#4853: Re: #4845: The press and voter registration: Dorce comments on Chamberlain (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

Michelle Karshan:
> The press was saying that people were turning out 
> for voter registration solely because they wanted to 
> have ID cards for the first time in their lives.  
Chamberlain:
<<Michelle, I don't have the clips to hand, but I'm sure 
you'll find the foreign press wasn't saying people were 
registering "solely" because they wanted ID cards.
As I remember, they were noting that _some_ people
(a few) seemed to be doing it for this reason.>>
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I don't have the clips either but I recall very well to what
Michelle is referring.  Most media articles and many
posters in Haiti, prior to the election, were saying that 
they felt that most people were apathetic about the entire
voting procedure and disillusioned about Aristide and 
Lavalas.  When they asked the "people" if they were 
going to vote and for whom, they replied almost uniformly
"Oh I'm not voting I just want an ID card".  I am not in
Haiti, I haven't been in Haiti since 1996, I am in California.
But EVEN I KNOW that if you ask a majority class person
a question involving a hint of politics, you will never, NEVER
get a straight answer or anything approximating his or her
true feelings.  I remember thinking, are these people so full
of their own importance that they believe they are being 
told the truth about something so dangerous as voting in
Haiti or does this simply serve their agenda and they are not 
as foolish as they seem.  Either way it was harmful to
Haiti to print this stuff in the media, giving the American 
people more disinformation about Haiti and her quest for
democracy.  The people spoke when they voted....now
let's get on with it.

Kathy Dorce