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: 4, Funny) by acid andy on Monday May 18 2020, @11:03AM (2 children)
Yeah, I think they secretly want to become Third World countries so the labor is cheaper. Higher profit margins.
Welcome to Edgeways. Words should apply in advance as spaces are highly limite—
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday May 18 2020, @12:19PM (1 child)
You jest, but lots of people do see other groups, even within the same nation, as rivals and competitors, and want misfortune to fall upon them. The ambivalent political response is a reflection of this.
They will even accept damage to themselves if those others are taking greater damage. They also do not wish to be outed as the heartless, evil scum they are. They prefer to be misunderstood as just incompetent, rather than stupid and full of malice.
The myth that's being blown away is that of First World enlightenment. We were supposed to be better than that. "With malice towards none..." Oh Party of Lincoln, how low you have fallen!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @01:37PM
Jefferson founded the party you speak of.