Silver Dragon speaks: According to the Associated Press “In the first four days after the earthquake, U.S. charities had received $150 million for Haiti — outpacing the response to both Katrina and the tsunami.” While the world welcomes the outpouring of assistance from the people and government of the United States of America, I often take a more analytical view of everything. I am not here to question the altruism of America, but rather to ponder the possibility of ulterior motives behind it. Why the hell would America give so much so quickly now, especially when they’re still feeling the effect of the recession? After all, since hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami occurred during better economic times, it would be expected that they would have given more then. The Silver Dragon seeks to investigate this peculiar happening . . .
This whole situation raises a question in my mind. Are the Americans giving out of the genuine kindness of their hearts, or are they trying to ‘fix’ Haiti quickly so that there would be no excuse for Haitians entering the US illegally?
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I am not ready to completely discard SD's logic (or line of thinking/questioning), but I tend to believe much of the rush to donate is a result of the guilt, anger, and embarrassment many Americans still feel about the deathly slow pace of aid to Katrina victims. In that regard, I'm inclined to believe the incentive to give to Haiti is more in search of some kind of redemption, rather than a calculated move to keep Haitians out of America (as SD suggests). Besides, if Americans really don't want Haitians here, there are so many other legal and less costly ways to keep them out.
What do you think?
