I love traveling, in large part because I get to meet people from different cultures and countries and learn more about how the problems we face in the United States are echoed and sometimes amplified around the world. When I was in the Boston area for my son’s graduation from law school this past weekend, I had an illuminating conversation with a Lyft driver who happened to be Haitian. Once he learned that I was a journalist and had taught journalism for many years, he wanted to know to what extent people could trust ongoing investigations into misconduct. I soon realized that he was referring not to journalistic investigations but to government investigations, such as the ongoing investigation into the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse. I pointed out that distinction but Baudelaire (my driver) remain unconvinced that journalists, at least in his country, were any less biased than the politicians they cover. Journalists in Haiti, he argued, often injected opinion into their news stories. I have no doubt he’s right. When I think of the recent New York Times‘ expose into how foreign banks and nations robbed Haiti of billions of dollars as it struggled for independence and helped mold it into the troubled nation it is today, I completely understand Baudelaire’s skepticism — of both government officials and journalists.
And, of course, that made me think about the deep mistrust of media and government officials shared by many Americans right now. In large part, I believe that mistrust has been fed by politicians who lie and manipulate voters for their own ends. Yes, I’m referring to you, Donald Trump, and your minions in the Republican party and acolytes in the media who are still feeding people the Big Lie about the 2020 Presidential election, among other canards. In my mind, Donald Trump bears an eerie resemblance to Baby Doc and his father, the authoritarian rulers of Haiti who also bent the truth to further their own aims and were enabled by a colonial past of slavery and horrific abuse.
My conversation with Baudelaire made me realize that many immigrants come to this country from nations that don’t have the same traditions of journalistic independence and truth-telling that we in the U.S. hold so dear. So is it any wonder that they are suspicious of journalists, even credible ones? Their own experiences may also explain why some are susceptible to misinformation, especially when it comes from close friends and family. In Haiti, my Lyft driver learned that you can’t trust all politicians and journalists. So why should he trust them here?
I couldn’t help but contrast Baudelaire’s attitude toward government and journalism with the views of another traveler I met while in Boston last weekend. A very nice man allowed me to sit at his outdoors table while I was waiting to meet up with an old friend at a popular eatery in the Back Bay. It turned out that this gentleman was from Norway, and he and his wife were visiting their son, who had just finished his freshman year at Harvard and was about to start an internship in New York. Since he wasn’t coming home for the summer, they came here to spend time with him. The Norwegian fellow and I got into a conversation about the different political climates in our two countries and I was struck by something he said. Andreas noted that the political parties in Norway, while they diverge on some issues, are not nearly as divided as our two major parties are. Even the conservative party in Norway recognizes the importance of having a safety net for all Norwegian citizens and does not stoop to the outrageous fabrications that some politicians here do. As a result, the Norwegian people are much more united in their beliefs and less likely to fall prey to misinformation and lies.
Granted, Norway is a smaller, much more homogenous country than the United States, but I couldn’t help contrasting the relative stability of Norway’s political structure with what is currently going on in Haiti and the U.S. It makes me worried about the future of both nations, as Haiti struggles to recover from a Presidential assassination and centuries of being plundered by foreign entities, and as our own President struggles to unite a country that has been torn apart by lies and mistrust. I hope our political leaders and journalists are up to the task of restoring Americans’ faith in the first, second, third and fourth estates. Otherwise, as Thomas Friedman of the New York Times recently put it, we are indeed staring into an abyss.
This blog is also posted on medium.com.
