Rising costs, growing levels of poverty, fewer well-paying jobs, increased competition on a globe scale, and scarcity in general mean there is an opportunity gap that prevents people in developed countries and underdeveloped countries from achieving healthy, sustainable lifestyles. There are, however, still opportunities available. A great deal of the problem is that most people do not have access to these opportunities. Another part of the problem is that people, especially the poor, do not seize upon opportunities when they are presented with them. At times, there is a material reason, i.e. they do not have the finances to start a business or reliable transportation to a job. Other times, it is due to personal dysfunction.
All people suffer from dysfunctions that prevent them from seizing opportunities. Dysfunctional people can be given opportunities and everything needed to succeed, but their dysfunctions will always stop them from pursuing those opportunities. Where the Middle Class and wealthy have sufficient incomes to either forgo opportunities they want to pursue or avoid the consequences of their dysfunctions, the dysfunctional nature of the poor prevents them from achieving financial success and a sustainable lifestyle. In order to help address poverty, as well as help others pursue their goals in life, these dysfunctions must be identified and addressed.
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The 2016 Rio Olympics is an example of a globally viewed event drawing attention to issues that are endemic in countries like Brazil and prominent in all nations throughout the world. In developed countries, issues like poverty and crime are ever-present, yet the people suffering from these issues are easily dismissed as temporary victims of natural economic cycles and personal struggles. Alternatively, they are simply labeled lazy. In developing, underdeveloped, and undeveloped countries, the fault of environmental dysfunction is too great to simply disregard. As such, the international focus on countries like Brazil forces the world to better understand poverty.
Typically, poverty is discussed in terms of what things people do or do not have and how much income someone has. In the United States, someone unable to afford a car might be destitute, unless they have access to public transportation. Someone making five dollars a day might be middle class in less developed countries. Trying to understand poverty by quantitative and qualitative measures is insufficient, because so must is dependent on circumstance. To develop solutions and address the harms of scarcity, poverty must be defined in relatives terms while it is best understood in terms of dysfunction. The 2016 Rio Olympics Games will attempt to avoid before spinning the most shocking and degrading living conditions in the slums, or favelas, of Rio de as charming highlights of Brazil’s rich and diverse cultural experience. The inability of Brazilians to overcome desperate poverty is, however, a sign of crippling dysfunction that is far from unique to Brazil. Latin countries like Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela are worse off in terms of overall economic output and crime, but the more than 11 million living in Brazil’s favelas face the same struggle, which can only be addressed by recognizing and understanding the dysfunction of poverty.
The views of the higher socioeconomic classes on poverty are built on a series of intellectual exercises, thus they understand economic disenfranchisement only in pieces and lack the intuitive understanding needed to offer a comprehensive vision of how to address the issues of those who are limited by their circumstances and the thinking their circumstances instill. As such, the Middle Class and affluent do not comprehend the psychological of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised well enough to comprehend the limitations the growing poor classes must overcome. This means they alone cannot develop solutions that actually address these roadblocks, which includes roadblocks that seem trivial to the more advantaged. The Olympics of ancient Greece was a means for the Greek city-states to prove their supremacy over each without actually going to war. The series of athletic competitions also served as a political forum where representatives from the Greek city-states could bolster economic and military alliances. International bodies like the United Nations now serve as the primary diplomatic forum between the nation-states of the International Community, yet the modern Olympics still projects political overtones. Taking place in one of the globe’s poorest regions, under the cloud of political controversy, the 2016 Rio Olympics will showcase the plight of the world’s disenfranchised.
Above all, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics is an opportunity for Brazil to be seen and recognized as an equal among world powers. On the one hand, Brazil must act like a rich nation and orchestrate a near flawless performance in order to stay relevant on the world stage as a global power. On the other hand, the Brazilian economy does not sufficiently distribute wealth, i.e. foster economic development, in communities that are plagued by poverty while self-serving, unresponsive governance is the status quo of Brazil. Regrettably, the Olympics will do little to ease poverty or corruption in Brazil; however, it is a venue that can draw the world's attention to these issues. |
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April 2020
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