In writing a column about the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, it was not my intent to suggest that I don’t care about the fate of Haiti, or that I am not sympathetic to the people who make up the huge numbers and heartbreaking images we see flashed across our television and computer screens.
Instead, my goal was to question the psychology of donating, the way we react to natural disasters and the nature of responsibility leading up to and immediately after those disasters. Regardless of the outcry that followed, I think I did those things.
When I wrote about the responsibility borne by the Haitian people for their circumstances prior to the earthquake, I did not make clear that I understand that outside influences have played a large part in determining those circumstances. However, I maintain that much of the responsibility (not all) for one’s fate – or for the fate of a group of people – lies with that person or with those people. I understand that dire circumstances can make taking the yoke of that responsibility very, very difficult. But to assume that the Haitians’ fate was not at least in part their own responsibility is to insult that group of people even more. It rationalizes much of the United States’ past meddling in the affairs of Haiti. But most of all, it shows even less respect to the Haitian people.
I’m disappointed that some outlets chose to extract segments of my column, framing my opinions in their own. Many readers were going to disagree with my opinions regardless of the context in which they were presented – that was, in some ways, the point of writing them. But when they were enticed into reading the piece by potentially inflammatory bits that were taken out of context, readers had little chance to look at my views with the proverbial clean slate.
While I will not apologize for writing my column, I do accept the repercussions associated with writing it and hope that some good may come out of those repercussions: that people will stop and think about their own motivations for giving and that someone else might be inspired to come up with a better way to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters like the one in Haiti.
Thanks for reading.
Paul
Paul, your frenzy-causing article about the people of Haiti is the first article of yours that I have ever read. It was referred to me by a friend of mine who is a loyal reader of yours. As an aspiring journalist, your column truly emphasizes the essence of journalism by bringing to life the very purpose that the career is supposed to serve: causing people to think. Any other piece would have been the standard cookie-cutter fact spitting, pity provoking, useless and cut-and-dry garbage that seem to inundate the media.
It saddens me the negative repercussions you’ve had to face for stepping outside the box and challenging the status quo. Your column is uplifting and inspiring to the few of us who have not lost sight of what journalism and media are all about. You are a true writer and a true columnist, and whether people agree with your views or not doesn’t matter. I don’t even 100% agree with all of the things you mentioned, but I respect your courage to even mention them, and you’ve caused me to step back and take a look at my motivations in an entirely different light with a new perspective, and that’s exactly what writers are supposed to do.
Please don’t stop writing, Paul. You’ve got the courage, sass, and sharp tongue that most writers would kill for. Besides, you know the only reason everyone’s up your @$$ about this is because, well, you’re probably right. People don’t like to hear the truth if it’s not the truth they wanna hear. But that’s not your problem, so keep doin’ your thing. You’ve made a fan out of me, buddy.
You picked a horrible way to express a legitimate thought. You don’t mock a nation that has lost 100,000 lives by saying “As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?
Sincerely,
The Rest of the World”
Thank you. Finally someone who doesn’t give into the pressures of the machine and is willing to stand behind what they say and believe (with legitimate facts and reason nonetheless) despite the clear repercussions. That said, with his talent I have no doubt Paul will land on his feet just fine.
Well, congrats to Paul for making Sports Illustrated. They ran a story on ESPN firing him. Seems the man will probably have to go out now and work for a living.
Paul,
I am in complete support of your opinion and your letter. While I agree it may have been a little harsh, it’s the absolute truth. If you give a man a fish he will eat for one day, if you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime. We as a people can’t just continue to throw money at problems and hope they go away, otherwise, 20,30,40, 100 years from now, they next 7.2 magnitude earthquake hits, and history repeats itself.
To all the naysayers vehemently attacking Pauls personal opinion, shame on you. Name calling went out of vogue in the third grade, and you are showing that you as sophisticated as a third grader, which is why you have no understanding of what Mr. Shirley is trying to say here. Paul is not the only one with this opinion, as a matter of fact, the editorial in I believe Newsweek last week was directly in line with what this letter said.
Keep fighting the good fight, stand up for what you believe
Too bad my comment was moderated out. I though it was rater legitimate and rather middle of the raod.
Sorry, my bad, webbrowser cache not refreshed.
I don’t see how this letter addresses the primary complaint people seemed to have about your first article: it’s disrespectful tone towards people still pulling the bodies of their children out of rubble.
Right on Paul. Typical 3rd world catholic country with no concept of birth control. Maybe God did them a favor. Wars take out the males whereas natural disasters take out the breeding females also, think about it.
Paul, compassion. That’s the first step in caring for others and a start for rebuilding. That’s the best way to make a start.
All I saw in that previous blogpost was just some rightwing/conservative/republican rethoric about how poor people always have nobody to blame but themselves for the situation they are in.
All it was was an insult to people who have been trying to overcome being raped by both the US and France repeatedly over the past 300 years.
All it was, was a basketball player at the end of a so called career, trying to create some buzz for a new career at the expense of some people in the caribbean he had never heard of before last month.
All it was, was an ignorant idiot with a keyboard and internet access.
That is all it was my friend. Nothing thought provoking about it. If it was, you would have covered the most important aspects of the Haitian situation(namely its history)and then given your view. If it was supposed to be about the psychology behind donating, you would have focused on that instead of focusing on insulting Haitians.
What happened in Haiti was a tragedy. We as humans have this little thing called empathy. When things like this occur it is our instinct to help out. Could the damage have been restricted? Maybe. How prepared can you be for something that happens once every 100 years? How prepared was the US on 9/11? Was the situation less tragic because the US could have prevented it?? A tragedy is a tragedy is a tragedy. We felt the pain for the 9/11 victims. We are feeling the pain for the people of Haiti. That is why we donate. We don’t insult them because they’re poor. We help out. We’re human.
Nature manages over breeding of animals with starvation, disease, earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters. It is the reality of life on this planet. How sad is it that humans have been here for millions of years and they still haven’t learned this basic truth. By controlling the number of people you decrease suffering and improve the quality of life. If humans want a better life they need to make better choices starting with birth control.
You are one of kind if your Mother ask for help are you going to help or
You speak the words of an intellectual and use your brain as a brain should function (some don’t use their brains). Many are too blind to see and fully comprehend your view. Many are bias from the start of reading your article. Many are, will, and did interpret your stand as a man that is the world’s new villain. Those are the people who are blind sighted to see the truth. I am not saying those “many” are dumbfounded, but I am saying that they are blind to not see the logic.
It’s fine to express your opinion. It’s fine to be outside of the box. It’s even fine to stir the sh*t. But signing “The rest of the world”, while in reality it is only Paul – is NOT fine.
You chose a strategic time to post your opinion, but did you think how much it will hurt, especially now that that lost even the little they had?
Yes, their government is corrupted, yes the money isn’t getting where it should, yes, donating all the time might lead to people not looking for other solutions and not even looking at the underlying problems. But the issue is – the comment was written in a derogatory, demeaning way. It did not sound like this “reaction” comment. It sounded more like frustrations of someone who has lived through reverse discrimination and who wants to be heard. At all costs.
We are human and we need to help those worse off. We also need to make sure the help gets there. We also need to make sure the help teaches them how to do it on their own afterward, so they do not require constant help.
So now that you said that you don’t believe in donating and despise the way they deal with things, why don’t you tell us what would you do? How would you remedy the situation, since you are so smart?
Paul: I was a reader of your ESPN columns during your playing days, and I liked them. I think it’s unfortunate for journalists now to cherry-pick quotes from your experience-based and fairly-well-reasoned articles to make you seem like a racist.
That said, I need to comment on your Haiti piece. Simple fact: No one *chooses* to live in a shanty. Haiti would love to rebuild luxury condos for everyone, but that takes money. Criticizing people for living in shanties is like criticizing someone for a birthmark on their face.
Well said, APS. I too, was a fan of Paul Shirley’s insightful blogs about his NBA and overseas playing days. The guy isn’t dumb; all those people casually writing him off as a “stupid jock” have obviously not read his body of work. The man is (was?) very good at entertaining his readers, and showing them aspects of his profession that they hadn’t seen before.
Too bad his Haiti commentary was completely off the mark. As Paul belatedly (semi-)admitted himself, he failed to frame the current tragedy in the context of history. Sure, history is never solely to blame, but c’mon. His blog came off as ill-informed, overly simplistic, and just plain mean. And even when you do have some interesting things to say and some tough questions to ask, mean-spiritedness will cloud the dialogue every time.
I hope Mr. Shirley can learn from this debacle, and perhaps return to his previous standing as “an athlete with a brain, with some interesting things to say.” Interesting and thought-provoking, not mean-spirited and facile. I wish him luck.
So lets say you have a budget of $100 for all your personal needs. Let’s say this $100 is plenty to live on, but if you don’t budget properly you will run out of necessary resources, and you will eventually cease to exist. One day you go shopping for a set of new tires. The guy at Goodyear shows you a a pair for $100 and guarentees your safety on the road at all times. He also shows you a pair for less that just happens to fit nicely into your survival budget. They are not quite as safe, but fine just the less. You make the economical choice (one that depends on your survival)and buy the cheaper tires. One rainy day your tires fail under the circumstances and you crash your car and are left trapped on the side of the road. In Paul Shirley’s world we are just supposed to drive on by and remind that poor chap by shouting smugly out the window “should have bought the other tires!!!!!”
Paul – in layman’s terms, you are a jackass!!!!! What a secure feeling it must be having you as a friend.
This is the best article on Haiti disaster relief (and beyond) I’ve read in terms of its objectivity. I completely agree with you Paul: ” it is not outside the realm of imagination to think that the citizens of a country might be able to: A) avoid putting themselves into a situation that might result in such catastrophic loss of life. And B) provide for their own aid, in the event of such a catastrophe.”
On top of all this, a lot of the money that we’d put in as Westerners would go towards a “colonizing” type relief plan. Many relief workers/ donators might have the spread of religion in mind, the spread of a certain political agenda or way of thought…maybe individualistic fame…
I still think that it was good what many others have done for Haiti. As we progress as a species, I hope that we do begin to work together, rather than become a group of individual nations fighting or looking down on one another. I praise those with the true nature of helping others without an outside agenda. May those that helped get rewarded with seeing Haiti re-build itself into a safe and sustainable nation, and be proud of themselves for being part of it. But like your article mentioned, we’re not going to get there by being naive and opening our pockets without critical thought.
Don’t worry about ESPN, that shit was getting old anyways. Keep writing.
Ever life in a shack? If you did, you would know that you did so because you had to. Rebuild Haiti in what way? The Grand Victorian Manor? Teach a man to fish? Of course. But after sending him the fish that saves his/her life, then send a boat that he may fish from, and a house that his wife and children may build with their hands, while his hand is on his nets.
Sick and tired of hearing “get real”. Those who repeat this haven’t a clue.
Hey Scotty Allen, send me a fish and a boat and build me a house and teach me to fish too! Since you seem to have more than enough. I didn’t earn it or anything, but I’m entitled to it as a fellow human being. You’d do that for me right?
You are a true douche. You don’t hide it though so kudos to you for that.