I came across an interesting definition when I was looking at statistics and information concerning third world countries. I found the point said eloquently by the website Investopedia but continued to see it on every page with the definition. Here it is from Investopedia: ’Third World’ is a phrase frequently used to describe a developing nation. Despite its current usage, the phrase "Third World" arose during the Cold War to identify countries whose views did not align with NATO and capitalism or the Soviet Union and communism. The First World described countries whose views aligned with NATO and capitalism and the Second World referred to countries that supported communism and the Soviet Union. Read more: Third World I feel like people in “1st world countries” often have a, conscious or not, feeling of superiority over the rest of the world. My mother told me that “1st world” only refers to a substantial middle class and an economy no extreme variances from the rich to the poor. I’m not sure that, by that particular definition, that the U.S. can claim that term anymore.
In all honesty, I’m not sure how much the terminology matters. I’m not aware of any official tracking or labeling of the statuses mentioned. Nonetheless, I don’t think it would do any harm to stop throwing around these words and bias that comes with them. Different places in the world are in their own stages of development and follow different values. That is a given, because of how our world is set up. I think it is interesting to think about all this. What makes one country better than another? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your own country? What assumptions do we carry of foreigners? I’m sure plenty of us think we know lots about one country or another, but that’s not really possible, I think. Too many thinks make up communities. Too many dreams and interests and talents and colors. And that is astounding.
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Who Am I?Hi there! I'm Whit, my pronouns are they/them, and I write a lot.
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