Shithole Countries

The topic in History today was shithole countries. Never heard the term before, but apparently, it was something they used to have back in the 21st Century.

"Eew! What was that?" we asked, pretty much en masse. "Or what was them?"

"A shithole country was actually very easy to identify, back in those days," said Teacher. "I'll give you the characteristics:

"1. The economy of a shithole country was radically out of balance. There was an extremely wealthy ruling class and and an impoverished lower class."

"What do you mean by 'extremely?'" asked Ginny.

"The ruling class occupied about 1% of the population, but controlled 99% of the wealth," said Teacher. "The other 99% of the population had the other 1% of the wealth."

"What about the middle class?" asked Bernie. "Where were they?"

Teacher smirked. "The middle class in a shithole country was either vanishing or completely nonexistent."

"Dun't sound so bad to me," grunted Donnie.

Teacher continued. "So, 2. The political structure was unstable. The form of government was tyranny, led by a so-called 'strong man,' and characterized by violent transfers of power."

"Didn't they have elections?" asked Ginny.

"Oh, yes," said Teacher, "but if the results didn't suit the 'strong man,' he would throw out the results because of 'voter fraud' or some other such excuse."

"And the people stood for that?" gasped Bernie. "Didn't they ... rise up?"

"Sometimes," said Teacher, "but the 'strong man' maintained an army of thugs who were personally loyal to him to stamp out ... objections. Or there might be a coup d'etat, led by another 'strong man.'"

"Dun't sound so bad to me," grunted Donnie.

"Three," continued Teacher, "Xenophobia and scapegoating. The 'strong man' ruled by setting people against each other. Certain groups were defined as 'other' and blamed for all the woes of society ... and especially for the failures of the 'strong man.' The 'others' were typically of the wrong color, the wrong religion, the wrong ethnicity, the wrong nationality, or some combination of those."

"Sounds right to me," grunted Donnie.

"Where did that disgusting name come from?" asked Ginny.

"You mean 'shithole country?'" Teacher responded. "That's interesting. Although countries of the shithole persuasion had existed for hundreds of years, it was not until the 21st Century that the term appeared. It was coined by the creator of the biggest shithole country the world has ever seen."

"And what was his name?" asked Bernie.

"Again, interesting," mused Teacher. "In all the writings, he is referred to as 'Watan Asol.' But that is thought to be a title or honorific. Or horrorific. His actual name has been lost to history. And perhaps, just as well."