The phrase has been corrupted from its cold war origins to mean (putting it politely) the “developing world”. Whereas I’ve moved countries seven times, I’ve seen a lot of places, and I can say from experience that outside of specific prejudicial circumstances (being a woman in Iran, Uyghur Muslim in China, being anyone in North Korea, for example) there are paths to success everywhere.
cabbage@piefed.social 2 hours ago
Yeah, in general if you have a good starting point anywhare not affected by tyranny, war, or genocide you’ll be alright. Behind a veil of ignorance there’s a whole lot of developing countries I’d go to before I’d risk being poor in the United States.
FridaySteve@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Compounding that is the notion of privilege, which exists. I’m a cisgendered white male with a university degree and I speak English natively, I don’t have a persistent mental illness or a chronic disease, and I don’t have a physical handicap. The deck is stacked in my favor no matter where I am in the world. Taking away enforced regulations on housing, employment, and banking makes things easier for me, not harder. It’s way, way, way different if you belong to a group with less social power.
cabbage@piefed.social 2 hours ago
I guess this is where the insight that you should judge a society by how it treats its weakest comes from. That’s a problem with OP’s scenario, as you’d be thrown into a completely foreign context without access to the more family and community-based security nets that are essential in poorer parts of the world.
I have travelled to some not very wealthy regions to small communities that can only be accessed by a 4x4, horse, or motorcycle (or by foot, as I prefer), and seen severely handicapped people in such places live what at least appears from the outside to be highly dignified and decent lives as the community works together to take care of them. It’s not at all obvious that they would be happier in a western city. Once anyone needs professional medical care or expensive treatments it of course becomes more clear-cut, and if you’re an outsider (or just unlucky) you’re of course out of luck.
In the short run, maybe, but sawing off the branch one is sitting on is dangerous business. :)