SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 19 2020, @04:23PM (4 children)
I'll take a populist right-wing undercurrent over a breaking tsunami of ignorance and fear driven conservative corporate welfare anyday, but... the bird in the hand is worth 10 that look better in the bush.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 20 2020, @12:41PM (3 children)
As a foreigner you are going to be instantly disenfranchised no matter what. Politics will become a game you no longer play because nobody will let you. So that shouldn't be a major factor in your decision to relocate. Relative freedom and overall stability are more important.
No matter what, though, six months in you will come to hate any place because culture shock always catches up to you.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 20 2020, @01:06PM
When we moved from Miami to Houston we loved the culture shift, it was the shitty air quality that got us to leave as soon as my 2 year obligation was up.
Whether you vote or not, politics is a game that plays you. Any place I would considering moving has enough freedom of speech that even the disenfranchised can make about as much difference "being heard" as the voters. I don't dislike the abstract concept of public service, in an alternate universe-timeline (like the fantasy land portrayed in Madam Secretary/President) I could imagine myself fulfilled by life as a politico... in this reality, I couldn't run for the local schoolboard without fear of myself going postal on the establishment if I had to deal with their hypocrisy in close quarters on a regular basis.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday May 21 2020, @07:54AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday May 21 2020, @09:36AM
So, you never experienced culture shock?
Washington DC delenda est.