Hating on Haiti

The events in Haiti over this past week have been occupying a fair part of my thoughts. Basically those thoughts range from: “What an unimaginably horrific, shitty fucking mess of a tragedy.” All the way to: “Holy shit, what a nightmarish, soul-crushing human catastrophe.” Perhaps it’s because I’ve been looking at options on where I might be able to live in the Caribbean someday, or perhaps it’s just my famously empathetic nature. Regardless of which, it only stands to reason that I have become increasingly pissed off at those who would politicize this for their own agenda.

Today I heard some famous blow-hard who shall remain nameless, make a comparison between the earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina. The claim was that all those critical of the Bush administration’s handling of the latter are now silent about all the failings of the current administration’s handling of the former. As if the two events were somehow mirror images of each other. There are some differences as it turns out. Like the little known fact that Haiti is not part of the U.S. I know that may come as a surprise to some folks who believe that every nation-state within 1,000 miles of our border is somehow a U.S. Territory, but it’s not. Do I really need to mention the relative logistical differences between getting relief supplies to an American city of several million along our southern coast to getting relief to a small island nation with almost no infrastructure to begin with? I do? Well I won’t.

It’s not that I am an apologist for all things the Obama administration does, but the reaction seems to be pretty swift and comprehensive in relative terms. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to argue the point. The situation down there doesn’t deserve further politicizing. There comes a point when I become so frustrated and angry that I no longer wish to give these people the benefit of my considered debate. It is no longer worth it to me to try to educate them. I simply stop caring enough about them to try to persuade them or those who believe them. There comes a point where, even I, throw my arms up and declare: “Fuck you! Fuck you and your ignorant, insensitive, semi-illiterate idiot followers. Fuck you, Rush Limbaugh, for implying that the WhiteHouse.gov website asking for donations to help is somehow a political conspiracy. Fuck you, Pat Robertson, for implying that Haitians were in cahoots with the devil and they had it coming to them. Fuck you, Hugo Chavez, for implying that U.S. troops have been sent there to occupy the country rather than provide support. Fuck you, Danny Glover, for implying that this had anything whatsoever to do with global warming. Fuck the lot of you!”

Look, this shit doesn’t happen overnight. It took a couple hundred years of slavery, occupation and internal corruption to create the cluster-fuck of a country that is now Haiti. What Western powers and the subsequent corrupt military leaders of the country didn’t manage to destroy, this earthquake finished off. This is a massive, complex situation involving command and control requirements similar to a war. This is, quite literally, nation-building. Not only do we need to get food and water there, we need to get it to the right places at the right times via air, land and sea (without airports, roads or ports mind you). Then we have the little job of keeping people from killing each other over the food and water we are delivering. I understand that donations from people all over the world are pouring in. The people of the U.S. (in spite of some loud-mouthed assholes) are a good and generous lot for the most part. I hope our actions serve to silence the critics at home and abroad who would try to portray diligence as incompetence and compassion as villainy.