Former NBA basketballer Paul Shirley is making lots and lots of enemies with his his latest essay on relief efforts in Haiti. You know it's not going to end well when you have to post a disclaimer before your link saying that you're "only trying to make ppl think."
Shirley, who grew up in Meridian, Kansas, and lives in the area, wrote on Flip Collective that he's not likely to donate any money to the relief efforts in Haiti for the same reason he doesn't give money to homeless guys on the streets.
"I don't think the people of Haiti will do much with my money either," he wrote.
Shirley goes on, writing that "shouldn't much of the responsibility for the disaster lie with the victims of that disaster?" There's a lot more explanation of his thoughts of why he believes this is the case. To be fair, you should read his full post to get the context. But for those looking for knee-jerk reactionary excerpts, there's this passage:
Dear Haitians -Got a feeling Shirley may not be wearing many condoms in the company of Unicef givers in the near future.First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded.
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
Seems having CBS hoops reporter Seth Davis call him a "dumbass" wasn't the worst of the consequences. Shirley was a contributor to ESPN's The Life. He was as of yesterday, filing a post about P.M. Dawn. He was until today when ESPN cut ties with him and issued this statement:
He was a part-time freelance contributor. The views he expressed on
another site of course do not at all reflect our company's views on the
Haiti relief efforts. He will no longer contribute to ESPN.
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He is wrong because disaster relief has nothing to do with how the country was run previously. If the people were buck naked savages who never did anything more than build a hut the right thing to do would be to at least help unearth the debris that fell on them and give them food and water. How is this different than the help given to the sunami victims?
Do we go back and review the morals of individual victims of tornados and floods here at home before giving aid? If we did I am sure that there would be some in every community that would not qualify. (No Zeek you can't have any water. You chose to fake disability and live in a trailor with your common-law wife and five kids. You deserve to be blown away. Move to a home with a basement and then we'll talk.)
Now when or if there is a decision to rebuild the country that is when I think measures should be insisted upon by the rest of the world community that Hati do better and attach some strings to any rebuilding effort that encourages a more responsible country.
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