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Post by dohboy on Aug 15, 2019 11:11:38 GMT -6
The state department version is bad enough, and it leaves out the worst details. Like our revival of the Corvee to force the Haitians to provide free labor under armed guard for projects, Haitians that were primarily the descendants of slaves who wouldn't even allow foreigners to own property because they were so paranoid about being put back in chains in one form or another(they had enough trouble with that from other Haitians). Well, I will leave it at that, because I've been in these discussions before and they go nowhere. Suffice it to say, we were not there. The US and other naval powers had to protect trade routes as globalization began to develop at the turn of the century. It wasn't always done as nicely as we would have liked but both countries along with France were trying to be civil and help the areas that we occupied. I am in agreement with you. People tend to find me confrontational on the internet. Probably because I engage in hyperbole and use 1/4 of the words I should to make myself clear. History is muddy and there aren't many heroes that stand up to scrutiny by modern standards, if they do it's because they killed all the people who said bad things about them and burned all the books.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Aug 15, 2019 12:12:05 GMT -6
Well, I will leave it at that, because I've been in these discussions before and they go nowhere. Suffice it to say, we were not there. The US and other naval powers had to protect trade routes as globalization began to develop at the turn of the century. It wasn't always done as nicely as we would have liked but both countries along with France were trying to be civil and help the areas that we occupied. I am in agreement with you. People tend to find me confrontational on the internet. Probably because I engage in hyperbole and use 1/4 of the words I should to make myself clear. History is muddy and there aren't many heroes that stand up to scrutiny by modern standards, if they do it's because they killed all the people who said bad things about them and burned all the books. Thanks for the explanation but no need to be concerned. I understand. History is muddy. We tend to assume there is only one answer to a phenomenon, action etc. However, generally there is far more than that. It is called causal reductionism. I am certain that actions were taken that were not in the best interest of everyone, on the other hand we don't know the circumstances in Haiti and possibly what we did actually stabilized that country. It also might be that the money was used over the years to improve the lot of the people and ensure it was available for them.
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Post by dohboy on Aug 15, 2019 13:03:32 GMT -6
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. A lot of people point to the U.S. occupation, and our taking 40% of their revenue annually to service their debt, as a major cause. They had problems long before and after that, but if we were trying to help the Haitians and not just the bankers I would say we did it wrong. Altruism is hard to see in this episode. It might be there, but it's obscured by actions and results.
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