7743: 7706: RE: 7693: Port-au-Prince graffiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michael Deibert <michael@clubplanet.com>

>>>So P-a-P is becoming graffiti-ed, dusty, etc. Isn't that how the poor
have
always lived? So, maybe this is evening things out--the rich can't hide in a
clean enclave and pretend they are different--that somehow they deserve neat
& clean & the poor don't? And, even in the old Roman empire, walls were all
filled with graffiti--it's called public communication. Even the emperors of
old Rome made graffiti--except we call them monuments and triumphal arches,
because what THEY had to say was carved, not painted, and harder to destroy!
(You see, I'm a graffiti-lover! Better graffiti than a groomed & managed
Disney-Town)
Karen <<<<<<


So, the solution for Haiti then is not to uplift the poor and improve the
conditions they exist in but rather to bring everyone down to the same
desperate, deprived level...Funny, but the "people"  seem pretty happy with
graffiti disappearing from their walls, whether it be in Brooklyn or Bel
Air...But then again, it's always a good idea to over-simplify and identify
with pep la from a radical academic standpoint when you don't actually have
to live in their reality...Wasn't there are a politician at one point who
preached "the values of dignity, respect and love?" Seems like those words
would still be applicable for *all* Haitian people (not just the ones who
talk to academics and journalists), as many of the courageous OP's (as well
as organizations like the MPP) have shown us...

Peace,

Michael Deibert