I'm beginning to think a person needs to know Spanish to get it. How can anyone here miss that is beyond comprehension.
Furthermore, there are differences that are noticeable between how certain issues are presented here and how the same issues are presented in spheres dominated by Dominicans. Often its as if they are two different actions that are incompatible, as if they are two different things. For example, its somewhat common for people in this forum to refer to society as one of "Dominicans and Haitians" and that's a glaring difference with how Dominicans see it. If attention is placed on estimated population, Haitians and Haitian-Dominicans doesn't amount to more than 10% of the population in the most liberal of cases. That begs the question that if Dominicans make up the vast majority of the population and technically the DR should be presented as a society of "Dominicans" by the fact that they make a relative and an absolute majority by a long shot, why is it that in this website, which is one of the few about the DR where most participants are not ethnic Dominicans, the society is often presented of one made up of "Dominicans and Haitians?" Doesn't that gives the impression that Dominicans and Haitians are at a similar population level in society?
It could be, and this is quite possible, that expats give the impression of being concentrated in certain touristic areas on the coast and ironically those tend to be the areas where the Haitian presence is among the highest as a percentage of the population, but Dominican society isn't concentrated in tourist areas. That reality of expats in tourist areas is being expressed here based on their perception. It could also be the case that among expats its much more common than among the Dominican society at large to have contact with Haitians as maids, gardeners, etc on a much more frequent basis and this too can affect certain perceptions.
I guess its similar to what I noticed many years ago, could be decades, that it was much more common in this website to think (or at least it gave that impression) that expats had a much greater impact on Dominican society and were even considered by Dominicans given their perceived pressence in circles of power, when in fact expats are never thought of or even met by the vast majority of Dominicans. Places like Sosúa or Las Terrenas, where expats have a greater influence, aren't the norm. The typical vast majority of the DR, and particularly where most Dominicans live, expats are basically invinsible given how tiny it's in absolute terms and due to that their influence in things such as local governments is negligible.
It's a difference in outlook that is quite telling to the very least. It's almost a difference by language. If its a medium in Spanish then the Haitian issue is treated on a much smaller scale than if its a medium about the DR and/or Dominicans that's done in English. It's a very noticeable difference. It's also true that mediums about the DR done in English the typical participant isn't Dominican and a sizable number doesn't even know Spanish except a few words while mediums done in Spanish tend to be dominated by Dominicans and expats are almost absent. That too could explain the differences of perspective. In either case, its as if these are two extremely different DR's as oppose to discussing about the same country.
The whole presence of Haiti and Haitians in general tends to be much greater in websites about the DR done in English than in websites about the DR done in Spanish. This difference is quite telling in another way, there is a sub-forum here dedicated to Haiti while there isn't one in Dominican dominated mediums and there isn't one about the DR in Haitian dominated mediums. Dominicans and Dominican issues are not as present in Haitian mediums, and Haitians and Haitian issues aren't as present in Dominican mediums as Haitians/Haitian issues are present here, a medium not dominated by either Dominicans or Haitians and conducted in English.
Lastly, its also noticeable that the whole concept revolving race, identity, and of that nature are more problematic, more a focus of attention (when allowed), and outright prohibited in mediums about the DR that are not conducted in Spanish and most of the participants aren't Dominicans than in Spanish-language Dominican dominated mediums where its often not an issue, not a focus of attention, and also not prohibited. Why is that? In general, mediums in English about the DR are dominated by Americans and the USA-based way of seeing many things in general could explain these differences, but it still remains a mistery.
