21798: Dorce: Re: 21749: Donoviel: Re: 21565: Clotildec6: Herb Gold article (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

In a message dated 5/7/04 6:13:11 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Brett Donoviel
<sldon2@yahoo.com> writes:

<<  Finally, I resent the way Gold speaks of the
 young Haitian-American woman in San Francisco with a
 paternalistic condescension. He spoke Creole and she
 didn't. So somehow he had more of a connection to
 Haiti, more "authenticity." She wasn't a "real"
 Haitian. >>
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Thank you Brett Donoviel for answering Herb Gold's article on Haiti.  I agree
with you 100%.  I had to wait to cool down before I could respond to that
article.  You hit the nail on the head about Gold being paternalistic.  I have
gotten the distinct impression from reading him that he fancies himself the
"Great White Father".  If they made a movie about him, Sydney Greenstreet would
play him, sitting in a rattan peacock chair under a ceiling fan, drinking a rhum
punch.  He's a damned cliché!  He's bwana.  He's sahib.  He's Haiti's best
nightmare on earth.

You have made all the arguments and they are sound but those who want to
believe what Gold wrote will believe it no matter what.  Those who cling to the
belief that the US is the guy in the white hat coming always to the rescue,
Truth, Justice and the American Way; they cannot see the truth because it destroys
their reality.  It is bitter to wake up to this notion, I will agree.  But to
hide from it is even worse.  Better to take the medicine now and start to
heal.  It will only get more deadly if it is allowed to grow.  Today HAITI,
Tomorrow the WORLD!  Zieg Heil...(ok, I guess I haven't cooled down!)