The real story is that ‘developing’ nations have done remarkably better at fighting COVID-19 than the rich and white. The real story starts precisely where the western map ends. Here be dragons. We be dragons.
The real story is that places like Vietnam and Mongolia have completely kicked COVID-19’s ass. The real story is that places like Rwanda and Ghana have innovated and survived. There are countless stories like this — from Sri Lanka to Trinidad & Tobago, but you wouldn’t know because we’re not rich or white. But you should know. Because we’re right. This information could save your life.
https://medium.com/indica/the-overwhelming-racism-of-covid-coverage-78e37e4ce6e8
(But please keep posting about a vaccine, eating like normal, and relying on your institutions to save you. It'll all work out for you I'm sure.)
@tootbrute It just... it's revealing to me that so many of the responses I got to sharing this and similar articles will say things like "Right, the US is doing so bad, meanwhile countries like Germany and Vietnam..."
...while ignoring that Vietnam has something like 0.1% as many deaths per capita as Germany.
That's exactly what the article in OP is trying to say:
By the numbers, compared to a few "developing" countries, almost everywhere has failed spectacularly at COVID response: it isn't 1 bad response and mostly good ones, it is mostly bad responses and a few good ones.
That y'all can't appreciate the statistical difference betwen 0.23 in 100,000 and 113 in 100,000 is, quite frankly, just racist.
@tootbrute
You sound like you're agreeing, but you're ironically doing exactly what the article is critical of: you have centered the USA and weighed it against "most countries."
This isn't about "the USA and most everyone else."
This is about the places that hegemonic imperial powers have fucked over for centuries doing remarkably well against COVID - even compared to "most" countries.
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I'm not trying to be rude, but you've done the exact thing the article is critical of journalists for doing: structuring the world as the USA and most everywhere else.
The article, and this thread, are to talk explicitly talk about those places that are doing very well, and to talk about the deeply accultured racism that makes it nearly impossible for folk to recognize that.