By Valeria Rotella
In the wake of a catastrophe of epic proportions, you would think people would know that now is the time to keep snarky comments to themselves.
No such luck.
Two weeks ago, the nation of Haiti was hit by an earthquake of enormous magnitude. It has left more than 150,000 dead and hundreds of thousands more injured and homeless. The capital is in ruins. There are people stuck under collapsed buildings. There is a lack of clean water and food. We can’t even begin to imagine the suffering.
People have been incredibly charitable. Everyone’s been donating money to the Red Cross and to UNICEF and to nonprofit organizations. In fact, a Hope for Haiti telethon last Friday pulled in a staggering $61 million. It seems like everyone is coming together to support this cause.
Well, most people at least. It’s…interesting, for lack of a more neutral word, to see some strange reactions to this quake. Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh have been particularly vocal. Let’s take a look at some of the things they’ve shared with us, shall we?
Limbaugh, the attack dog of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, took to his radio studio soon after the earthquake to put in his two cents. In a transcript dating January 13, Limbaugh made several attacks on President Obama about his management of the Haiti crisis. He asserts that Obama responded to the events of the Haiti earthquake in less than 24 hours, while it took him three days to respond to the botched Christmas Day terrorist attempt. This, of course, makes Obama look really incompetent. But I don’t see why the President has to run out and hold a press conference every time a failed terrorist plot appears. That would just give groups like Al Qaeda what they really want: attention. What more does Limbaugh want? Extra law enforcement measures were taken. Potential suspect lists were revised. Security at airports was tightened, as anyone who has travelled since Christmas can tell you.
But the Haiti earthquake? Are you kidding me? There’s no grey area. Nature went insane, and that’s that. Obama took immediate action because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re a World Power. The quicker you react to a natural disaster, the easier it is to save lives and do some good.
Then Limbaugh got out of hand. He claimed that Obama is helping out in Haiti because he wants to appeal to the African American community. Limbaugh said, “This will play right into Obama’s hands. He’s humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to burnish their, shall we say, “credibility” with the black community — in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community.”
Holy mackerel! And that’s not the end of it.
He says, “Besides, we’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the US income tax.”
Yes, the US has given a lot of foreign aid in the past to Haiti. And yes, Haiti is a corrupt country and it has had problems dealing with the money it has received. But it sounds like he’s suggesting we basically turn away from the earthquake problem, that we give them the blind eye. The man is acting like the villain of a Dickens novel. I would like to understand why he has one of the highest radio audiences in the country.
On the subject of big audiences and inappropriate comments, you may be familiar with a Mr. Pat Robertson. He’s a televangelist and the host of The 700 Club, a Christian talk show. On that show, Robertson suggested that the people of Haiti brought this upon themselves. He said that the people of Haiti “made a pact to the devil” to rid themselves of the French emperor and that they’ve been cursed with misfortune ever since. He says that The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, is a prosperous nation and that they share the same island. Here we are, in the 21st century, and a man is blaming the misfortunes of the country on a satanic pact. This is not a good thing.
But unfortunate comments about Haiti weren’t only made in the United States. A member of the Catholic Church, Bishop Munilla of San Sebastian, Spain, also had an attack of crazy mouth.
“There are worse evils out there than what the people of Haiti are suffering,” he said. “The people of Spain are suffering far more because of their state of spiritual poverty.”
Appropriate time for me to use the expression: What in God’s name? I don’t understand what propelled the man to say that. In Haiti, there’s no doubt about the torment people are going through. There are corpses lining up on the streets. People’s families have been wiped out. When aid parcels are delivered from the helicopters, people attack each other to get them. That is true anguish. That is true pain. I would suggest Bishop Munilla follow the example of the other members of his Church and pitch in.
Limbaugh, Robertson, and Munilla have no impact on my way of thinking. I respectfully disagree with a lot of their ideas. But I am aware that a lot of other people do care about what these men think and may even make decisions based on what they say. Which is why I think that they shouldn’t have brought politics and religion into this matter. Limbaugh shouldn’t have accused Obama of manipulating the public. Robertson shouldn’t have implied that the Haitians were Satanists. And Munilla shouldn’t have compared apples to oranges. So please, gentlemen, follow the example of almost everyone else who is showing decency in a time of need.
“In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength.”- Buddha
PS- If you would like to make a contribution to the Haiti relief effort, here are some links that may help you:
http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=9fLEJSOALpE&b=1023561
https://hopeforhaitinow.org/ (if you go to this site, you’ll be donating to a number of organizations like Oxfam and the United Nations World Food Program)
I have to disagree with Aaron on some of his points. It is ridiculous to think that, after an attack on our home soul the president would delegate the matter “to his aides.” Of course he was personally involved. We cannot ignore Al-Qaeda, but that’s not what happened after the Christmas day attack. Taking action doesn’t always mean holding a world press conference or telethon. And calling more attention to the incident (beyond the attention by the media) would only cause panic.
The bombing and the earthquake are incomparable. One is a complicated matter, cause by extremest religious and cultural forces. The president had very few options. Increased military action was not supported by the people, nor would it have been efficient. And diplomatic action is a delicate matter, inherently slow. No matter what he chose, it would have been criticized as slow, because there is no swift or decisive response. On the other hand, the situation in Haiti (and now Chile) can be solved with money and manpower. Emergency aid is both feasible for a power of our size, and publicly supported (by all but the three extreme examples presented by Valeria).
Although we all wish that President Obama could be ” as efficient in all aspects of his Presidency,” that is not always possible. We as a people need to accept our complex situation in the world on terror and think of that complexity before we blindly condemn our government or our president.
I’m sure Obama was personally involved to some extent, but he was definitely not involved enough. In no way at all would giving a press conference increase panic. On the contrary, if done correctly, it would probably cause it to subside. If lots of newspapers are all running panicked stories with uncertain details about a man who got through airport security and tried to blow up an airplane, and nobody knows exactly what happened, and the government is silent, then THAT will cause a state of panic. If the same situation occurs, but the government immediately reacts, reassures the public, and begins a thorough investigation, and the president gives a calm, confident press conference reassuring the public that the government is on top of things and that an investigation is taking place, then that helps the situation tremendously. Obama should have responded the way Bush did after 9/11.
well there is the one small problem that the Haitians don’t want us in their country. they want to handle it by themselves. but being the US, we feel that it’s our obligation to help everyone else out, whether they like it or not
DORON!!! you can’t say things like “the Haitians don’t want us in their country.” That is a TOTALLY unsubstantiated claim. The Haitians have been incredibly thankful for the entire international community’s response to this crisis. Oh and by the way, it is our obligation to help the world’s weakest nations – just as the French helped us fight for independence and as we helped end the Holocaust in Europe.
I can see some basis for your concern about the US forcing our culture on other societies. But this is not one of those situations. We are responding to a natural disaster. We are not forcing political, moral, or religious beliefs onto anyone. Our actions are saving lives, and that is a valiant humanitarian cause, not a manipulative political one.
if they’re so gracious, why’d they arrest missionaries trying to save orphans?
that group was a radical christian mission with no relationship whatsoever with the american government.
all christians are radicals to me.
well the us government is not christian. and that’s just a stupid thing to say
Jesus was a radical. But he didn’t kidnap children. On the contrary, in fact, his apostles all abandoned their families to follow him. It doesn’t specify in the bible, but I’m sure they paid child support.
Doron, I personally met the Haitian Ambassador and the former Haitian Prime Minister after listening to speeches by both of them, and they stressed repeatedly their immense gratitude towards the U.S. and other countries for the aid they had given. They absolutely want us there.
I disagree with Limbaugh about a lot of things, but I have to agree with him about one thing here: The President’s response to the Christmas Day bombing attempt took far too long. Do you really think that if we just ignore Al-Qaeda, that they’ll leave us alone? Do you really think that they’re just looking for attention? They’re not. They hate America, because they hate what we stand for. If they see that we have a President who will do nothing to stop them, that will just embolden them, and they will continue to attempt to destroy us. The extra security measures were a joke. No using the bathroom during the last hour of a flight? Okay, so terrorists can just blow up the plane an hour and a half before the flight ends! The fact that this guy got through airport security shows major, major flaws in the TSA. The President needs to take responsibility immediately to fix what’s wrong in the government. He shouldn’t just leave it to his aides. He needs to be personally involved when an attack on the country is attempted.
All this said, however, in no way do I condone Limbaugh’s other remarks. Robertson’s and Munilla’s are downright unacceptable. I would just like to point out, in response to Devin, that not all religious people have been so cruel to Haiti. Israel, a religious nation, has sent possibly more aid in relation to the size of its economy and its resources than any other country in the world. According to a Pew Research poll, 36% of Americans who gave to Haiti did so through a religious organization. According to that same poll, 24% of Catholics had donated, as opposed to 20% of religiously unaffiliated people. I guess Bishop Munilla is part of a minority.
Lastly, I would just like to say that I was quite impressed and satisfied with Obama’s swift response to the disaster. I just wish he could be as efficient in all aspects of his Presidency.
What bothers me most about these people is that they make both conservatism and religion look bad. Not all of us are like that.
“On the subject of big audiences and inappropriate comments, you may be familiar with a Mr. Pat Robertson. He’s a televangelist and the host of The 700 Club, a Christian talk show. On that show, Robertson suggested that the people of Haiti brought this upon themselves. He said that the people of Haiti “made a pact to the devil” to rid themselves of the French emperor and that they’ve been cursed with misfortune ever since. He says that The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, is a prosperous nation and that they share the same island. Here we are, in the 21st century, and a man is blaming the misfortunes of the country on a satanic pact. This is not a good thing.”
and
“There are worse evils out there than what the people of Haiti are suffering,” he said. “The people of Spain are suffering far more because of their state of spiritual poverty.”
I hate religion and I dislike how such a tragic event is pulled into the realm of politics and bickering toddlers in suits.