Haiti
Former NBA player and freelance writer Paul Shirley tells it like it is:
This whole Haiti love-fest is about altruism, and I share the late Robert Heinlien's opinion of that vice: "Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil."
I've had enough of this "One Worlder" malarkey that sees us giving out taxpayer money to every Third World craphole and tin-pot dictatorship on the planet, as if we've an endless supply. Haiti is just the latest example.
I visited much of the world during my time in the Corps, from Pacific dumps to Middle-Eastern theocracies to former Soviet client states, and I saw a great deal of the lower end of the human spectrum in the course of those travels. It had the effect of making me an unabashed nationalist and greatly increased my love for my country and my ancestors.
This "nation-building" nonsense on which we've embarked over the last half-century is a failed concept for one simple reason: we spend far too much time giving out free fish, rather than selling the world fishing poles at discount prices. This country and its attendant way of life were not given to us -- we fought for it and built it with blood and sweat, with determination and self-reliance. But we can easily give it away if we're not very careful. And if the United States of America goes the way of the Roman Empire, many generations of our descendants will live out their lives in conditions very similar to the inhabitants of Dark Ages Europe.
Charity starts at home -- and that's where it should stay. Kudos to Mr. Shirley for having the guts to speak up.
___
(Hat-tip to Derek M.)
"I haven’t donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don't give money to homeless men on the street," he wrote. "Based on past experiences, I don't think the guy with the sign that reads 'Need You're Help' is going to do anything constructive with the dollar I might give him. If I use history as my guide, I don't think the people of Haiti will do much with my money either."
"We did the same after Hurricane Katrina," he said. "We were quick to vilify humans who were too slow to respond to the needs of victims, forgetting that the victims had built and maintained a major city below sea level in a known target zone for hurricanes. Our response: Make the same mistake again. Rebuild a doomed city, putting aside logic as we did."
This whole Haiti love-fest is about altruism, and I share the late Robert Heinlien's opinion of that vice: "Beware of altruism. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil."
I've had enough of this "One Worlder" malarkey that sees us giving out taxpayer money to every Third World craphole and tin-pot dictatorship on the planet, as if we've an endless supply. Haiti is just the latest example.
I visited much of the world during my time in the Corps, from Pacific dumps to Middle-Eastern theocracies to former Soviet client states, and I saw a great deal of the lower end of the human spectrum in the course of those travels. It had the effect of making me an unabashed nationalist and greatly increased my love for my country and my ancestors.
This "nation-building" nonsense on which we've embarked over the last half-century is a failed concept for one simple reason: we spend far too much time giving out free fish, rather than selling the world fishing poles at discount prices. This country and its attendant way of life were not given to us -- we fought for it and built it with blood and sweat, with determination and self-reliance. But we can easily give it away if we're not very careful. And if the United States of America goes the way of the Roman Empire, many generations of our descendants will live out their lives in conditions very similar to the inhabitants of Dark Ages Europe.
Charity starts at home -- and that's where it should stay. Kudos to Mr. Shirley for having the guts to speak up.
___
(Hat-tip to Derek M.)
posted by Jar(egg)head at 15:48
1 Comments:
"Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution—or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement.
“Men have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the sufferings of others. But suffering is a disease. Should one come upon it, one tries to give relief and assistance. To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then man must wish to see others suffer—in order that he may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism. The creator is not concerned with disease, but with life. Yet the work of the creators has eliminated one form of disease after another, in man’s body and spirit, and brought more relief from suffering than any altruist could ever conceive."
- Howard Roark's Courtroom Speech from "The Fountainhead"
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