Haiti - Enough Already

I know that I'm not the only one that has the following opinions, but most people are too afraid to say them.

I have no intention of turning this blog into a political blog of any kind (if I had, I would have made a post about the laughable scene that was this year's State of the Union Address). However, there is one issue that I think is worth talking about: Haiti.

I was at Walgreen's less than an hour ago to buy feminine products for my wife. This is a horrendous experience for any man, and our only goal is to get in and out as quickly and invisibly as possible. One can only hope that there is another married man at the checkout line because he will know to avoid eye contact and speak as little as humanly possible. Unfortunately for me, the man that checked me out was an obvious loser and does not know where man code stands in this situation and looked me in the eyes and asked how my day was. I mumbled "Good" and continued to avert my gaze. He then asked me something that made me forget all about the thing I was buying "Would you like to add a contribution to The Red Cross for Haiti relief today?" I resisted the urge to strangle the man, said no, and rushed home to write this blog post.

Why must I be harassed everywhere I go about donating to Haiti? I get that a tragedy happened there, and people are dying. That really sucks. You know where else people are dying? EVERYWHERE! We live in a world that is out to destroy us at all turns. Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, forest fires, lightning, avalanches, Godzilla...these are all forces that can destroy whole towns, cities, and countries, and they exist everywhere. So why are we currently obsessed with Haiti?

The obvious reason is the scale of the disaster. Estimates say 200,000 people have likely died in Haiti. Well, if we're using number of casualties as a reason for intervention, why are so many people still against the war in Iraq? Saddam Hussein is believed to have killed as many as a million people, counting wars and battles he ordered.

So why does it annoy me so much that I'm asked 4 to 5 times a day if I want to donate to Haiti? The big reason is because the federal government is already donating for me. The US government has donated almost 400 million dollars to Haiti (and lets not forget the fact that we have a 12 trillion dollar deficit as a country right now). Where do you think that money comes from? The answer: my taxes. And that's still not enough. Every other commercial is the first lady telling me to donate. Every school I go to is begging the students to bring in money for Haiti. It never ends.

To date, 1.25 billion dollars has been given to Haiti, with almost another 800 million pledged and not yet sent. That's over 2 billion dollars to a country that has a GDP of only $11.6 billion ANNUALLY (in simple terms, that's how much the country of Haiti is worth). This earthquake is the most lucrative event in the history of Haiti. We're talking about adding 18% of their GDP. That would be like giving 2.5 trillion dollars to this country. The effect on the economy would be unimaginable (we could bring our debt back below 10 trillion dollars!).

In the end, there are no satisfying answers to these questions. The answer to why Haiti is such a big deal is the same as why the iPhone is so popular, why only Casey Anthony won't go away, and why Kim Kardashian is even known: The media. Whatever the media outlets take on as their obsession for this month is what's important, whether it deserves it or not.