What Is It About Corruption That Fascinates?

The television series, House of Cards is a major hit around the world.  It is a

Netflix television series about a an unscrupulous Washington politician. To the West Wing, political junkie, it is the antithesis of the popular television drama of years ago.

Whereas West Wing was a series about a likeable president with a White House staff of do-gooding liberal bleeding hearts, House of Cards is quite the opposite.

As one magazine reported, the unlikeable, but fascinating main character and his wife, who is equally diabolical, share a common goal to become the ultimate power couple in Washington.  "Their world is dark, devoid of redemption and humility."

The husband, the main character, is a Democrat, former House of Representatives majority whip, responsible for getting proposed laws through Congress.  After he was rejected for an appointment as Secretary of State, he goes on a revengeful rampage.  His wife, is equally vulgar, and the head of a major nonprofit organization.

Everyone in Washington is basically evil and corrupt.  Even the media presents the world of self-glorification, personal agendas, and seemingly unaware of the main character's ruthless pragmatism. The publisher of the major Washington, D.C. newspaper berates the editor of the paper, saying, "We don't need people that follow the rules.  We need people with personality."

And, indeed, the series if filled with people with personalities, evil, vile, ugly, addicted, and corrupt personalities.  As a recent article said:

Most chilling is Frank's [the main character] rather gleeful acknowledgement of is diabolicalness.  In one scene, Frank struts into an empty cathedral, stands before the pulpit and states, "Every time I've spoken to you, you've never spoken back -- although given our mutual disdain, I can't blame you for the silent treatment."  Then he looks at the viewers -- and smirks, "Perhaps I'm speaking to the wrong audience."  He turns his gaze down -- to hell -- and calls: "Can you hear me?  Are you even capable of languages, or do you only understand depravity?"

You see, this is one of the quirks of the show.  The main character winks and converses with the show's audience and viewers.  In doing so, he manipulates the audience and "like a great chess master, he delights in divulging his strategies, tricks of the trade, and zingy one liners."

For some, myself included, there is a shocking quality to the program.  The plots are evil.  The language coarse and vulgar.  But, one learns that perverse depravity does reach into its pits.  One wonders how much darker can this plot and language get?  Yet, as one writer put it, this program points to the truth: that human sin is boring, unexciting, trite, and only various shadows of the same color.  Nevertheless, the series deals with virtually every sector of society, from family, to third sector, to government.

So, what do we make of this?  According to IMDb Moviemeter [the Internet Movie Database, and the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, television, and entertainment content and celebrities] the Netflix original series is the most popular television program in the world.  This does not mean that it is the best television show, only that it is the most addictive and a show that raises "a ton of buzz and interest" on social media and on entertainment news reports.

Perhaps as evidence of this is the fact that President Barack Obama recently tweeted to his Twitter followers: "Tomorrow @HouseOfCards. No spoilers, please."  Like so many viewers, the President was reported to have been doing "binge-watching" the entire second season's 13 episodes.  During a meeting with Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, during a White House meeting, the President was reported to have said, "I wish things were that ruthlessly efficient" in real-life Washington, D.C.

What is interesting about all of this, House of Cards is not a free television service.  It can be watched only by subscription on Netflix as a rate of $7.99 for the streamed movie and television service.  Statistics from a year ago reflect that Netflix had 27 million viewers in the U.S. and 33 million viewers worldwide.

What is even more amazing is that Netflix has "mind-boggling" access to consumer sentiment in real time.  GigaOm, the leading voice in emerging technologies, reports that Netflix looks at 30 million "plays" a day, including when viewers pause, rewind, and fast forward programs.  As a result, as reported by the Netflix Chief of Communications, "Because we have a direct relationship with consumers, we know what people like to watch and that helps us understand how big the interest is going to be for a given show."  Financial news about House of Cards, report that Netflix stock surged after the Netflix decided to invest in two seasons, 26 episodes, in House of Cards. 

However, not only is the series popular in the U.S. and around the world, according to most reports, it is one of the most watched shows in China.  The Financial Times reported that if the articles in the Chinese press are to be believed, we can learn a lot about the watching habits of senior Chinese leaders. Much has been written about Chinese President, Xi Jinping, reportedly considering the American classic movie, The Godfather, as his favorite Western "cinematic indulgence."  Wang Qishan, the former Vice-Premier of Finance, now the ultimate arbiter for discipline in the Communist Party's standing committee is said to favor House of Cards.   He has reportedly told his colleagues in the cloistered leadership compound, Zhongnanhai, to keep abreast of this Netflix series.  Indeed, he has instructed his subordinates to check the release date of the new season.

The series is streamed on Sohu.com.cn, one of China's biggest online video services, which purchased the exclusive rights to the series for mainland China and posted the latest season at the same time as Netflix.  As in the U.S., and I suppose elsewhere, there is binge-watching.

So, what lies behind this fascination in China with the political intrigue of House of Cards?  Is it because the Chinese, probably like many around the world, view the series as quintessentially American, because it is a movie series about official corruption, political double-crossing, and state violence?  But, this particular series of House of Cards is adapted from the original British BBC version by the same name, which I understand is also watched in China. In season 2 of the series, there is a major role China plays as the plot unfolds.

If you read news reports, such as those carried in the The China Daily, the show is perceived in China to be a niche product on the high-end of viewership thereby bringing in an audience of quality rather than quantity.  Its popularity in China is rooted in China's penchant for backroom political maneuvering, palace drama, and the like.

Yet, few in China have seen the relevance of the series to the present Chinese reality, notwithstanding the level of corruption there, and as The China Daily recently reported: "even fewer have acknowledged what the drama has told us about ourselves."  Nevertheless, The China Daily, continued:

But let's face it: The dramatized wheeling and dealing of the US congressman has striking similarities with the many exposed Chinese scandals involving the "tigers", or high ranking officials, who usually also hold seats at the legislative bodies at various levels.  The Machiavellian characters remind us of the corrupt official who climb the ladder by whatever means available, including intricate maneuvering to outdo rivals.

Indeed, as I posted several weeks ago regarding living in an age of corruption, House of Cards, may have had its own China counterpart to the main characters in Bo Xilai and his wife, Gu Kailai, with their own arrests, trial, and conviction.(http://www.rvanbroekhoven.blogspot.com/2014/02/living-in-age-of-corruption.html).

The China Daily reported that over the years, Chinese researchers have looked at factors that drive public officers down this treacherous road.  What these researchers found was what could be summed up in ten common personality traits that prompted hundreds of Chinese officials to become corrupt.  These included a strong need for power, greed, a need for instant gratification, jealousy, risk-taking and expectation of returns.  Not that different from what many of us experience in our own personal lives and situations.  So, there is no reason to be proud of who and what we are.

But, these similarities between what is reflected in House of Cards, and the conclusions from that research transcend borders and ideologies, do they not?   The news media in the United States is filled, almost every day, with reports of asserted corruption.

In the last 24 hours, the television news reports and newspapers in Washington have been filled with the news concerning the negotiated guilty plea of a businessman and illegal fundraising operations that violated both federal and local campaign finance laws.

According the news reports, the businessman, Jeffrey Thompson, also a major contractor with the Washington, D.C. government, pleaded guilty to funneling more than $2 million in illegal donations to federal and local political campaigns over a six-year period.  Not only was the mayor of Washington, D. C. implicated in this scheme, but also were the campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton in her quest for the White House, and numerous congressmen and senators.

In a recent Wall Street Journal column, following the President's State of the Union address, the writer wrote that this year, the television coverage was distinct from prior years which showed the President walking down the aisle of the House of Representatives after his dramatic entrance was announced.  Now, every cabinet-level officeholder marched in shaking hands and "high-fiving" with breathless congressmen, a 'bland and banal' bunch indeed, with power to destroy life, through EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations, the placement of children in school, the defining medical coverage out of existence, and to what appears to many, the twisted enforcement of the tax code and tax agency to further political goals and destroy opposition to government programs."

Indeed, government lawsuits against religious nonprofit organizations threaten the very concept of civil society and of religious freedom.  The lawsuit against the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic order of nuns, who came to America in 1868, and now operate about 30 homes for the needy across the country.  There are no allegations of corruption against the Little Sisters of the Poor organization.  Rather, the government simply mandated that organization and others similarly situated had to comply with a law that they claimed violated the teaching of the Church.

But, we all know of scandals that taint the everyday world of charity.  A little more than a year ago, there was a picture of a young girl holding an umbrella over an aged street cleaner woman sitting on a curbside in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.  This was part of a fundraising appeal to help those
in need.  It was subsequently disclosed that the picture had been staged and that the little girl was not simply a little girl who happened to be at that place and able to help the elderly and needy woman.  There was an outcry among the public and in the news media claiming that this was an example of corruption in the charity sector and that the public had been fooled.

Years ago, there were similar concerns about a fundraising appeal in which an obviously homeless man had been fed and sheltered in a homeless shelter.  The appeal appeared in newspapers in the major cities in the United States, extending from California and Washington State in the West, throughout the Southwest and Midwest, to the major cities on the East Coast.  The picture was the same, and the story of the man's hardship and life were the same in all the newspaper fundraising appeals.  As is often the case, the appeal was prepared by a professional fundraising consultant, under contracts with homeless shelters and food kitchens throughout the entire country.  As in the case of the little girl in Shenzhen, China, the claim was the there was corruption in failing to accurately disclose the source and nature of the appeal.

While there are so many more examples that could be used in this discussion, what is unclear is just what corruption is and how an act or course of conduct is determined to be corrupt.  Is it possible, that what is thought to be corrupt in some situations or environments, is not considered to be corrupt in other similar situations?  Is corruption an issue of immoral conduct of a certain nature, that is, that it violates certain moral norms?  Or is corruption more in the nature of a legal issue, violating some legal code, whether criminal or civil?  Why is it that certain forms of corruption are like a train wreck or automobile crash where people must stop to see what is going on?

I started this post with an extended discussion about the Netflix series, House of Cards.  What is it about House of Cards that draws so many viewers from all over the world notwithstanding what is the obvious and total depravity reflected in it, and the vulgar and coarse language used throughout the series?  Why is it that the elites, the intellectuals, members of the ruling classes are so drawn to it?

What I find interesting in the series, is that there is no competing worldview. This is not about simple Machiavellian characters that remind us of some of what we see in government and the politicians' collaboration with business interests as suggested in The China Daily.  If the show is entertaining, and perhaps it is that, it is not long before the "craving for meaningful, colorful grace gets louder and louder."  Or maybe, we simply become dull by the graphic display of sin and depravity, and we miss the social transformation that is going on all around us in the world and this great shift in worldview as represented in this story.

Ravi Zacharias, a world-renown apologist, once noted that there are three ways in which belief systems are passed down from generation to generation that influence the culture.

The first is what he called the foundation substructure.  This is the theoretical level which comes primarily from the intellectual, philosophical, and academic communities.  What are the basic ideas of truth or reality, of morals, of values, of meaning that influence people and how they see themselves and their communities?

The second is what he called the infrastructure, where the culture is influenced aesthetically, that is, through the invasion of the imagination through the arts. Few people read the great thinkers of Western, or even Easter civilization, or those shaping or emerging from the Enlightenment.  The popular media and entertainment sectors of society usually inform our contact with the world of ideas.  What is portrayed in the media or entertainment sectors, reinforces our ideas of reality, morality, and values.

The third level is what he calls the superstructure, or the prescriptive level.  In its most general form, this is what we might get on popular talk radio or television shows in which various celebrities speak with authority on issue for which they have no expertise.  These matters include everything from global warming, to health and psychology, from abortion to gay rights, from human rights to animal rights.  All proclaimed with authority, although there is no wisdom or knowledge or expertise to back up the claims.  It is what also goes around the kitchen tables in homes all over the world as parents try to respond to their children's questions, or in our community centers and churches.  The problem is that we may use reason and discuss the issues somewhat rationally at the substructure and infrastructure levels of theory and at the level of the invasion of the imagination through the arts, entertainment, and media, but at the superstructure, or prescriptive level, we are usually expressing subjective opinions that often defy rational dialogue.

A problem with any discussion of corruption, whether at the government, business, or third sector level, is a certain lack of clarity and a great deal of confusion about what it is that we think corruption is.  We may view House of Cards as nothing more than simple entertainment without ever realizing that it is seeping into our consciousness and imprinting some sense of reality, some sense that there is no difference between morality and immorality, between the good and the bad, or between the beautiful and the ugly.  In doing so, it may well begin a process of legitimizing pragmatic, materialistic conduct that is without any redeeming social or moral value, while at the same time creating an attitude of skepticism and cynicism about anything external to our own personal interests and experience.

And in the modern era of technical advances, instant communications, social networks, and loss of the ability to concentrate or think linearly and rationally, we simply are unable to make rational judgments about the kind of society we want and our roles in that society.  Scary, isn't it?

Living in an Age of Corruption

For the last few years, or more actually, there have been reports of corruption and concern about corruption.  I think back to the arrest, charges, and trial of Bo Xilai, and of the

question whether or not the corruption alleged there was simply a part of life that we must accept.  Indeed, one of the central themes we hear of Xi Jinping. Party Secretary and President of the People's Republic of China is how China must address the problem of corruption.

It is not my purpose here to render judgment on the legitimacy of the Bo Xilai trial.  Having followed it through his fall from grace in the National People's Congress, to his arrest, the arrest, trial, and conviction of his wife, Gu Kailai, for the murder of British businessman, Neil Heywood, and ultimately to his own trial, conviction, and decision on appeal, I am aware of the debates surrounding his conviction as to whether the trial had more do do with politics than criminal conduct.  The fact is, that there was a great deal of discussion in the Chinese media and among government officials, that Bo Xilai represented some level of corruption that might exist in many sectors of Chinese society; government, corporate, and third sector.  But more about this in another post.

But this concern and theme are not unique to China.  As the work focuses on the Winter Olympics, there has been much attention given to the issue of corruption in the construction of the Olympic Village, the award of major contracts to those favored by the government, and the high cost of constructing such a place in Sochi, Russia.

We read reports in the press about total spending for the Olympics site in Sochi exceeding $51 billion, rather than the $6.5 billion claimed a year ago by the government.  As in many similar projects, houses are destroyed to make room for the Olympic village and infrastructure.  One friend of the president was a awarded a contract in the amount of $7 billion to oversee a rail and road link that covered 30 miles.

Okay, these are some of the obvious stories we see in our newspapers and on televisions. But, at times, corruption seems to permeate all sectors of society, no matter what country we are in, or in what region of the world we find ourselves.  Whether it is how a country conducts its elections, manages its economy and health care agenda, guards its borders, or how internal revenue agencies determine tax liability, collect taxes, or treat the citizens and their private financial information, corruption appears to exist everywhere.  Although it may not be accepted, because who would accept corruption at any level in its institutions, it engenders an unacceptable level of distrust between people and their institutions, and a level of skepticism about government and private institutions which is unhealthy for any society.

In my country, the level of anger against, and distrust of the major financial institutions

and corporations for causing the economic crisis around the world in 2008 and the years that followed reflect this sense of corruption to the very core of our economic systems.  Similarly, the bailouts appeared to many people to be granted on the basis of some political favoritism and insidious corruption in our governing and economic institutions.

This level of distrust and skepticism has permeated all levels of society, including those that are international in scope.  We sometimes forget that the International Olympic Committee, the International Federation, and the National Olympic Committees which make up the Olympic Movement are all nongovernmental organizations.  Although many of enjoy the celebration of the Movement and follow the sporting events, both summer and winter, there are constant concerns of corruption permeating the movement, from the selection of sites, to the construction of sites and costs to the hosting country and community, and even to the judging of the athletic performances.  This was most openly discussed in the case of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Some of the argument about the level of corruption is simply a failure to define what we mean.  For example, a year ago in China there was a great deal of debate in some circles about the alleged corruption in a fundraising campaign in Shenzhen. The story in the Chinese press was about a little girl shown in a photo holding an umbrella over the head of an aging lady during a rainstorm.  The suggestion in the photo was that this was just a story of a little girl walking down the sidewalk when she saw this women in need.  When it was later discovered that the photo had been staged for a fundraiser, the general reaction in the public was that this was evidence of corruption in fundraising efforts by a charitable organization.

This was not too different from pictures we see in the newspapers in the Unite States during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons where homeless shelters and food kitches are seeking funding for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the homeless.  The picture is often of the same man, with the same story of bad luck, whose life is turned around in the goodness of the shelter or food kitchen.  Centralized fundraising by contract with multiple charity organizations.  Is this corruption, or efficient and cost-effective pragmatism designed to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless?

How easy it is to despair!  Do do nothing, because the reach of corruption is so deep and so broad.  But, that is really not an option.  And so, where is our hope?

God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus;

He came to love, heal, and forgive;

He lived and died to buy my pardon,

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Chorus

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,

And feel the pride and joy he gives;

But greater still the calm assurance:

This child can face uncertain days because He Lives! 

Chorus

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

And then one day, I'll cross the river,

I'll fight life's final war with pain;

And then, as death gives way to vict'ry,

I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives! 

Chorus

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

This was written in the midst of a crisis, where health was failing, and friends were accusing the authors/composers of things that resulted in their torment, fear of the future, and how they could bring a newborn baby into the world filled with chaos, violence, corruption, and confusion.  And so each of us, at some point in our lives, faces a personal bout with darkness and a sense of hopelessness.  But . . . !

An Old Song, A New Song, The Magnificat, Benedictus

Hannah's Song of Thanksgiving

My heart exults in the Lord;

My horn is exalted in the Lord,

My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,

Because I rejoice in Thy salvation.

There is no one holy like the Lord,

Indeed, there is no one besides Thee,

Nor is there any rock like our God.

Boast no more so very proudly,

Do not let the arrogance come out of your mouth;

For the Lord is a God of knowledge,

And with Him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are shattered,

But the feeble grind on strength.

Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,

But those who were hungry cease to hunger.

Even the barren gives birth to seven,

But she who has many children languishes.

The Lord kills and makes alive;

He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The Lord makes poor and rich;

He brings low, He also exalts.

He raises the poor from the dust,

He lifts the needy from the ash heap

To make them sit with nobles,

And inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,

And He set the world on them.

He keeps the feet of His godly ones,

But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;

For not by might shall a man prevail.

Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered;

Against them He will thunder in the heavens.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;

And he will give strength to His king;

And will exalt the horn of His anointed.

A New Song

O sing to the Lord a new song,

For He has done wonderful things,

His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.

The Lord has made known His salvation,

He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

The Magnificat: Mary's Song of Praise

My soul exalts the Lord,

My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;

For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

For the Mighty One has done great things for me;

And holy is His name.

And His Mercy is upon generation after generation

Toward those who fear Him.

He has done mighty deeds with His arms;

He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones,

And has exalted those who were humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things;

And sent away the rich empty-handed.

He has given help to Israel His servant,

In remembrance of His mercy,

As He spoke to our fathers,

To Abraham and his offspring forever.

Benedictus: Zacharias's Song Of Praise

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

For he has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

And has raised up a horn of salvation for us

In the house of David His servant --

As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old --

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

To show mercy toward our fathers,

And to remember His holy covenant,

The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

Might serve Him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

For you will go on before the Lord to prepare the ways;

To give to His people the knowledge of salvation

By forgiveness of their sins,

Because of the tender mercy of our God,

With which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us,

To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,

To guide our feet into the way of peace.

A question we need to face is the question of whether God intervenes in history and how God exercises His providence through government, civil society, and individuals.  This issue is universal in its quest, and not restricted to traditional Western societies, and what we commonly think of as democratic nations. These three songs, as well as David's song, all express confidence in God's exercise of providence in human history, even as they go well beyond that.

During the Christmas season, celebrated all over the earth, the Magnificat may seem to be the most familiar.  Yet, we may hear it in the music of Bach, and not really focus on the full expression of the content of Mary's song, as she recites, in a way, Hannah's song as she discovers her pregnancy with Samuel, as well as other passages from the Old Testament.  Or we might gloss over the song of Zacharias on the birth of his son, John, and fail to see the principles of God's sovereignty and covenant-making.  How easy it is in the midst of joy and celebration of the season to forget that there will be judgment some day, both on an individual and personal basis, as well as on a national basis.

Maybe I should just let the words of these songs speak for themselves!

Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) - Some Reflections

Perhaps now with the passage of time since the Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda as it is known in the Philippines, has hit and caused such devastation, with the rush of emergency appeals for funds perhaps diminished and the trauma in that part of the world forgotten as we in the rest of the world move on with our lives, especially with the onset of the Christmas season, there might be some time for reflection on what this all means.

The pictures of devastation on the Philippines, particularly in what was once the thriving city, Tacloban, remind us of the power of nature and natural disasters. But, as I think back to other disasters of this kind, including the great earthquake in Sichuan Province in 2008, hurricane in Haiti in 2010, the flooding in Pakistan in 2011, the triple disaster in Japan in 2012, and now the recent tornado damage in Illinois, and its destruction of the town of Washington there, I realize that these images and the thoughts they bring to mind all start to blend. The recently released movie, All is Lost, with one man's fight against the ocean in a small disabled sailboat reminds us of the power of the seas and of storms far from land, and although it has nothing to do with what happened in the Philippines, it shows the same kind power of storm surges that swept away homes, trees and plants, people, and people's lives.

We see the images of destruction and despair, and were it not for the geography, they would look the same. But the faces, full of fear and uncertainty and sorrow, all seem to bear the same sense of the futility of it all, and the enormousness of the challenges that lie ahead.  Have we not all heard and seen in the United States, the frightened and panicked prayers of a man as he looks out his window at the oncoming tornado passing by his home, destroying everything in its way? http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/17/us/irpt-incredible-illinois-tornado/  Then we forget, don't we, and move on with our lives?  Why? As I read reports from the Associated Press, my mind went back to the Hurricane Katrina that hit the Gulf coast of the United States in 2005 and the refuges in the New Orleans domed stadium.  As Kristen Gelineau of the AP reported:

Close your eyes and hold your breath, and you could imagine you are at a normal sports stadium.  You hear a ball bouncing and children's cheers echoing under the cavernous dome.

But, then, you open your eyes and you see the rain-soaked trashing littering every inch of ground.  You see a sign posted next to a dark stairwell warning people not to urinate or defecate there, but it is clear that the people have ignored the sign.  What makes this especially tragic was that people flocked into the Tacloban's astrodome at the urging of municipal officials who believed the roof would withstand the wind and rain.  And it did.  But, the arena flooded and many drowned and were trampled to death as others in their frenzy rush tried to get to the higher seats.

Days after the typhoon came ashore, decomposing bodies still lied along the roads, face down in the muddy puddles.  We are told that the odor of decaying bodies along the road and in a church that was supposed to be an evacuation center, made identification and moving the bodies to be buried in mass graves almost impossible, and prevented people from eating what little food could be made available.

Of course, part of the story we don't hear often and which is often obscure, is that Typhoon Haiyan also destroyed traditional, high-tech livelihoods.  The Associated Press reported from Tanauan, Philippines, twenty kilometers from Tacloban:

As Typhoon Haiyan tore across the eastern Philippines, coconut plantations older than the fathers of the men who tend them were smashed like matchsticks and call centers that field customer service gripes from around the world fell silent.  The storm that killed thousands also wrecked livelihoods in the worst hit regions, a blow that will ripple long after the disaster fades from attention.

The workload of call and data centers that are soaked in water and choked with debris has easily been diverted to other Philippine cities. Less simply is the choice faced by thousands of workers: uproot and separate from family or stay in Leyte province and wait perhaps a year for jobs to return.

The coconut palm is known in the Philippines as the "tree of life" because every part of it has a use, whether for roofing, floor cleaner or charcoal, white flesh to be eaten or processed into oil, and sap used for wine.  But, harvesting the coconuts is a rugged and hardscrabble way of life.  As a result, many have left farming behind and escaped to other jobs in outsourcing industries with call centers and data centers in air conditioned comfort.  Bosses from Manila order hard drives from thousands of damaged computers destroyed in the storm to protect the confidential data of clients from around the world.

The story is told that is so typical of the tragedy in Philippines about an elderly man, Rodolfo Suaya, a retired newspaper vendor.  Mr. Susaya is one of hundreds of survivors crowded into Redemptorist Parish Church in Tacloban which is now serving as shelter in the wake of this horrible typhoon.  Suffering from chronic asthma and unable to work, he can hardly bathe himself without help. He wonders out loud how he will be able to survive, and as IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis reported, he begins to cry: "I lost my wife and my daughter. How am I supposed to live?"

In one small city in the typhoon-battered area of the Philippines, a town hall has been turned into a field hospital where a 16-member team of volunteer surgeons from California-based Mammoth Medical Mission operate on survivors by flashlight, performing more than 100 surgeries in three days.  But, and a real big but, this makeshift clinic has not been resupplied with medicines and equipment, and the doctors say that there appears to be no concerted effort from government or international organizations to do so.  Without these supplies, these volunteer surgeons can do no more.  And throngs of desperate people wait outside amid the smell of rotting flesh and stagnant water.  Oh, by the way, these volunteer surgeons were on a five-day trip to Mexico when they were diverted to Tanauan.

The area is like a war zone, with people on the verge of anarchy and troops and police struggling to control the looting in the streets where bodies remain uncollected.  As the city lurches toward lawlessness, the surgeons expect to see different kinds of injuries.  We know that violence is often part of the epidemiology of a natural disaster.

Well, that is the outline of the basic story and situation in the Philippines.  For most of us, it is a long way away and does not seem to affect our lives, and so we move on.  Of course we hear of the competitive reports about which country is giving more to the relief and which countries and agencies seem to be slacking their duties.  But, we never hear of the source of those duties to come to the aid of countries suffering disaster.

Early reports reflected the care that the UN and various countries had for the Philippines and its people.  The United Nations "released" $25 million from the UN's emergency fund to provide emergency food and assistance, shelter materials, and the like.  The UN World Food Program will send more than 40 tons of high energy biscuits and work with Filipino government with logistics and emergency communications.  And of course, all of this is good.

The United States "pledged" $20 million in immediate aid and order the aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, to sail to the Philippines to provide assistance.  The U.S.Agency for International Development also deployed officials to Philippines to monitor the damage.

Britain deployed a Royal Navy warship with supplies and donated 10 million pounds (approximately $16 million) worth of humanitarian aid.  Britain also deployed Royal Air Force military transport aircraft to move the humanitarian aid and large equipment.

 Australia announced assistance of 10 million Australian dollars ($9.4 million US) and emergency medical teams as well as Australian NGOs for immediate life-saving assistance.

Japan will donate $10 million, and has sent a 25-member medical team to the Philippines.

Canada has promised to donate $5 million in support of humanitarian organizations and the government has pledged to match every dollar donated by individual Canadians to registered Canadian charities.

There was some international clucking of tongues at China's pledge of $200,000, which included $100,000 from the government and $100,000 from the Chinese Red Cross.  While one cannot assume that the Chinese Red Cross pledged the $100,000 independently as an independent NGO, the amount pledged is not insignificant, although it does reduce the total amount pledged by China that pales in comparison with other major industrial countries and the various agencies of the United Nations.  Perhaps this simply reflects consistency with the prevailing worldview of the Chinese belief system.

According to Washington Post columnist, Anne Applebaum, there are politics behind this apparent Chinese stinginess.  But, aren't there always politics behind how we respond to crises?  China recently made claims on Philippine territories, citing historical documents that date to the fifth century.  The Philippine government responded with anger and invited the U.S. Navy to reopen some bases it closed in the 1990s.  So, the U.S. generosity is not completely unexpected as it reflects the renewed warmth and military cooperation between Washington and Manila.

But these responses to Typhoon Haiyan and the superstorm crisis in the Philippines also reflects a different set of values and attitudes about power. Americans, like the Europeans, have long believed that strength and wealth entail responsibility.  As Applebaum points out, that is why two former U.S. presidents voluntarily coordinated the international response to the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, even though there were no U.S. bases in Indonesia. Similarly, that is why Applebaum argues that massive amounts of aid went to 2005 earthquake victims of Kashmir even though relations between the U.S. and Pakistan were deteriorating at that time.

Except for its response to internal disasters, China does give development aid, but differently; not in response to tragedies or disasters, but to facilitate the export of raw materials to China.  So, Applebaum argues that China is not interested in generosity for its own sake.  Nor does it appear that Chinese billionaires believe that wealth brings obligations to care for the poor or victims of disasters.  Again, although not expressly stated in the report, this might reflect a certain anthropological worldview outlook of Chinese ideology.

Taiwan has pledged to send $200,000 in aid to help with the relief efforts.

However, it is not just national governments that have become involved in the rescue and relief operations in the Philippines.  The HSBC Group is donating over $1 million toward victims of the typhoon, and is activating a bank-wide drive to raise funds from employees globally.  The American Red Cross, World Vision, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Mercy Corps, Americares, International Rescue Committee, the Lutheran World Relief, the American Jewish World Service, and Samaritan's Purse are just a few of the major NGOs raising funds and engaged in emergency relief operations in the Philippines.  Doctors Without Borders has 15 members in Cebu city and will send an additional 50 people  in the next few days if it has not already done so.

My friend, Professor Dr. Rene Bekkers, of the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam wrote a blog piece about research insights with regard to the Typhoon Haiyan relief donations.  This post was rich with source materials and links to academic papers and research done with respect to fundraising for disaster relief.

Although his blog addressed fundraising in Netherlands for international relief for the Typhoon Haiyan, it addressed the more general issue of giving to disaster relief campaigns, and provides some very useful insights.  For example, one of the conclusions from the research was that the amount raised for humanitarian aid depends on the number of fatalities, not on the number survivors who are affected by the disaster.  Another conclusion was that campaigns for victims of man-made disasters are less successful than those for natural disasters, and that campaigns organized in periods of fewer competing campaigns and campaigns which receive government support tend to be more successful.

One of the studies to which Dr. Bekkers referred was a study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives by David Stromberg,  "Natural Disasters, Economic Development, and Humanitarian Aid," Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol 21.Number 3, Summer 2007.  Professor Stromberg begins with the obvious statement that natural disasters are one of the major problems facing humankind, and he begins his study of the period of 1980 to 2004 in which two million people were reported killed, and the 1755 earthquake that devastated Lisbon.  see The Haiti Earthquake of 2010: Charity and Transformation, http://rvanbroekhoven.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Following Jean-Jacques Rousseau's analysis regarding that earthquake, responding to Voltaire's satirical reflection on the Lisbon earthquake and flooding, Stromberg distinguishes three factors contributing to a disaster: the triggering of the natural hazard event (such as an earthquake striking the Atlantic Ocean outside Portugal); the population exposed to that event (such as the 275,000 citizens of Lisbon); and the vulnerability population (higher for people in large seven-story buildings and churches).   What is also interesting is that the Lisbon earthquake was the first natural disaster in which the state accepted responsibility for emergency response and reconstruction.  As pointed out in one study by Russell Dynes in his 1999 paper on "The Dialogue Between Voltaire and Rousseau on the Lisbon Earthquake: The Emergence of a Social Science View," a possible explanation for the rapid and appropriate response is that Portugal was a relatively prosperous country at that time and the important political and economic structures were moving Portugal toward more economic and political institutional forms.

Although this paper is comprehensive, there were some conclusions pertinent to this consideration of the effects of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and the world's response, particular the civil society sector.

First, high income countries face lower mortality rates from natural disasters than do lower income countries.  In part because they have the means for affording better measures to limit the effect of natural disasters.  After the disaster strikes, measures relating to bringing in medical care and food, and tending to mass evacuations can limit the negative consequences.  Since governments typically handle many of these measures, disasters may seem less severe in countries with effective and accountable governments.  Similarly, they are less severe in societies that are more democratic and have a free press.

Secondly, most victims of natural disasters live in low-income countries, with limited resources to mitigate the effects of such disasters.  As a result, emergency relief internationally from richer countries can play a key role in mitigating the effects of such disasters.  One of the problems is that disaster relief often favors high-profile emergencies at the expense of more invisible suffering far from media or political spotlight.  Similarly, disaster relief often favors disaster victims in countries with historical ties to donor countries, or that lie close to major donors.  This can also be important from a foreign policy or economic perspective.

According to the international disaster data tracking of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), net disbursements on emergency and distress relief during the period of 1995-2004 were approximately $4.6 billion per year in constant 2004 dollars.  A few donors supplied most of this aid with eleven countries providing 90 percent.  The United States was the largest donor accounting for approximately one third of the aid.  European countries as a group accounted for 57 percent of the funding.  There has been no tracking of data regarding individual donors giving through organizations such as the Red Cross, OXFAM, UNICEF, the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, and the like. Nevertheless, private individuals contributed 10 percent of the total relief funds to natural disasters over the period of 2000-2004 according to records of the Financial Tracking Service of the United Nations.

The real question that I am exploring here and elsewhere, and which is addressed in the Stromberg paper is: Why do countries provide disaster relief? Or maybe more specifically, why do we as a people, either collectively or individually, provide disaster relief?  As I pointed out above, some of it can be explained on the basis of politics.  So, donor countries may provide relief with an eye to their own country's economic and geostrategic political interests. Large disasters tend to destabilize governments.  As Strongberg wrote, private donations can probably be explained on humanitarian bases and motivations, and motive is certainly stressed in official guidelines for relief.  But, donors must be aware of the disaster or need in order to help, and so media spotlights may result in more donor relief. People may be moved by the suffering of those close by, both geographically and culturally.  But, why should they be moved at all?  Donor governments react more swiftly to disasters reported in the media.

Moreover, the news effect bias toward disasters that are newsworthy, in a journalistic sense, may prompt more giving.  Thus, earthquakes and volcanoes tend to be covered by news organizations more than are disasters relating to draughts or even some situations involving flooding.  Similarly, because of the prevalence of extensive news media, disasters in America and in Europe receive more media coverage that do similar disasters in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Further, colonial history plays a part, with those areas previously under certain colonial powers receiving more and more immediate aid for disasters than those that do not have a similar history.

I guess one other factor that plays into this, both at the individual level and at the governmental level of relief, is the distance and common language between the wealthy, important, major donors, and those in need as a result of the disaster.  Thus, for example, a group far from large donors are Asian countries without colonial ties, such as China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Thailand.

But, the problem with so many of these analyses of giving, and the reporting of disasters, is that none of them provide any clear answer to the question raised by humanitarianism and why we should give to people in need at all, as opposed to giving to any other causes.

According to the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, naturalism is the view that holds that everything is "natural," that is, that everything that is, belongs to the world of "nature" and can be studied by the methods appropriate to "nature." Similarly, materialism holds the view that everything is made of matter, that is, consisting entirely of atoms, of tiny, absolutely hard, impenetrable, incomprehensible, invisible, and unaltered bits of "stuff."  If that is so, then there should not be any moral difference between the treatment of things, of animals, of our environment, and of people.

University of Oxford Professor, Dr. John Lennox, with doctorates in both science and mathematics, points out that scientists, like Carl Sagan, make it clear that their materialistic convictions are a priori, but admit that their materialism does not derive from science, and that their materialistic convictions consciously determine the nature of what they believe science to be. According to Harvard geneticist, Richard Lewontin, speaking for Carl Sagan's position,

Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of a real struggle between science and the supernatural.  We take the side of science inspite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs . . . in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories because we have a prior commitment . . . materialism.  It is not that the methods are institutions of science and somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. 

Princeton University ethicist and professor Peter Singer, argues in his book, Practical Ethics, that most relevant ethical issues are those that confront us daily, such as the right to spend money on entertaining ourselves when we could use it to help people living in extreme poverty.  He asks, are we justified in treating animals as nothing more than machines producing flesh for us to eat? Should we drive a car thus emitting greenhouse gases that warm the planet

The issue hits us in the face, somewhat obliquely by a recent lawsuit filed in a court in the U.S. in which the it was argued that chimpanzees are cognitively similar to humans and therefore, deserve the same rights given to humans, i.e., Homo sapiens.  As the New York Times reported, "this is no stunt."  Instead, it is the culmination of a legal strategy that has been years in the making, namely, to change the common law status of "non-human animals" from "things" to "persons."  This is the exact point Peter Singer has been making in his writings for many years.

In a purely naturalistic and materialistic worldview, none of these humanistic appeals for funds for disasters make much sense if there is no difference between animals and humans, or between inanimate objects, such as rocks and dirt and people.

Peter Singer, in his book, How Are We to Live?: Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest, addressed the question as to whether there was anything worth living for.  And Singer asks: Is there anything worth pursuing apart from money, love, and caring for one's one family?  But why should we care for our families anymore than we care for the pets, dog, cat, hamster, turtle, or fish?  Any discussion of these might present a certain religious flavor, but, according to Singer, many people may have uneasy feeling that they are missing out on something significant if religion is lacking and yet nothing seems to fill the place of religion.  Singer writes:

     The problem is that most people have only the vaguest idea of what it might be to lead an ethical life.  They understand ethics as a system of rules forbidding us to do things.  They do not grasp it as a basis for thinking about how we are to live.  They live largely self-interested lives, not because they are born selfish, but because the alternatives seem awkward, embarrassing, or just plain pointless. They cannot see any way of making an impact on the world, and if they could, why should they bother.  Short of undergoing a religious conversion, they see nothing to live for except the pursuit of their own material self-interest.

As Singer points out, he has been involved in a variety of causes with "strong ethical basis," which include: aid for developing nations, support for refugees, the legalization of voluntary euthanasia, wilderness preservation, and more general environmental concerns.  He continues,

There are people who are hungry, malnourished, lacking shelter, or basic health care; and there are voluntary organizations that raise money to help these people.  True, the problem is so big that one individual cannot make much impact on it; and no doubt some of the money will be swallowed up in administration, or will get stolen, or for some other reason will not reach the people who need it most. Despite these inevitable problems, the discrepancy between the wealth of the developed world and the poverty of the poorest people in developing countries is so great that if only a small fraction of what you give reaches the people who need it, that fraction will make a far greater difference to the people it reaches than the full amount you could make to your own life.  That you as an individual cannot make an impact on the entire problem seems scarcely relevant, since you can make an impact on the lives of particular families.  So will you get involved with one of these organizations?  Will you yourself give, not just spare change when a tin is rattled under your nose, but substantial amounts that will reduce your ability to live a luxurious lifestyle?

However, he never says why this is so, and in the next paragraph he proceeds to discuss consumer products that damage the ozone layer, contribute to greenhouse effect, destroy rainforests, or pollute rivers, and lakes.  And, how about, those products which are put in concentrated form into the eyes of conscious rabbits which are held immobilized in rows of restraining devices, and where there is testing of medicine and methods in such cruel ways on animals.  And, as he sets forth in his third edition of Practical Ethics, his passion now is about global warming and the environment.

What is missing in all of this are the common sense concerns that prompt us experience some deep sense of emotion when we see victims of Typhoon Haiyan crying and begging for help, and looting shops in desperation, just to survive.  Okay, nations may provide relief for geopolitical and economic reasons, or because of some common language, history, or geographical closeness. But, this does not adequately address the human dimension of a disaster or why we should care what happens in a far away land.

And although Stromberg may argue that private donations can "probably be explained" on humanitarian bases or motives, he does not say why that is so, nor does he justify why there should even be humanitarian bases or motives. Indeed what was lacking was any identification of the assumptions behind this claim.

Well, all of this is food for thought.  Maybe we can chew some more on it another time.

Reflections on Advent

Refrain

My soul proclaims with wonder

the greatness of the Lord,

rejoicing in God's greatness

my spirit is restored.

(1)

To me has God shown favor,

to one the world thought frail,

and every age will echo

the angel's first "All hail!"

(2)

God's mercy shields the faithful

and saves them from defeat,

with strength that turns to scatter

the proud in their conceit.

(3)

The mighty shall be vanquished,

the lowly lifted up.

The hungry find abundance,

the rich, and empty cup.

(4)

To Abraham's descendants,

the Lord will steadfast prove,

for God has made with Israel

a covenant of love.

Adapted from Mary's Magnificat, Luke 1.

I Will Go!

A little over a year ago, while visiting Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou,

Guangdong Province, one of the research scholars in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology asked me why I was interested in China.  My focus has been on the nature and history of charitable activity in China, particularly that activity motivated by religious commitments.  But, my response to the questions was somewhat complicated. It all started with my father and mother's sense of calling to go to China in the late 1930s.  They never went at that time, so this was an unfulfilled sense of a particular calling until they visited China when they were in their early 80s.

But, it was the Great Earthquake of 2008 in Sichuan Province that focused my attention and drew my heart to the country and people there.  Now, after a number of trips and several months there, this hymn I heard recently seems to tell the story better than I did to the scholars at Sun Yat-sen University.

I, the Lord, of sea and sky

I have heard my people cry

All who dwell in dark and sin

My hand will see

I who made, the stars and night,

I will make the darkness bright

Who will bare my life to them?

Whom shall I send?

I will break the hearts of stone

Heal their hearts for love alone

I will speak my word to them

Who shall I send?

Here I am, Lord

Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go, Lord

If you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart

I, the Lord, of wind and flame

I will tend the poor and lame

I will send peace for them

My hand will say

Finest bread I will provide

Till their hearts be satisfied

I will give my life to them

Who shall I send?

Here I am, Lord

Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go, Lord

If you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart

Here I am, Lord

Is it I, Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night

I will go, Lord

If you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart

What you have here in this one hymn are all the essential elements of a reasonable perspective on charity.  It is one governments, no matter what form, can replicate. It encompasses an assurance of calling; a knowledge of being sent, a compassion for all people, and particularly those in need; the courage and initiative to respond and go and tend to that calling; and reason and character of accountability.