"On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed."
However, this reveals that what happened in Haiti "is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services."
The difference in the death tolls is startling. The reason for the difference is sad.
Ultimately, Brooks reasons that a country is the product of its worldview, its own culture, and that all cultures are not equal:
it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty. Why is Haiti so poor?....Haiti...suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of the voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized. Child-rearing practices often involve neglect in the early years and harsh retribution when kids hit 9 or 10....We’re all supposed to politely respect each other’s cultures. But some cultures are more progress-resistant than others, and a horrible tragedy was just exacerbated by one of them.
A society that is overwhelmingly "progress-resistant" is not only going to stagnate, to get frozen in history, but suffer consequences periodically, as in the case of this earthquake. It really is better follow standards of construction and prepare for disasters beforehand.
Consider Thomas Jefferson's point of view in this 1799 letter to Elbridge Gerry:
I am for encouraging the progress of science in all it's branches; and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of philosophy; for awing the human mind by stories of raw-head & bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision, & to repose implicitly on that of others; to go backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement; to believe that government, religion, morality, & every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by our forefathers.
Following Jefferson's grammar can be a bit difficult here, but the not is the important qualifier: he is not for "awing the human mind...to distrust of its own vision," he is not for going "backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement," he does not believe that "government, religion, morality, & every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance."
Early Americans like Jefferson - Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine - were followers and promoters of the Enlightenment, and thankfully they founded this country on rational principles that have kept us moving forward. Hopefully we will not give in to the forces of irrationalism.
Primitive and superstitious religions may seem harmless, but Haiti is finding out right now that's not true. Voodoo, which is prevelant in Haiti, Brooks says, "spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile."
I don't think Brooks is shaming Haitians for what happened, so much as he is describing cause and effect. It is the realistic assesment they need (and that we need to hear) so that they can improve their society, make it safer.
There might be those people who want to "defend" the Haitians and question: "But maybe they don't want what you're talking about!"
But if such people listen to what Haitians have been saying (by reading the news), such people will hear them angry and disappointed by their lack of disaster services, the Haitians do not enjoy the suffering and death they're experiencing now.
Brooks's criticism may sound harsh, but I believe it's needed. Ignoring flawed thinking for the sake of politeness or to spare hurt feelings is not as important as saving lives. And as impolite as it is, it's important to admit that some worldviews just don't work that well.
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