JAPAN BATTLES A CATASTROPHE – AT 8:42 P.M. ET:  The death toll in today's quake, the worst in Japanese recorded history, will undoubtedly go into the thousands.  But please note the word "thousands."  Not "hundreds of thousands."

The contrast between the quake in Japan and natural catastrophes that have hit other countries is telling.  Haiti was hit by a major quake last year.  The death toll was ghastly.  It is estimated at 230,000.  There will someday be another quake in Haiti, and the death toll will probably be just as high.  And once again the politicos and the rock stars will rush down and start making their endless appeals for cash, food and medicine.  Careers will be polished.  Maybe some telethons will be run. 

In Japan, strict building codes, a disciplined society, and emergency services, will dramatically reduce the toll from today's quake.  And Japan will rebuild.  In Haiti, observers say the place looks like it did the day after the quake.

And yet, if we ask questions about Haiti we're called racists or, at minimum, culturally insensitive.   Haiti is a corrupt, horribly run country, but pointing it out is considered rude.  How, I ask, do the people of Haiti benefit from such sickening political correctness?  They don't benefit at all, but trendiness and political correctness are about how certain people feel about themselves, not about actually helping.

Next time there's a natural disaster in some "poor, impoverished" country, maybe we should break the mold and insist that any relief effort be accompanied by demands for changes in the way that country is run.  The terms "racist" or "imperialist" will start to flow from the usual suspects, but such demands could revolutionize the way we deal with disaster relief.

We wish Japan well at this terrible hour, but we know they'll recover because of their attitude and work ethic.  Other nations might learn.

March 11, 2011