http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/s.e.+asia/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2775/the_true_temptations_of_the_west/ The phrase "Third World poverty," conjures up CNN-inspired images of starving, fly-infested babies clutching at their emaciated parents. This is raw human desperation that even we, in the comfort of our First-World homes, can comprehend. But what's more difficult to imagine is the fate of the other hundreds of millions in these distant countries caught right in the cusp between such disaster and survival. They are truck drivers, street vendors, house-maids, unemployed college graduates, and farmers who lead precarious, desperate lives scratching and flailing against going under in a teeming mass of humanity. Theirs is a world where success is a small step up the social ladder, achieved against enormous odds and at great expense to one's soul. Except for… books art and culture s.e. Asia David Sirota