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Oh dear. From SondraK:
Angry Haitians set up roadblocks with corpses in Port-au-Prince to protest at the delay in emergency aid reaching them after a devastating earthquake, an eyewitness said.
[...]
“They are starting to block the roads with bodies, it’s getting ugly out there, people are fed up with getting no help,” he told Reuters.Well.
Frustration and horror and shock? I get all that. And the urge to lash out and make a statement and draw media attention. I guess blocking the roads with piles of dead bodies is one way to express your dissatisfaction with the level of service you’re receiving. But practically speaking, it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that might actually improve it.
I’m not trying to tell anyone their business, but wouldn’t maybe clearing the roads, where possible, be a better idea? Strategically speaking, I mean.
Oh, and don’t shoot at rescue helicopters or anything.
Quick, someone. Find a way to blame this on Bush. Oh wait! Obama has already covered that angle.
Am I an ogre if I say that it is this type of response to disaster that has contributed to the woes of the region that preceded the earthquake? It would seem that anyone would feel better if they did something concrete to help themselves. How does raging at the pace of help do any good at all?
ReplyDeleteRetriever,
ReplyDeleteAuthoritarian regimes - like Haiti's since its independence in the early 19th century - and liberal socialist regimes share one thing in common: the people lose the instinct, desire and ability to help themselves. Under authoritarian rule they stand by and wait to be told what to do, under liberal socialist systems, they wait for someone to do it for them. Like Haiti today. Like New Orleans in 2005.