You do not really care about Haiti, just like you didn’t really care about the 2004 tsunami victims. And no matter how many Livestrong bracelets adorn your wrist, you probably don’t actually care about testicular cancer, either.
I am not saying no one cared about Haiti. If you just came back from a Haitian field hospital or have been combating abysmal Haitian poverty rates for the past 10 years, you probably care. But on average, most of us feel there are better uses of our time.
It feels like we care because only the stoniest among us were not saddened when searing images of Haitians trapped under piles of rubble flickered across our screens. This momentary sympathy, however, does not amount to true concern.
How do I know there is a general lack of concern for the Haitian people? According to that latest available figure from the United Nations Development Program, roughly 55 percent of Haitians live on less that $1.25 a day, with that number jumping to a whopping 72 percent when the amount is increased to $2.
Many of Haiti’s problems can be traced to massive deforestation and lack of indigenous industry, exacerbated by unfair free trade treaties. Americans, for the most part, are unmoved by these problems, due to their lack of “sex appeal.”
For us to care about a problem, it has to be glamorous. In the United States, 7,500-8,000 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer every year. Yet, it was not until Lance Armstrong introduced his trendy yellow bracelets that most Americans took the time to donate money, and many only did it to get the year’s hottest fashion item.
There are two causes behind the current glamorization of social activism: the 24-hour news cycle and the Vietnam War. The 24-hour news cycle has severely lowered the attention spans of most Americans. International catastrophes have been boiled down from their complex origins into dramatic 15-second video images — calamities have turned into movie trailers. We remember powerful and emotive disaster images, while often being ignorant of harder to digest historical injustices.
The Vietnam War protests also deeply changed the face of social activism by fusing activism and style. Some in the anti-war camp were deeply against unnecessary war and U.S. military interventionism, but many were also just following a trend. Flower Power was as much a commercial slogan as it was a peace slogan.
Vietnam is often considered the gold standard of activism. While arguably being the “hippest” protest of all time, it was not in fact all that effective. The first anti-war protests took place in 1965, but American involvement in the conflict did not end until 1973. It was Richard Nixon, not anti-war candidate George McGovern, who was elected president in 1972, and it took the unabashedly conservative, hippie-hating Tricky Dick to finally end the conflict. The immortalization of Vietnam era protests is proof of Americans valuing the culture, fashion and music of social protests just as much as the cause.
The need to make Haitian earthquake relief effort cool was almost immediate here in Madison. On Jan. 28 a dance party was held at the Majestic, with all proceeds going to the Doctors Without Border operation in Haiti. I am not criticizing the organizers of the event; they knew in order to get vital money flowing to Haiti they needed to make Haiti relief trendy. It does, however, serve as a sad commentary on contemporary America, that when people are devastated by natural disaster we feel the appropriate response is to dance, drink and party.
Many organizations and individuals have done a lot for the Haitian people before and after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. It is truly great that so many have opened their wallets and spent their time in the aid of the desperate nation. But before we give ourselves a pat on the back, please remember in six months when we’re no longer donating and all the celebrities have forgotten, Haiti will still be the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Max Manasevit ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in fire. [Ed. Note: Max Manasevit is actually a sophomore majoring in philosophy, but we respect his wishes if he chooses to explore more elemental studies.]
