“Starting up the lecture again, I explained that child mortality was highest in tribal societies in the rain forest, and among traditional farmers in the remote rural areas across the world. “The people you see in exotic documentaries on TV. Those parents struggle harder than anyone to make their families survive, and still they lose almost half of their children. Fortunately, fewer and fewer people have to live under such dreadful conditions.”
A young student in the first row raised his hand. He tilted his head and said, “They can never live like us.” All over the room other students nodded in support.
He probably thought I would be surprised. I was not at all. This was the same kind of “gap” statement I had heard many times before. I wasn’t surprised, I was thrilled. This was what I had hoped for. Our dialogue went something like this:
ME: Sorry, who do you mean when you say “they”?
HIM: I mean people in other countries.
ME: All countries other than Sweden?
HIM: No. I mean … the non-Western countries. They can’t live like us. It won’t work.
ME: Aha! (As if now I understood.) You mean like Japan?
“HIM: No, not Japan. They have a Western lifestyle.
ME: So what about Malaysia? They don’t have a “Western lifestyle,” right?
HIM: No. Malaysia is not Western. All countries that haven’t adopted the Western lifestyle yet. They shouldn’t. You know what I mean.
ME: No, I don’t know what you mean. Please explain. You are talking about “the West” and “the rest.” Right?
HIM: Yes. Exactly.
ME: Is Mexico … “West”?
He just looked at me.
I didn’t mean to pick on him, but I kept going, excited to see where this would take us. Was Mexico “the West” and could Mexicans live like us? Or “the rest,” and they couldn’t? “I’m confused.” I said. “You started with ‘them and us’ and then changed it to ‘the West and the rest.’ I’m very interested to understand what you mean. I have heard these labels used many times, but honestly I have never understood them.”
Excerpt From: Hans Rosling. “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think”. Apple Books.
