Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 18 submissions in the queue.
Politics
posted by Fnord666 on Monday May 18 2020, @10:08AM   Printer-friendly

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?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 19 2020, @06:42AM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 19 2020, @06:42AM (#996207) Journal

    You're an idiot if you imagine you can know better from the distance what the conditions were here.

    Well, how much further away was Phoenix666 than you? I don't see how living in a country means you know anything at all about their wildfire policy, to name an obvious example. Meanwhile, one can google [soylentnews.org] for said policy and get a better idea in a few minutes - assuming they can read English, no matter where in the world they happen to live.

  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:57PM (1 child)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:57PM (#996304) Journal

    People who live in New York are utterly ignorant about how to farm, ranch, log, make anything, get their hands dirty, and so on. But they are sure they know everything about what the rest of the country needs.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 19 2020, @06:27PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 19 2020, @06:27PM (#996445) Journal
      But did they spend a few minutes thinking or even googling what the rest of the country needs?