RUTHFULLY YOURS

PC LIES AND MILLIONS DIE: ROBERT WEISSBERG MUSTREAD

Posted By Ruth King on January 22nd, 2010

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.5323/pub_detail.asp
January 22, 2010
Exclusive: PC Lies, Millions Die – Part I
Robert Weissberg

That the U.S. is mired in Political Correctness (PC) is indisputable. If this is not believed, just try and substitute Negro for African-American, chairman for chairperson or, horror of horrors, forget to insert “she” after every “he.” Moreover, save among trusted friends, it is impermissible to tell ethnic jokes, no matter how funny or use stereotypes regardless of accuracy. In a nutshell, today’s political correctness means not upsetting anyone due to their race, ethnicity, gender, physical disability, appearance, accent or anything else that might, somehow, somehow, might cause psychological discomfort.

Most Americans view PC as a nuisance, holding one’s tongue to avoid agitating delicate sensibilities, perhaps akin to Victorian gentlemen describing a chicken’s thigh as “dark meat” lest the delicate ladies at the dinner table faint. PC is certainly a set of linguistic conventions but it is much more, and this “much more” is only recently been recognized. PC is evolving into a deadly plague.

The harm begins when PC morphs from feel-good but harmless euphemisms to injurious lies and in international affairs this can be deadly. Here, PC is the Grim Reaper’s great facilitator. To compound this horrific killing with supposed kindness sin, PC types undoubtedly tolerate the carnage. Who wants to ruin a career by voicing a taboo, even if people die as a result of this “kindness”? Not even the Aztecs could organize human sacrifices on this scale.

Consider earthquake ridden Haiti. Major earthquakes are bad enough but in Haiti they are horrific disasters since the infrastructure is virtually non-existent, the government corrupt and inept, the populace is incapable of caring for itself and if that were insufficient, assistance must overcome violence and looting. In a word: chaos. And earthquakes are not the only deadly killers – a 2004 flood killed 3,000 Haitians while 2008 tropical storms left one million homeless. But, the human consequences of nature’s wrath can differ greatly. An earthquake of identical magnitude struck the San Francisco area in 1989, killing a mere 63 people. In 1995, a much stronger tremor (7.3 vs. 7.0) hit Kobe, Japan and its surrounding area likewise experienced far-reaching destruction, including 6,000 deaths. Still, damage aside, what explains the huge differences in what now transpires in Haiti versus un-chaotic San Francisco and Kobe? All three were severe quakes in dense urban areas, so these key physical characteristics alone cannot explain casualty rates of 63 or 6,000 versus (to date) an estimated 70,000. What separates Port-au-Prince from San Francisco or Kobe?

If one reads that Oracle of PC, the New York Times, politically correct explanations abound. Columnist Bob Herbert (January 16, 2010) quickly rounded up the usual PC suspects: enslavement, murderous colonial oppression, invasion by powerful armies (actually, 300 Marines in 1915), grotesque homegrown tyrants and natural disasters. That the first three of these causes occurred decades, if not centuries, back and the U.S. “invasions” built much of Haiti’s modern infrastructure went unnoticed by Herbert. A more thoughtful, but still PC, analysis is offered by the Times’ “conservative” columnist, David Brooks. He explains the frenzied mayhem with poverty which, like Herbert, he traces to a history of oppression, slavery and colonialism (he also adds a dollop of voodoo and shoddy child-rearing practices to this explanatory mix). To be fair, Brooks acknowledges that that neighboring Dominican Republic and Barbados are better off despite similar historical colonial experiences but somehow, in ways not stated, these centuries-old forces still wreak havoc in Haiti.

A Times op-ed by Tracy Kidder joined the chorus: slavery administered by cruel French masters, often brutal American occupation from 1915 to 1934 and American facilitated misrule by Haitians themselves determined to undermine Haitian constitutional democracy explains today’s catastrophe ( January 14, 2010). Remarkably, she also faults the 10,000 private organizations there who have worked to uplift the Haitians. These groups, she claims, fail to coordinate their efforts and just peruse their own narrow interests. They should instead be strengthening Haiti’s institutions, infrastructure and expertise.

The Times Sunday edition (Weekend Edition, p. 9) offers a potpourri of “helpful” PC-flavored suggestions. President Clinton’s former special envoy to Haiti (James Dobbins) claims that the deadly current situation results from a partisan divide in the U.S. Congress over former elected then disposed President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We should forget this distracting debate, says Dobbins, and begin anew pouring money for food and build a new infrastructure. An expert on water correctly attributes many of Haiti’s health problems to unsanitary water and suggests re-building the water system, though he does note that meter readers and bill collectors are routinely assaulted when performing their duties. Ironically, another expert (Robert Neuwirth) defends the stealing of water and electricity since these are “necessities.” He also justifies squatters’ rights, i.e., non-payment of rent, since this, too, is essential for survival. There you have it: capitalism – getting money from the poor – is the root of the violence.

What is remarkable about all these analyses is how they artfully dodge the “blameless” Haitian people. Lying and denial are the accepted, even honored customs: Thou Shall Not Offend. The same Sunday Times supplied advice from former Presidents Clinton and Bush (“W”) and they, too, refuse to acknowledge an awkward reality. Instead they spoke about Haiti’s “commitment” and “determination” to conquer their long-standing problems (while calling for yet more aid). Do they really believe that new-found determination will reverse centuries of mismanagement?

The common theme is that somebody else, e.g., French colonial administrators, U.S. Marines in 1915, not the Haitians themselves, help explain why a 7.0 quake in California kills 63 people versus 70,000 and counting in Haiti. So, it is just a matter of non-Haitians spending more, forcing the 10,000 private aid organization to communicate better, exorcise the demons of slavery, get an apology for foreign invasions, and perhaps as per David Brooks, upgrade Haitian parenting skills and ban voodoo. And if those living in newly built houses refuse to pay rent or water bills, who could blame them?

The real culprit here and in countless other dysfunctional nations is human capital (to use the economist’s sanitized term). It’s the people who screw things up. Why, for example, has once wealthy, food-rich white-run Rhodesia collapsed into the poverty-stricken Zimbabwe? What has prevented African nations like Nigeria swimming in oil money from progressing beyond abject poverty and endless civil war? Do the British secretly oppress the native population while forcing decent democratically elected leaders to pocket foreign assistance? Why must Africa depend on westerners for clean water and cheap anti-malaria medicine? Why have China and Korea prospered despite histories of colonial occupation?

The truth that dare not speak its name, at least in the New York Times, is that some populations are smarter than others, harder working, more apt to delay gratification, less inclined toward hot-tempered violence, more honest, and more likely to place their faith in science than voodoo. Yes, many people mired in mayhem are artistically gifted and charming but they cannot run a modern country. There – elephant in room exposed! Critically, nearly everyone who has looked into variations in national development, including surmounting natural catastrophes, knows this to be true but recognizes these differences openly dooms one’s career. When James Watson, the brilliant co-discover of DNA, suggested that African economic backwardness might be attributable to cognitive insufficiency among sub-Saharan Africans, he was suspended by the Cold Springs Laboratory and raked across the coals. Yet, the hard data here is substantial. Watson had violated the taboo of taboos, and punishment had to be swift and public. (Two distinguished experts on IQ wrote to the Times defending Watson in great detail, but their letter was never published).

What does this mean for future carnage? Simple: so long as PC substitutes for truth the Grim Reaper collects the bodies and the deaths extend far beyond well-publicized earthquakes. To appreciate this plague-like disaster, imagine a totally unPC world. First World nations would tell those wallowing in poverty that since they are not sufficiently competent to run their own countries, Western experts will do it for them. Euphemisms like outsourcing or sub-contracting might be used to minimize embarrassment. This is not handouts or partnerships for these failed states, fragile states and kleptocracies; this is putting competent outsiders in charge. Local leaders, elected and otherwise, would be relegated to well-paid positions unrelated to human life. In Haiti, for example, the U.S. might direct hospitals, the French run telecommunications, the Japanese construct earthquake-proof houses, and Israelis would supervise desperately needed reforestation. Things would, finally, work and, PC handwringing about neo-colonialism aside, the life of ordinary people would improve dramatically. Make no mistake: this vastly improved competency cannot be imposed, it has to be invited; but if it did come to pass, millions of lives would be saved. Tourism and industry would flourish in places like Haiti and Nigeria. This shift “only” entails honesty plus awkwardness in confronting unpleasant realities, but this is a small price to pay. Alas, many “virtuous” pontificators refuse to pay it – better to lie and let people die.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Robert Weissberg is emeritus professor of political science, University of Illinois-Urbana and currently an adjunct instructor at New York University Department of Politics (graduate). He has written many books, the most recent include The Limits of Civic Activism, Pernicious Tolerance: How teaching to “accept differences” undermines civil society and the forthcoming, Bad Students, Not Bad Schools: How both the Right and the Left have American education wrong (early 2010). Besides writing for professional journals, he has also written for magazines like the Weekly Standard and currently contributes to various blogs.

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