Comments on: Critiquing Developmentalism: What’s Wrong With Haiti?

By: .elise.anne.

.elise.anne. — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:33:18 +0000

i like where you are going, wayne, about two-way depravity. Brooks is measuring progress by our standards. Now, as far as basic needs, sure, our nation has “progressed” more in that more people have them met. But like you said, is our materialism a point of “progress”?

And, the D.R. oppressed (oppresses?) Haitians a lot, b/c of skin tone, language differences, etc etc. Mass murders by the DR. That sure doesn’t help Haiti, either. (Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian author who writes about the history between the two…)

By: Wayne

Wayne — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:40:55 +0000

hmm… that brings up a good point of what development really is; monetary, economic, social, political, or indeed spiritual? Of course this latter would be rejected largely, but as evangelicals it makes complete sense;

I only contend that depravity be a two-way street; is it conceivable that their voodooism is trumped by our materialism, power et al? Or maybe not?…

By: Greg Kensson

Greg Kensson — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 05:27:34 +0000

I don’t see the problem with the tone, and Brooks is neither the first nor the last to point out that our traditional development policies (say from 1944 to the present) usually fail or make things worse. It is becoming a commonplace that culture is THE primary determinant of economic development.

Of course, economic development is not the only important value, and the free-market democracies that excel in economic growth fall short on other values.

Are all cultures equally deserving of respect? Perhaps, but each has its own pervasive sins and its own shortcomings and we do no one a favor by pretending otherwise. And the old fundamentalist adage that the best way to improve conditions is to change people’s hearts may hold more truth than we ever cared to admit.