Last week political correctness tried to kill history. No one from the media tried to stop the murder. Instead, most media outlets became willing accomplices to the crime.
When Pat Robertson said the Haitian slave rebels made a pact with the devil to throw off their French enslavers 200 years ago, media liberals drooled, believing they had caught a religious person saying something awful.
Of course there’s one fact media liberals left out of their reports about Pat Robertson’s statement: That it was, you know, true.
How can citing a historical fact possibly make someone like Robertson a bad guy? Is he supposed to ignore the history that happened? Cover it up? Pretend to change it?
Covering up facts isn’t new in the world of journalism, but since Robertson believes in reporting the facts on this story, be they good or bad, soothing or uncomfortable, let’s examine actual Haitian history.
The Haitian slave rebellion was led by a man named Boukman, a physically strong, charismatic figure of Jamaican birth who was also a voodoo priest.
In 1791, Boukman conducted a ceremony to rally the slaves to fight the French. A pig was slaughtered and the participants drank its blood to seal a pact.
The “pact” was with the devil (and to be fair, also to various pagan gods and against the god of their French enslavers). Boukman and his slave followers promised 200 years of allegiance to the devil and pagan gods in exchange for their freedom
After that the fight was on, and the French, if you can believe it, actually surrendered. The slaves were free.
It doesn’t matter whether a media pundit likes or dislikes Haitian history. They still have a duty to cite it. And Pat Robertson is a far better man for refusing to pretend the Haitian “deal with the devil” doesn’t exist than the folks in liberal media, who may as well burn books if they are going to excoriate Robertson for citing historical fact.
Not only did the media ignore history, but many in the media may have ascribed things to Robertson he didn’t say (insert shock here). Did Robertson say it was God who caused the earthquake in Haiti, or was he actually referring to the devil? Let’s take a look.
Here is what Robertson actually said. See if you can find him blaming God or the devil for the earthquake:
“And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free.
“But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now, we’re helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.”
Robertson didn’t say God caused an earthquake. He said Haiti is “cursed,” but not who is responsible for the curse.
Yet on NBC’s Good Morning America, Claire Shipman and George Stephanopolous tag-teamed Robertson on a piece where they jumped right to the conclusion that Robertson alleged the earthquake was God taking revenge on Haiti for the 200 year old devil pact (that pact, by the way, expired in 1991).
The Haitian pact with the devil is historical fact. Whether there is a curse on Haiti because of the pact is a matter of religious interpretation. Why is the media pretending to be surprised that Robertson, a religious leader, speaking on a religious show, would offer a religious analysis?
Feel free to religiously disagree with Robertson’s analysis, but let’s not pretend his facts were historically inaccurate because they weren’t.
Tommy De Seno is a political columnist with the triCityNews in New Jersey, a Fox News Forum contributor and editor of the blog Justified Right.
