Pam Omidyar, hypocrite extraordinaire, and The Pam Omidyar Memorial Stump: Chapter the Ninth of “Eat the Rich & Share the Wealth”

April 16th, 2010

Time to talk about

hypocrisy among the sickeningly rich

again, and yay, hooray, it’s Ladies Day!  It’s been

a while since we rapped to Pam Omidyar, hypocrite extraordinaire,

but there’s a lot to talk about today.  I’ll be writing about the gutless wonder

on the left, Pierre Omidyar, soon, but for today it’s all about his

wife Pam.  You may want to have

a sick bag handy.

First, some background:

go here and read from the bottom up.

For the condensed version, read this on “the disaster

after the disaster” in Haiti, this on how EarthNationLive could

dramatically abbreviate and ameliorate the disaster after every disaster,

this on my modest proposal called “Eat the Rich & Share the Wealth”,

and most especially this primer on the hypocrisy of Pam

Omidyar.  Savor this quote in that last post from

Pam’s Twitter feed following the January 12

earthquake in Port-au-Prince:

“Even after the

media spotlight on Haiti fades,

there will be patients with extensive

orthopedic needs.”

Take in

what I wrote in

response:

“…that couldn’t be more true.
There are now thousands of people in Haiti who have had limbs amputated,
who are going to need follow-up surgeries, who are, woe, going to need
artificial limbs in the poorest country in the western hemisphere,
one where multitudes of people can’t afford food
or shelter, much less a
bionic limb.

“And here
is the rub, Pam, Pierre,
fellow billionaires, world: the lion’s share
of those limbs were amputated because they received
a relatively minor injury of some kind in the initial shock of the
earthquake — they were struck by something falling, the skin was opened
in a gash, a bone was broken in a fall down collapsing stairs. Some were
crushed catastrophically and could never have been saved, but
thousands upon thousands were just simply injured and
could have been rehabilitated — had their owners
had access to antibiotics and
emergency medical
care.

“But they didn’t.
Because the UN and the Red Cross
and the US Navy take a couple of weeks to get all
that going after a disaster, as I have explained on the
EarthNationLive website and in private communications to
the Omidyars and their fellow billionaires through a whole
series of disasters-after-the-disasters for years now:
Katrina. Banda Aceh. Thailand.
Cyclone Nargis.
Haiti.”

And then,

but only then,

looky here:

That’s Pam tweeting

two days ago as she departed Haiti

on her private jet.  I’ve been following things a bit,

red-headed hypocrite, but I haven’t heard you share anything

about this, so I’ll ask:  Pam Omidyar, did you get

to meet Fabienne Jean while you

were in Haiti?

That’s Fabienne Jean

on the table there, Sweetums,

with one leg and a bandaged stump.

That’s her one shoe on the floor next to the

gurney.  Prior to the earthquake on January 12,

Fabienne had no stumps, two shoes, and was

“a prima ballerina for a national theater

known for performances anchored

in the country’s rich

folklore.”

“Don’t cut off my leg!”

Fabienne Jean screamed repeatedly as they

carried her through the gates of the General Hospital here

after the earthquake. “I’m a dancer. My leg is

my livelihood. Please, don’t

take my leg.”

Well, they took

Fabienne’s leg, Pam Omidyar.

They took it because, a little bit broken

and altogether untreated by antibiotics or doctors

because of the disaster after the disaster — the one you’re too

snooty to address, as I’ve begged you to do for year after year after year

now — it became infected.  And the infection spread throughout

her body, as infections will do.  And it was

either lop off Fabienne’s leg or

let Fabienne die.

So off they lopped it,

and tell you what: let’s call that which

remains The Pam Omidyar

Memorial Stump.

Mayhaps we could

name some of the littler stumps in

Haiti after your own billionaires-in-training

children.  Lord knows there are

plenty to go ’round.

The truth,

said an ancient Chinese

master, is like a dog yearning over

a bowl of burning oil. He can’t leave it, because

it is too desirable, and he can’t lick it,

because it is too hot.

Pema Chodron

Every man is

also responsible for all the

good he didn’t do.

Voltaire

There is a

mountain in you. Please get in

touch with it.

Thich Nhat Hanh