“Third World Country” Has Nothing To Do With It
No country is exempt from the fragility of Democracy
Regarding the Capitol's chaos, I feel too detached to have the same visceral reactions splattered on every corner of my Facebook feed and YouTube comments. Blame mental fatigue of waiting with bated breath for the next shoe to drop every couple of months this past year. Since I had nothing to add to the discussion, I read and digested the reactions. One particular set of comments about the attempted coup stands out to me, though. They are the ones relegating America to Third World country status.
It’s nothing new. Commentaries at the onset of the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic likened America’s handling to a Third World country. Third World countries have ironically faired better with the pandemic. Nonetheless, I doubt all these comments were objective observations not meant to shame the American government. In other words, they are condescending and — I try not to use this word lightly — racists.
So, what are people like me, a second-generation American from the poster child of Third World countries, the Central African Republic (CAR), to make of these comparisons? As if the stars aligned to prove a point, the CAR and the USA are currently sharing the same fate.
