OK so Trump called Haiti a shithole country, and apparently it made many people upset. The dictionary definition of shithole, Google says, is "an extremely dirty, shabby, or otherwise unpleasant place."
Anderson spends two minutes here saying how Haitians are tough people. Yes, that's true. Tough people live in shithole countries everywhere around the world. That's totally besides the point. A country is not a "collection of people rich and poor" blah blah. That's the Haitian people. The country is more (or in this case LESS lol) than its citizens. It's a nation with laws occupying a particular geographic location.
So what is this sleight of hand Anderson? Having teachers running for president assassinated is the DEFINITION OF A SHITHOLE country without law and order. Digging through earthquake rubble without heavy equipment because the government stole funds instead of purchasing emergency equipment to deal with a magnitude 7 earthquake is the definition of a shithole.
When a magnitude 9 earthquake (that's 100 times stronger than a 7, since the scale is logarithmic) struck off the coast of Japan in 2011 and fucked everything up with a tsunami and aftershocks, were the Japanese digging through rubble with their bare hands? No they weren't, because Japan isn't a shithole country. They were using remote operated robots to fix the leaks in their nuclear reactors. Fucking robots and nuclear fucking reactors. Just think of these two categories of technology and think of Haiti with its society, political, economic, and education systems. Can you see Haiti inventing, manufacturing, and maintaining robots and nuclear reactors? I bet even Anderson Cooper can't imagine that Haiti - the country not the people - accomplishing advanced technological development and innovation like this. PLEASE.. the economic system, the education system - it's stone age garbage. It's a fucking shithole that keeps the people down and dirty digging through trash to survive, being sold into fucking slavery while the police is paid off to look elsewhere.
I'm from Russia, and I have been in parts of Russia which are absolute and complete shitholes with no jobs, healthcare, or anything. But I ain't ever seen shit like this in Russia. Below are some random photos of non-shithole Haiti from Google image search.
PS1 When the earthquake struck, I, like many others, donated money to the relief efforts
PS2 In my opinion Trump isn't a great human being
Watch Streep’s speech first below. I’d like to make two broad points about what she said.
… who disrespects disabled people
Some brief background information first. Serge Kovaleski, whom Donald Trump mocked is a successful high profile journalist who won The Pulitzer Prize. That is to say, he is vastly more successful than 99.99% of people in the world, regardless of their health status. He’s probably a millionaire, and is definitely a member of the elite. I don’t doubt his success and his ability to get things done in life.
Did Trump mock Kovaleski? Yes. However, as per this video - youtu.be/5aYFC_7ZIn4 - it doesn’t seem to be any different from the way he mocked Senator Ted Cruz. This makes it somewhat likely that Trump mocked him not for the reasons of his disability. Trump’s an asshole: hardly anyone would disagree with that. However, he gave Kovaleski the same asshole treatment that he would give anyone else. He didn’t treat him any differently because of his disability.
Now, how about Streep’s attitude then? It seems to me that she wants people with a physical disability to be treated differently: with more sensitivity, and more kindness. On the surface, it’s hard to see that as a bad thing. After all, the world would be a better place if we are kinder to each other. However, let us examine the underlying beliefs one must hold in order to believe this.
In my opinion, this demonstrates a pernicious attitude of superiority and pity that Streep holds towards Kovaleski. She wants him to be treated like a child, instead of the successful and gritty adult that he is. Does she really believe that this man was able to rise to the top of his profession, yet be unable to laugh off a sad attempt at mockery? In demanding special treatment for Kovaleski, Streep displays a profound attitude of disrespect for his ability, his achievement, and his strength of character. This belief is causally related to his disability. An ableist is someone who displays prejudice towards someone with disabilities. Despite her good intentions, I cannot see how Streep is anything but an ableist.
… and completely misses the big picture
In 2016, Donald Trump mocked a disabled person and everyone lost their mind. That same year, Obama’s administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs in seven countries youtu.be/77Vx2HXYzFk which killed numerous people. Doubtless, this maimed more people than Donald Trump can mock in a lifetime. Mocking people is not nice. Murdering people with drones and bombs is much worse. Perhaps the newly created disabled people aren’t worth a mention for Streep because they’re the wrong color, or have an unimportant geographical location? Or perhaps, they aren’t members of the elite?
Shed a fucking tear, Meryl.
It occurred to me this year that while mother’s day is widely celebrated, there is no equivalent occasion for all the wonderful women who choose not to have children. I’m not even going to bother being fair and balanced. I’ll just make this as selfish and subjective as I possibly can. Maybe you can relate, maybe not.
Who am I kidding: I can’t make it completely subjective – it’s just not in my nature. Now, if you are one of those people who believe that a childless (by nature, or by choice) woman is somehow defective, less valuable, or otherwise inferior to one who isn’t, then you should think about that notion very carefully. It means that you believe that people like…
…are somehow inferior to a teen who got knocked up while drunk. To me, that notion is laughable. Being a mother is easy, assuming you got pregnant and had no access to (or willingness to use) abortion. Being a good mother is moderately difficult, but quite a few manage. Contributing to the collective wealth of human knowledge and experience is fucking hard, and very few are able to do so. Yes, all of the women above had mothers. That doesn’t mean we can’t respect and admire their decision or circumstances for not being mothers in their own right and choosing to pursue other interests instead. As a brief aside, I’d like to mention a few non-fathers…
…that I am a big fan of. Naturally, there are many people who have accomplished just as much and managed to be a parent at the same time. This fact doesn’t devalue the contribution of nonmons and nondads to our collective knowledge. In my opinion, this contribution is likely more substantial than any child they could have given to the world. Furthermore, their choice is their own – it’s not their obligation to give the world anything at all.
Having a child can offer a fresh perspective on life, and open up new possibilities and experiences. However, not having children can also do that very thing in any number of ways, depending on how you choose to use the free time instead. Let’s make a simple estimate: 90 minutes daily for 18 years. That works out to around 10,000 hours. That is the approximate amount of time it would take to become world-class at almost any skill of your choosing.
Anyway, enough of this bullshit. I just wanted to take this opportunity to be thankful for some of the nonmoms in my life. When I say that, I don’t mean women who haven’t had children yet. I speak of women who have no plans to have children. These are not directed at one person, or different people necessarily. It’s a collection of thoughts about a number of people.
Thank you for:
Motherly things don’t really interest me, so thank you so much for not engaging in them. I can’t imagine someone who is a mother ever replacing you in my life in any way, shape, or form. It just doesn’t seem feasible to me, or is not something that I would want to happen. You are incredibly unique, and special. There are so few out there who can come close. I think it would be incredibly difficult for someone who is a mother to match you on all the other levels in which you excel.
Thank you.