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The top levels of Kenyan government are not doing a good job of branding the country as anything but “developing”. Just see this serious debate about Witchcraf
by rosndo 5y ago
The top levels of Kenyan government are not doing a good job of branding the country as anything but “developing”.
Just see this serious debate about Witchcraft by their law reform commission https://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/klrc-blog/518-justification-for-review-of-witchcraft-act-cap-67 https://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/klrc-blog/518-justification...
It’s unfortunate, but I’m not convinced that being a “Kenyan scientist” is better than being a “scientist from a developing country”. Personal preferences, of course.
> “Third world”—as if to label my people at the bottom of the world’s pecking order?
“Third world” also includes countries like Finland and Sweden.
Also, it’s hardly untrue to suggest that Kenyan people are currently near the bottom of the world’s pecking order. This isn’t a criticism of them, just an indisputable fact.
> I expressed my discomfort with the standard terms and proposed as an alternative “areas with limited resources.”
This kind of word games don’t seem beneficial. It’s like calling a blind person “unsighted”.
It’s necessary to acknowledge the story behind “developing countries”, it’s simply an euphemism for “poor”.
Who does replacing “developing countries” with yet another euphemism benefit?
- evocatus 5y agoAre you seriously adopting the position that "third world" is a common moniker for Finland and Sweden?
- p_l 5y agoIn the original sense of the word, yes. Did it drift due to constant depiction of majority of unaligned countries as poor slums? Yes. Does it mean that I can't troll people using it this way by using the original meaning? No.
- rosndo 5y agoIt was, of course those countries very much picked a side decades ago. OTOH I’m not sure why replacing “third world” with a different euphemism for “poor” would be productive.
- tsol 5y ago>Just see this serious debate about Witchcraft by their law reform commission https://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/klrc-blog/518-justification https://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/klrc-blog/518-justification... I mean a common narrative in America is that one political party is taking part in a child trafficking cult to extract Adenochrome from children and inject it into themselves to keep from aging, and politicians are feeding into that. Doesn't seem that strange that the government might want to address the strange myths that occur in their country. The fact that our government doesn't acknowledge these strange conspiracy theories that are growing in influence, might not actually make us superior.
- nailer 5y ago> I mean a common narrative in America is that one political party is taking part in a child trafficking cult to extract Adenochrome from children and inject it into themselves to keep from aging That’s not very common.
- rosndo 5y agoIndeed, it’s a niche opinion held only by truly deranged people. In Kenya belief in and fear of witchcraft is super common at all levels of society. And not in the same way someone might believe in a christian god in the west, for Kenyans witchcraft is something far more tangible, something actually present in the physical world.
- kbelder 5y agoThe rather insane belief that it is a common belief is more common.