Comment on Why is the US not considered a third world country?

• notnotmike@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s a cold war term - basically, first world is the US and capitalist countries, second world is the Soviet and communist countries, and third world are the unaffiliated.

  It’s slightly more nuanced than that, but that’s the basic summary.

  en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

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  • MissJinx@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    [deleted]

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    • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Or maybe we come up with a new word instead of just using old words incorrectly?

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      • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        We literally did come up with new terms after the cold war. We now say Developing and Developed nations.

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    • notnotmike@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’m sorry but that’s still the meaning of the term. I know it is colloquially understood to mean a “poor” country, but we shouldn’t ignore the original intent.

      Also, please don’t tell me how my country is. I quite literally live here. I can read every article online that you can, plus I can go outside and see it for myself. We know we have problems, we aren’t ignorant to them - at least not all of us - and they’re nowhere near as bad as some commentors on this post believe they are.

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    • otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      As a non american we 100% see america as 3rd world.

      Speak for yourself. I see it as fucked up, but definitely not third-world…

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• perviouslyiner@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  1st world = US and allies. 2nd world = USSR and allies. 3rd world = everyone else.

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• zephr_c@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Third world actually came from the cold war. There were the two major sides, but then there was a whole bunch of countries that weren’t really on either side. A whole “third world”. Of course, a lot of those countries were poor, so the term came to be associated with that, but there really isn’t a coherent definition of what it means to be a third world county. It has never really been about the standard of living for the average citizen though. More about whether a country is a bully or the bullied on the international stage, and we all know where the US falls on that spectrum.

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• JJROKCZ@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s a term rooted in geo-political alliances and power standings, not economic status

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