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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) by fustakrakich on Monday May 18 2020, @03:06PM (1 child)
It's sabotage! [cia.gov]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday May 19 2020, @03:18PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @03:18PM
I have been wondering what drove many countries to commit economic suicide this year. I could imagine rational governments sending everyone to home imprisonment in the case that communication or intelligence reports from China had indicated that this was an engineered virus that was actually going to kill ~10% and greater of all infected. If so many countries had heard this, why did Sweden not join?
African countries have had great leaps in life expectancy the last 25 years, but they still have more people than they can sustain and government is not know to be particular responsive to citizens, but many of them did join (African style, just shoot the farmers when they go out).
Some countries in Europe had planned to follow the Swedish model, for example the UK and the Netherlands, but they switched to the imprisonment camp, likely after "opinion leaders" on Twitter and Facebook screeched that we were all going to die. In the UK, the people's civil liberties were deprived after the government had already removed Covid-19 from the high consequence infectious disease list.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @03:31PM
If you look more closely the countries with more oppression did better with reducing the spread, as they just mandated what their people do, and out of fear they did as they were told. More developed countries with more freedom, not everyone did as they were asked. ( not told .. )
Freedom, isn't free, so to speak.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @05:38PM
The US has a national health system, that caters to minority groups (groups of color).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @06:16PM
n/t
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2020, @07:51PM
let's not forget that sars2, for some, was also a tool to remind everyone why they need a government ...
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday May 18 2020, @10:30PM
Have you such a little cache memory, guys? The lockdown was meant to flatten the curve not to overwhelm emergency rooms. Problem being, the initial treatment was wrong, thank you OMS.
Before the emergency there has been big speculation on a crisis on financial markets. Just like 9/11, completely ignored.
Before the emergency there has been brexit, which happened because a politician wanted to exert pressure and magically people voted UK out. hmmmm so easy to beat this world order? I don't think so.
Before the emergency the plans for emergency were hidden in plain sight, authors mr. "when I grow up i wanna be the antichrist" gates
Yes, health sector sucks, because economy sucks, because getting into debt to get money does exactly that, when the money masters start strangling and converting pretty colored paper into actual assets.
But OK, if you like to consider what covid blew away... In my opinion it blew away the notion of EU being about helping the member states. I mean, they declared that, then said "no u misunderstood, peons" then doing exactly what they had declared.
Oh and the no borders no quarantine free circulation of goods model. But that had been blown away already, even if people hide the head in the sand when that model brought environmental and economic and social probs.
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