Monday, January 25, 2010

Idiot.

More wisdom from the Fairfax Press.

What do Haitians need most? To get away from Haiti



Haiti is dysfunctional society because it is run by Haitians. And while the disaster is Haiti is truly terrible: it is terrible and yet utterly predictable. Professor Hale has commented on the disaster and its causes and quite simply, he's right. Poor building practices in a corrupt society mean that building codes(which no one even to bothered to propose ) don't get enforced. When the inevitable earthquake happens, the predictable disaster ensures. Tragedy.

But poor building practices are not the result of government fiat, but of a culture. A culture that values the short term over the long and culture that places little value on life itself. The War Nerd wrote an interesting article on the culture of Haiti. Bottom line; a corrupt society from the top to the bottom. Once again for my pea brained detractors, not all Haitians are corrupt; only most of them. Now this may be cruel thing to say to a nation which has suffered so much misfortune, but facts are facts, Haitian culture does not seem to be able to produce men capable of disinterested service even in the midst of so much foreign aid.

Now I can understanding that people are moved by the plight of Haitian individuals caught up in the earthquake, but feeling good about oneself and actually doing something useful are two different things. Now Chris Berg's article is full of errors which will compound the problem instead of making it better but the question I want to ask is, should we be importing people from a dysfunctional culture which is the product of those same people?

People who are pro-immigration tend to ignore this fact. The influx of Italian migrants into Australia and the U.S. was not a one sided thing. In importing Italians, America and Australia profited from both a better cuisine and worse a criminal element, the Mafia. And whilst on balance, I think Italian migration a good thing, it serves to illustrate the point that when a man brings in migrants he brings in more than just the man, but his ideas, his culture and the way he lives. Of course the dominant culture also makes its mark, so what happens in the end that a fusion occurs, the flavour of which is dependent on the elements of the mix. S

Now the question to ask is, are there cultures which are bad, which are incompatible with our way of life? Do we want more Haitian culture in our society? A culture that seems to glorify the thug, the bling king, self interest and opportunism. A cursory look would suggest not, and idiot would propose spreading the contagion around the world.

To a pro-immigrationist, multiculturalism means a different cuisine every night, retiring home to your uppity white suburb at night. The wogs are good to visit but you don't really want to live with them. The problem though is though, if you bring enough people from a bad culture into your country you also bring a bit of that bad country in as well. As many your own poorer people who--because of economic necessity--have to live next to the newly arrived immigrants will tell you, not all immigrants are fun to be around with. But that demographic does not make social policy. The world does not need more Haitis.

In fact the only time Haiti ever seemed to have a period of prosperity was when American culture was forcibly imported into Haiti. Some cultures seem to bring more benefit than others.
What Haiti needs is not exodus of its people but good governance, and if the local culture can't produce men that can govern humanely then perhaps humane men should force good governance on Haiti from the outside. This of course is true but politically incorrect.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for noticing and commenting on my small blog.

I agree with you that America does not need any more unskilled third world laborers. In addition to being unskilled, laborers from Ahiti are likely to be culturally pre-disposed to crime as a way of life, rather than hard work.

Speaking exclusively French is also a non-career enhancing skill.

The Social Pathologist said...

Thanks for dropping by. I wouldn't be so hard on the French language, I think it's beautiful.

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Yes, because absolutely everything in the world has to be politically correct.

Honestly?

I agree. What happened to them? Terrible. But what will they bring to us, or to any other countries? They probably have better survival instincts, but does that mean they'll all just end up on the street later on? I hope not.

Unknown said...

Do you know any hard facts about Haitian immigration in say Canada, where I hear they are numerous? this is a candid question, as I have not researched the subject.

My own (very anecdotal) experience has been that all the diaspora Haitians I met were productive members of the societies they lived in.

I have noticed many times over how people from corrupt and dysfonctional countries can add real value to the society they leave for, and thrive once they integrate a stable frame. Of course, it probably supposes that their numbers not be so high as to overwhelm such frame.

tannen said...

Bernard,

There are many Haitians in Canada. in fact our current governor-general, Michaelle Jean was born in Haiti. Before being chosen for this role, she was a veteran television reporter and host. Most of the Haitians live in Montreal and Quebec as they are francophones.

I agree with your second comment about once they choose to integrate or harmonise themselves with the new culture, immigrants have a much better chance of becoming productive and less embittered members of society. Compare the Chinese almost anywhere with the Turks in Germany. The Chinese work very hard and smart and soon occupy government positions (Eg. Julius chan in PNG), and own large businesses (the Louies in Canada). The Turks work hard but many are reluctant to harmonise themselves and some outright refuse to have anything to do with German society. Many become embittered and angry at Germans and Germany for being German and not Turkish.

Link for the GG:

http://www.canadianimmigrant.ca/MichaelleJean

The Social Pathologist said...

Bertrand, you are right to a certain degree that immigrants willing to assimilate into another culture can be quite successful. The problem is not with Haitian DNA but Haitian culture.

Relatively small numbers of immigrants are culturally overwhelmed by mass of their adoptive society, but when large numbers of migrants are bought in, their own culture is reinforced by the immigrant desire to associate with people the same as themselves, it lessens the shock of cultural transfer.

A classic example is here in Australia. Large numbers of migrants settled in Melbourne and Sydney and established their own communities and in turn influencing the local culture. These became cosmopolitan cities, their whole flavour is different to the rest of Australia. The other cities of Australia took in proportionately less immigrants and all have that typical "Anglo" feel.(not of which all is good) The migrants to those towns were not able to establish their cultures there, they effectively assimilated.

The problem is if you import a large amount of Haitians you get to import their culture, not a good thing.