by: Tim Griffith
Atta Boy Mr. Trump; call it like you see it!
I hope President Trump really did say that. It would mean he thinks like a normal human being. For nearly 50 years I have personally used and heard those exact words to describe Haiti and most of the countries on the African continent as well as many other countries around the world. If you visit any of them you come home saying the same thing. Those countries got that title and the contempt of the rest of the world the old fashion way: they’ve earned it.
All it takes is a casual look into the conditions of those countries coupled with the way they’re governed to reach a conclusion that makes those words so very appropriate. Those countries earn the contempt of anyone that cares to examine the subject. For those who want to say the words of that title are “racist” or “elitist” I say, “go there and have a look.”
I’d also add that everyone in the world completely understands exactly why and how such titles (and the emotions and attitudes conveyed in them) are applied. The primary emotion in that title is exasperation mixed with contempt for those countries—and especially their governments. As a group they lament their situations without any thought towards addressing the causes of their problems. It’s a fact of life that you cannot solve a problem without doing something about the cause. The greatest exasperation and contempt should be aimed at the people who consider unkind language more important than making serious inroads towards correcting the situations that bring-on the unkind remarks.
There is a very simple way to halt the rest of the world from describing your country as a spit hole: stop being a spit hole! Show the rest of the world that we are wrong. Show us SOMETHING that might change our justified opinion. For anyone at all that doesn’t like the unkind opinions popularly held for your country or your people, the way out is exactly the same. Stop being and doing what brings on those unkind opinions. No one else can do it for you.
The people of the world don’t get together and just decide to say unkind things about a country. They say what they see. If a country can be reasonably thought of as a spit hole, only that country can change that. It’s foolish to think you can change an opinion by just labeling the opinion as “racist.” The unkind language might diminish but the truth will not have changed. The cause of the problem is where to make the change.
There it is. A one word recipe to solve a country’s problems…CHANGE! Change what it is that brings on those unkind thoughts. That is the only way out for countries that are…”spit holes.”
