Russia’s invasion of Georgia looks like it might be played out, finally. War kills a lot of people for no particularly good reason, and this one is no different. Russia is certainly playing the role of the bad guy in this conflict, as well they should. Georgia may have violated an old agreement not to disarm South Ossetia, but Russia’s response has been unnecessarily harsh. Besides, sovereignty–the old notion that states get to govern their own people and police their own borders–is much too established a notion for the world to buy Russia’s argument that Georgia is just getting what they deserve.
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Aug 122008
The Humanitarian Response Index has rated the United States as in the bottom third of western countries in humanitarian giving. Should we be alarmed that our country is so miserly and unhelpful?
Well, not if we look at how the ratings are calculated. In terms of the amount of dollars given, the US does quite well. And if you look at ratings at how well we work with nonprofits, promote accountability, and otherwise the efficiency of US aid dollars, America also ranks quite high. The overall ratings of the US suffer because the US refused to ratify several treaties regarding human rights. We also refuse to give cash aid to countries or organizations that actively work against US interests.
In other words, its not that the US is stingy, or that the US doesn’t help others, or doesn’t allocate its aid effectively – its that the political ideology of the US doesn’t happen to align with the Europeans who did the rankings. And for a group that claims that the U.S. suffers from a lack of “neutrality” in its giving of aid, one has to wonder about hypocrisy in the lack of neutrality about political ideology was in the construction of these ratings.
For some reason, the US always gets the short end of the media stick in the giving of aid. After the tsunami, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs Jan Egeland called the US “stingy” for its limited pledge. But, as reported by Bill Ashton of CUNY, while the US pledged less per capita than other countries, it actually paid a large portion of what it pledged, while other countries that pledged considerably more actually paid considerably less. Somehow, this never made it into the news – only the stinginess.
And none of these reports ever mentions the fact that US citizens charitable giving for humanitarian projects is larger than from most other countries (especially in Europe) and that if you consider both government and private contributions then the US becomes a leader in humanitarian giving.
It’s unfortunately in vogue to think about the US as an ogre and a bully and play down all the good that America does in the world. Yesterday, Mike talked about the PR war, and how to make America seem like the good guy. Biased reports based on political ideology like the HRI don’t help, and neither does uncritical media coverage of it, such as in the link above.
Mar 142007
I saw an advertisement recently for a new TV series about Robin Hood. Allow me to tell the Robin Hood story – an illegitimate government takes over and starts imposing its will on the people. Rather than allowing this government to reign free, Robin Hood fights back – robbing from the rich and giving to the poor (although the cynic in me believes that not all the money from the rich is going to the poor as his PR might suggest). When the troops come after him, he melts into the forest to hide, or hides among the populace.
And he is widely regarded in the west as a hero – so much so that there’s a Disney movie about him, several other movies, and now a tv series. This gets me thinking about the Middle East. I can’t stand Hamas, which I believe to be one of the biggest obstacles to peace in the region. However, they fight an authority that is perceived as illegitimate by many Palestinians, and give to the poor (Hamas has a charity wing). In a way, the same psychological principles that make Westerners idolize Robin Hood are probably in play when Palestinians elect Hamas to leadership positions. And similar parallels could also be drawn in Iraq.
And this makes me rethink the Robin Hood story. We never hear the story from Prince John’s or the Sheriff of Nottingham’s side. To what extent was Robin Hood a hero, and to what extent was he a terrorist? What I find amazing is that millions of Americans will be watching this show and rooting against Prince John, while at the same time completely unaware that given the way the U.S. is perceived in many parts of the world, we are in a way metaphorically cheering against ourselves.
And I wonder if we could use our own reaction to stories like Robin Hood to better understand why we’re having so much trouble in the Middle East. Something to think about…
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