Haitian Earthquake and the American Media

Three plus weeks after the earthquake and the only story the American media is telling concerns the “orphans.” No info about food distribution, the shelter situation, the clearing of rubble, the resumption of economic life or the functioning (or lack thereof) of the Haitian government. No, all we get is the maudlin focus on the “orphans” as the networks attempt to position themselves as in touch with “the most vulnerable victims of these horrendous events.”

That strikes me as bull. It’s nothing more than a sickeningly sentimental attempt to wring tears from the public eye, dollars from its wallet and ratings points from a tragedy while failing in its responsibility to tell the full story. The reporting is unbalanced and not really informative except in the most banal, superficial manner.

The missionary kidnappers from Utah who may be charged with human trafficking for trying to remove some thirty kids from Haiti without papers have been amusing as they wandered into the maw of this insatiable news beast which is hungry for “feel good” stories. What was initially reported as a “saving the children” story, the story of altruistic Americans rescuing orphans from chaos and starvation, has become instead a story of smug American arrogance.

It turns out that less than half of the children stopped at the Dominican Republic border were orphans, the others had parents who signed custody over to the missionaries. These missionaries were nonetheless convinced they were bringing the children to a “better life” in America’s material plenty rather than with their parents. That’s a mind-boggling assumption. So is their assumption that their good intentions to “help the children” excused them from observing the laws of Haiti.

Shouldn’t the focus be helping people in need, reuniting families and assisting Haiti in becoming a better place to live rather than ripping off other people’s children. I don’t think this is what Christ had in mind when he said, “Suffer me the little children.”