Topic: A view from the Third World, from one who has lived there

[rickl]

Last night I was reading this Ticker Forum thread, and the commenter Josecitomadera left a couple of interesting comments:

Some of you guys have a MAD MAX complex. I think many of you who have not lived under 3rd world conditions need to take your cues from those of us who have. The world will not end and we won't all be cannibalizing one another in a fiery doomsday scenario.

Life will go on as it always has. There will be less of everything but there won't be blood in the streets as in a national revolution at least not for any lasting time IMHO!

I've lived in 3rd world conditions as in the DR. Society will structure itself with the resources that are available to it. It will re-adjust and stabilize into a lower level of functionality.

As in my Dominican Republic experience, social services will be spotty and malfunctioning. There will be less of all including electrical power, water, and food but we will survive and yes there will be society.

Something that Americans will have to learn as they did in their pioneer past is to rely on one another. It will bring an end to the ME first attitude as families will all have to pull their resources together just to be able to make it.

Before American values regarding justice and human rights organizations intercepted Latin America with their ways, the DR especially had less crime than anywhere in the US. I speak from experience. Criminals were extra-judiciously executed in the streets by the cops. As a youngster, I remember being able to play at anytime of the night without any fear at all.

When the American economy falls apart, many of the TF members might be surprised if there is an actual decrease in crime since most municipalities won't be burdened with a judicial-legal system that increases crime instead of eliminating it. Whatever remains of the police plus concerned citizens will execute the gangs and criminals like the mangy dogs they are.

I live in Miami and most of us are 3rd world inhabitants. I guarantee you that once all hell breaks loose Miami will probably be the safest place in America. As experienced 3rd worlders, we know how to live in collapse without losing our senses or form of living. There won't be any need for hiding out in caves, basements or stocked-up hiding places as if a nuclear war had just erupted. I get the feel many here are exaggerating or are watching too many movies.

Like I've said before, I've lived in the 3rd world. You'll have electricity sometimes. You'll have water sometimes. The post office will disappear. Firefighting will disappear unless volunteers take over. The police will ask for bribes to forgive tickets. 9-11 will disappear. Public works will go into disrepair. Potholes will open up everywhere.

Generally speaking, services will be spotty, intermittent and sporadic. You won't be able to take showers and hot water will disappear. You'll collect water in 50 gallon steel or plastic drums and bathe with a bucket since water pressure as provided by the city will disappear. Apts. will be rented with nothing inside. You'll have to supply your own fridge, A-C unit, hot water unit, etc.

You probably won't have need for this because what you actually earn will only allow you to eat for that day plus spotty electric service will not allow the fridge to maintain food items from not spoiling. Cold water will be a luxury based on your purchasing ice. That and much more is life in present day DR for 70% of the population. You'll use candles alot.

Is that comfortable? Depends on your mental outlook but it is not the MAD MAX scenario so many here paint where you need heavy artillery to survive since roving bands of gangs will be smashing down your door. Honestly, I read stuff like that and it makes me laugh. It makes it seem like the bad outnumber the good and that is not factual. It didn't happen in the DR when their country fell apart and it won't happen here either.

I left the following comment in response:

Thank you for your insights, José. (And reassurance!)

Yes, I'm not expecting a post-nuclear Mad Max scenario, but I do think things will get bad in some places, at least for a while. There already are plenty of places in America that decent people seek to avoid.

Middle class Americans have no experience with poverty, and many poor Americans think they have a right to other people's money. The forced readjustment will seriously upset a lot of people, and some of them will react badly.

The thing that pisses me off the most about this is that in advanced, modern societies, a strong healthy middle class is society's backbone. To descend into Third World status is a giant step backwards. We will end up with a tiny hereditary ruling elite who will live in unimaginable luxury, while the vast majority will live in hopeless grinding poverty. This of course has been the norm through thousands of years of human history. Capitalism changed all that. But the socialists are hell-bent on ending it and reverting to the norm, and it looks like they are winning.

Here we are in the 21st flipping century, and we have to worry about not having reliable electricity, running water, and sanitation. Unf**kingbelievable. And it doesn't have to happen.

[Alphabet Soup]

"Plan for the worst; hope for the best"

[Libertas]

"Plan for the worst; hope for the best"

Dang good words to live by!

 

[Dan]

What this guy fails to acknowledge is that there weren't multiple factions w/in the DR who were actively and aggressively working to take down the that Republic. Islam had no dog in that fight, La Raza and teh Black panthers had no presence there and the street gangs there are pikers compared to the gangs here. His sh*thole was ignored and fell under it's own weight.
Ours has been targeted.

[IronDioPriest]

What this guy fails to acknowledge is that there weren't multiple factions w/in the DR who were actively and aggressively working to take down the that Republic. Islam had no dog in that fight, La Raza and teh Black panthers had no presence there and the street gangs there are pikers compared to the gangs here. His sh*thole was ignored and fell under it's own weight.
Ours has been targeted.

Excellent points, all. Not to mention the fact that millions of Americans with just a smidgen of a patriotic streak are armed to the teeth.

[Glock32]

I get his point that people originally from the Third World are perhaps more accustomed to personal privation and will have a certain advantage in that regard, but I doubt very much the idea that life will not only go on, but will actually be better, in those areas with a heavy immigrant population. Does Miami's population sustain itself entirely on food and energy produced within a 50 mile radius of the city? Thought not. Remove or disrupt those external links and see what happens.

[Predator Don]

I get his point that people originally from the Third World are perhaps more accustomed to personal privation and will have a certain advantage in that regard, but I doubt very much the idea that life will not only go on, but will actually be better, in those areas with a heavy immigrant population. Does Miami's population sustain itself entirely on food and energy produced within a 50 mile radius of the city? Thought not. Remove or disrupt those external links and see what happens.

If they are so great at adapting, they wouldn't live in chitholes.