The recent bizarre diatribe by Pat Robertson, right after the recent earthquake in Haiti, is generally described merely as “thoughtless”, or “in bad taste”, or “the ramblings of an old man.” But I think there is something much more specific going on here. Read for yourself what the man said:
“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, you know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got togethter and swore a pact to the Devil. They said we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so the devil said Ok its a deal, and they kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselvers free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor.”
Context is everything. And part of the context here is that Haiti is the only nation in history that was ever formed as the result of a successful military revolt of black slaves against a white colonial power. This “pact with the devil” myth is an old story. By repeating it now, Robertson is fulfilling a familiar role. Jews know this role all too well from their long history with the myths of the “Blood Libel”.
In the case of the Jews, the essence of the myth is that Jews kill Christian children for some sort of bizarre secret ritual purpose. Of course belief in such myths would give indignant Christians license to deny rights to Jews, or even to kill them outright.
In the case of blacks, the essence is even more insidious. The myth Robertson is repeating essentially says “Those black people could not possibly have won a war against us white people. Since they did, it must have been the devil who actually won the war for them.”
Notice how particularly, pointedly ugly this is. He is very specifically using an occasion of great tragedy to assert a claim that blacks are inferior to whites. Having done this, he is effectively casting any aid or help for Haiti not as a hand reaching across from one nation to another, but rather as a gesture from a superior people to an inferior people.
It is difficult even to talk about something like this. The sheer horror of contemplating minds that can spin this kind of filth is right at the edge of what any sane and reasonable human being can take in.
But it is important, when this kind of naked hatred (which so often disguises itself in one sort of sanctimony or another) shows its true self out in the open, that we look at it straight on, no matter how disgusted we may be.
We owe it not just to the people of Haiti, but to ourselves, to understand the nature of hate agendas, and the ways that those agendas disguise themselves, so that we can be effective in counteracting them. Don’t kid yourself that you are safe from this sort of thing. Sooner or later, no matter who you are or where you live, the people who spread these kinds of monstrous ideas of hate will come after you and your own children.
Heaven, for me, would be a world free from the strains of religion. 🙂
Raw hatred, pushing agendas through supersition, signs of righteousness.. However it is presented, it’s all the same thing. Religion has always been a way of controlling people through superstition. Sometimes, you need to point out righteous acts to regain your power and continue to control.
Clearly, Robertson has an agenda and a need to show the lord’s wrath. It sickens me. The lack of humanity and the lack of understanding of the human condition is ridiculouls.
The racial undertone reminds me of the early Mormons claiming that a person’s skin color is directly correlated to the sins of their ancestors. lunacy.
But, these fanatics will always be out there. They will always find divine reasons for catastrophe, revenge, genocide, whatever… It’s god’s will. It’s an easy and undisputable answer for the faithful.
I experienced a tragedy, on a smaller scale, last spring. Some friends of mine were killed in a plane crash. Tragic loss. Two young families with a half dozen kids all under 9 years old. Every one of them lost (14 people in all).
The father of one of the women on board chartered the plane. It so happens that he was a financer of a string of Planned Parenthood type clinics. So, while healing from this tragic loss, we all had to endure the endless press releases and blogs claiming that the father was being forced to endure what so many voiceless unborn babies endured that were aborted at his clinic.
Of course, god in his infinite wisdom, claimed these lives to teach a lesson to the evil father. Again, lunacy.
Personally, despite my nasty demeanor, I deeply feel loss of this magnitude. It is reminiscent of the Sri Lanka tsunami a few years back. I did everything I could to be part of the rescue mission. I was going to fly out there with the Alaskan Guard before they cancelled and sent the Kadena unit instead. On the same level, I would drop everything and fly out to Haiti and start digging with my bare hands if it would help. Unfortunately, I gave up my military status 2 months ago…
My only recourse at this point is to donate to the rescue efforts, and share my sorrow for this tragic loss while pointing a finger of shame at those, such as Robertson, that are trying to benefit from this unimaginable human tragedy.
Troy, I am very sorry to hear about this. My condolences for the families and loved ones of the people who were lost in that plane crash.