Friday, June 10, 2011

Third World?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/mcintosh/2011/06/05/how-we-treat-old-people-makes-us-no-better-than-the-third-world-115875-23179310/.

This denigration of the so called third world needs to stop. Does the average first worlder have any clue, any REAL clue what takes place in so called 'third world' countries in general, but specifically in relation to vulnerable people? And if they don't is it relevant? And are all countries in these groups the same? No. This assumption that if you are of the first world you are intrinsically better and more civilized than those who come from the 3rd world is a load of unmitigated bilge! Measure yourself not by some fantasy of undeserved inbred greatness in relation to everyone else but by how you treat others – especially the vulnerable. With that in mind how 'first world' is the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand?

And while I'm at it stop making stupid jokes about Caribbean education. I watched a sitcom the other day which made the oft repeated tiresome joke about if they flunked out of a US med school they'd have to go to med school in the Caribbean. Just cut the foolishness! What do people like him think you do in med school in the Caribbean – learn how to resuscitate a blinkin' coconut? To people still making these jokes I say get a damn grip and stop making arses of yourself. The joke is there's a strong possibility your GP and half the nurses at your hospital were trained in the Caribbean. A Caribbean education isn't so distasteful when you need their assistance is it?