Do You Agree That Ghettos In 3rd World Countries Make American Ghettos Look Like Bel Air In Comparison ? (crime rate, homes)

[censusdata]

Tijuana alone has more murders than all of California COMBINED.

[Infamous92]

Although I do feel the ghettos and slums in 3rd world countries are bad I wouldn't go as far as to say they make America ghettos look like Bel Air. A lot of poor people in American ghettos don't have all the amenities that people assume they do. Not everyone has running water, gas, and electricity. A lot of people have to endure winters with no heat and summers with no AC. Some people in the ghetto don't know when their next meal is. Like Plasma TVs some people may own Plasma TVs but who's to say someone even has a TV at all. Its sad to say that 3rd world countries have more diseases and viruses which can be lethal but in the ghetto you can be healthy and just get shot out of nowhere and that can be just as lethal. There are some 3rd world ghettos that are worse than some American ghettos but at the same time the sad truth is that there are American ghettos that are worse than some 3rd world ghettos.

[aaronstlcards]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

You don't like hip hop, do you? Hip Hop is much better than that metal rock stuff where they do nothing but yelling and screaming through the whole song.

Amen brother

[Infamous92]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

You don't like hip hop, do you? Hip Hop is much better than that metal rock stuff where they do nothing but yelling and screaming through the whole song.

I can't agree more I hate that RAAAAAAAA!!!!!! stuff.

[TheWestVirginianBlumpkin]

quick comparison....

Mumbai India


Birmingham, AL


Chernobyl Ukraine



Baltimore


Gary Indiana


Venezuela

[18Montclair]

Having worked in and volunteered in third world shantytowns and slums, I can say that for the most part there is no comparison. At all.

Some of our lower income areas would be considered wealthy by their standards.

[Huckleberry3911948]

yes. its very funny, when i came back to this country, people called themselves poor proudly annouced it that were not.

[Thomas R.]

Reading through, and thinking of people I know who've been to the Third World, I think it might depend on where in the Third World you are. Some nations called "Third World" are relatively livable. Vanuatu was placed top on the "Happy Planet Index" as they're relatively happy and there murder rate seems to be equivalent to Vermont.

Human Development Report 2007/2008 - Vanuatu

Still even in terms of poverty+violence there are definitely some Third World ghettos way worse than anything in the US. Port Moresby, New Guinea is or was one of the most gang-ridden capital cities in the world.

Raskol gangs rule world's worst city | World news | The Guardian

Caracas, Venezuela might be the world's current "murder capital." Presumably their "ghetto" areas are also much poorer than ours.

Foreign Policy: The List: Murder Capitals of the World

The "Cidade de Deus" favela of Rio de Janeiro is also infamous for crime and poverty.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Short lifespan in Rio drug gangs

Then there's places like Mogadishu, which are certainly way way poorer/crazier than anything here.

[roboto]

Bel-Air? Not really, but I agree with the point. American ghettoes are much more comfortable and provide way better living conditions than any third world slum. Its all relative and often folks living in these areas, whether in the US or 3rd world, simply lack perspective because they have limited opportunities to experience anything else.

Think of it like this, take any 'thug' or just a regular guy but with no aspirations from the poorest hood in the US, Gary, E St Louis, Cabrini Green or whereever, and send them to live for a year with people in plywood and tin shacks with no sewers, running water, etc, in a third world country and they would be screaming to come back. I suspect they would finally understand what true poverty is, how much more opportunity they could actually take advantage of in the states, and why US immigrants of all races tend to perform so much better.

It is a state of mind. People in the US slums cannot relate to that type of poverty, and truly have no idea because they have not experienced anything other than what they are currently living. They watch TV, compare their lifestyles to those of the rich and famous here, feel inadequate, and therefore completely lack perspective of their true economic standing in the world. If they understood how much better off they are than those in these developing nations, they would likely take far more advantage of their somewhat meager situation (by US standards). Unfortunately that just doesnt happen (maybe some watched slumdog millionaire and thats about it).

I remember seeing the And1mix tape team travel to places like venezuala and the philippines and saying things like, to paraphrase - "I thought I was hood, I cant believe how people here live in these tin huts. I finally realize how lucky I was growing up where I did" and things like that. They finally gained the perspective and appreciated the higher quality of life in the US, no matter how 'hood' they supposedly are.

And lastly, I agree with whoever said when peoples culture have been destroyed, and when they mentally cannot see themselves getting ahead in life, have no drive no hope and no aspirations, that is when the situation is the worst. Poor people can still have those things like hope, dreams, culture and family, and their life is much more enriching and satisfying than peope who are better off economically yet still feel hopeless and inadequate and value material things more than people.

[BPerone201]

Yes, my mom had to bring a little foreigner girl from an airport to her new adopted parents or something (she was from India), and while they were in the car my mom dropped her off in an area what she thought was a shabby part of Elizabeth, NJ, while the little girl considered it "a beautifully built wonder".

Elizabeth is near all the refineries of jersey.
This was 10 years or so ago.