer to read instead about what people are doing. I don't have a lot to give and it was struggle to figure out where my small donation was going to go. It had to be where 100% goes to the victims. I still have not gotten over the "looting" of Red Cross donations during Katrina. So the toss-up was between charity:water and UNICEF. Today $15 went to UNICEF and I put it on my Facebook page so that maybe others will join me.
While I understand some of the good intentions behind telethons and charity galas and concerts and such, but as I get older I feel sad that people must be entertained in order to give. For God's sake just give. Isn't it enough just to know that people are suffering?
The U.S. donation is an embarrassment -- $100 million. My goodness! As someone pointed out in the other article on here a couple won $125 million in the Powerball on Christmas Eve. A couple of weeks ago a couple here on LI won $162 million from MegaMillions. So our own government, which has caused so much of the suffering in Haiti for generations, is giving a mere token.