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COVID-19 Has Blown Away the Myth About 'First' and 'Third' World Competence:
One of the planet's – and Africa's – deepest prejudices is being demolished by the way countries handle COVID-19.
For as long as any of us remember, everyone "knew" that "First World" countries – in effect, Western Europe and North America – were much better at providing their citizens with a good life than the poor and incapable states of the "Third World". "First World" has become shorthand for competence, sophistication and the highest political and economic standards.
[...] So we should have expected the state-of-the-art health systems of the "First World", spurred on by their aware and empowered citizens, to handle COVID-19 with relative ease, leaving the rest of the planet to endure the horror of buckling health systems and mass graves.
We have seen precisely the opposite.
[...] [Britain and the US] have ignored the threat. When they were forced to act, they sent mixed signals to citizens which encouraged many to act in ways which spread the infection. Neither did anything like the testing needed to control the virus. Both failed to equip their hospitals and health workers with the equipment they needed, triggering many avoidable deaths.
The failure was political. The US is the only rich country with no national health system. An attempt by former president Barack Obama to extend affordable care was watered down by right-wing resistance, then further gutted by the current president and his party. Britain's much-loved National Health Service has been weakened by spending cuts. Both governments failed to fight the virus in time because they had other priorities.
And yet, in Britain, the government's popularity ratings are sky high and it is expected to win the next election comfortably. The US president is behind in the polls but the contest is close enough to make his re-election a real possibility. Can there be anything more typically "Third World" than citizens supporting a government whose actions cost thousands of lives?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @12:15PM (8 children)
You missed another key flaw in this claim: None of the first-world countries have health care systems that have collapsed, and they don't have "mass graves." The media keeps trying to - or was for a while - drum up hysteria about mass graves in New York, but it's actually just the usual mass grave where they bury unclaimed bodies, because some of the people that died were indigent. Meanwhile, Yemen [apnews.com] and Bangladesh [dw.com] are in tough shape. This is a tragedy, but the article is what's claiming they're doing great.
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Monday May 18 2020, @12:49PM (7 children)
From Table 31a : Death Summary Information by Race/Ethnicity New York State - 2015 [ny.gov] 153,623 died that year, which is~ 421 deaths per day.
Last month, New York State peaked at over 800 Covid deaths per day [msn.com], with over 500 a day dying from Covid-19 in New York City [nyc.gov]
Note, others were also dying, of other causes.
Hardly 'just the usual'..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @06:43PM (6 children)
The numbers are probably true, but they don't address the claim being made. This is a non sequitur.
None of those people were buried in mass graves, unless their bodies went unclaimed, as per usual procedures.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday May 18 2020, @11:08PM (5 children)
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mass-graves-covid-19-deaths/ [snopes.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 19 2020, @10:52AM (4 children)
Um, your citation said exactly what AC just told you.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 19 2020, @11:30AM (3 children)
No: usual: 25 a week; April: 25 per day.
not "usual"
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 19 2020, @11:45AM (2 children)
Yes, usual. Not burying people who've no discernible next of kin and have not made other arrangements in their own grave is business as usual for up there. Numbers are irrelevant to the point and simply an attempt to move the goalposts to keep from losing an argument.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:05PM (1 child)
here is the only "attempt to move the goalposts":
there have been far more mass graves being dug
there have been far more dying than normal
This is not 'usual'.
I have not suggested those being buried aren't the same category as usual (unclaimed dead).
My point, counter to those suggesting "people die, get buried, nothing unusual here" is that ~7 times as many have been ending up in these graves.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:29PM
Still trying? No. Context matters and you don't get to change it to win.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.