American Privilege And The Unprivileged

The way covid has shut down many economies, especially in poorer nations, has driven millions of poor people into complete poverty. Malnutrition, starvation and all the ills that go along with extreme poverty, including the stress of not knowing where the next meal will come from, homelessness, the complete lack of medical and dental care, drinking, cooking and bathing in polluted, contaminated waters, dirty air, filthy, overcrowded conditions, all exacerbated by the covid shutdowns and loss of jobs and income - is killing far more people than covid. There is no end in sight to the misery. Covid vaccinations are barely existent in many developing countries. There is no end in sight for them to the pandemic, unlike in richer, more privileged nations. 

For those whose agenda is to make the United States out to be nothing but a rotten racist nation have not lived the downtrodden life of the poor in a developing nation. Places where safety nets are nonexistent. If there is no food, then you starve. If you are very sick, if you are wounded, if you have no money, then you die. You can wait outside the entrance to a hospital, and there will be no one to let you in. There are no government programs to ensure even a minimal amount of food. Without money, no one cares if you live or die. The poor of the world have been failed by their governments, by their religious institutions, by the world at large.

Millions of people in the Philippines alone have lost their jobs. Millions of people face malnutrition. Across developing nations in Africa, in Asia, and elsewhere, millions of people barely survived pre pandemic. The economic hardship caused by the pandemic have driven millions more people into extreme poverty. 

There are those in the United States that could care less about what happens to people outside of the United States. There are others that indulge themselves in exaggerated narratives about how terrible is the United States, which is their excuse to ignore far worse poverty and misery in the rest of the world.  There is religious freedom, including the freedom to reject and criticize religion. There are other freedoms that gets a person killed in many other countries. 

Hyper focusing on everything that is wrong in the United States has its own motives, not all of which are altruistic.

What is it that perpetuates extreme poverty? What is it that keeps it alive? Will anything be done to reverse the severe environmental damage that has impoverished millions? The collapse of fisheries, healthy marine environments, rain forests, and much more. People drinking and bathing in waters poisoned by industrial discharges. Environmental degradation adds to impoverishment. Covid adds to the desperation. When covid is brought under control, will anything change structurally to improve the lives and environment for hundreds of millions of people? Or will it be business as usual for governments, for politicians, for religious institutions and leaders, for business and nonprofit interests?