7227: re 7214: The Lauture issue (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Mr Corbett:  Please post this anonymously.  Thanks.

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> But why did they feel the need to enlist these
> bourgeois and proto-bourgeois since they 
> have full political control of the streets and 
> there is no army in their way? If gain is the 
> issue, why not rob directly for themselves?

Simple political calculation.  That they probably
could not sustain a revolt against the bourgeoisie,
because either the bourgeoisie would seek to buy
off the masses and succeed, or else some of the 
masses' leaders would seek to sell out to the
bourgeoisie.  The normal process in any society,
surely.

We are all victims of our own over-simplified
thought processes, which have, for example,
told us that if a credible politician (Aristide) says 
he is in favour of the masses, we believe him.
Because we want to, because it's hard on 
ourselves to be cynical about apparent good will.
That has nothing to do with the facts of a
situation and everything to do with flaws in the
psychology of any normal human being.  
We all enjoy believing, even thinking in extremes.


> How come a government that reached power 
> in such a unique way and still has a unique
> legitimacy fall back into traditional Haitian practices?

Because many of us have blinded ourselves, switched 
off our critical faculties by wishful thinking.  Election of
a man like Aristide changes very little in the political and
economic equation.  Yet we are all ready to believe that
and to go easy on demanding the hard, anonymous
work of real change in a society.