• Zerush@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    Logically, it’s not about how much money you make, it’s about purchasing power. It is irrelevant if you earn only $400 a month when you can eat well for $1 and pay $100 for your housing, you have free health care and education. That is the reality in some third world countries.

      • Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        Espousing an old no longer relevant definition to sound smarter and be “right” is peak lemmy/reddit behavior. Third world does mean poor now.

            • Reginald_T_Biter@lemmy.world
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              22 hours ago

              Strictly, technically every other way China is still third world. This concept of third world being poor seems to have originated from the common charity ads in the 90s and 2000s who loved the phrase, and from the American exceptionalism that thinks everything not American is dirty and poor.

              • Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                18 hours ago

                Being poor is the only way a country is third world or not. Being politically related to America is not relevant to the present definition. So no, it is not “technically in every other way”. It just is not a third world country, period.

      • ManOMorphos@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        No one really uses that word in its Cold War context anymore. It’s the common term for “developing countries” and the like.

          • ManOMorphos@lemmy.world
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            20 hours ago

            You’re right that they either never learned what 1st-2nd-3rd world really means, or they forgot what they were taught in history class. Unfortunately it still is the main term to refer to poor countries even though it’s incorrect. Language seems to be biased towards the common meaning over the technically correct meaning.

      • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        Spain isn’t third world, it already had shown the middle finger to Trump and also has few to do with Rusia. Third world countries don’t certainly mean people starving, the people there often have all what they need, but this, you’ll see few Ferraries there and chalets with swimming pool. Someone is rich, not necesarly because a lot of money, but because he need only few. We often enter in a rabbit hole of the consumism, spending a lot of money in things we really don’t need, we work like a dog to have enough money to pay a journey to Hawaii to recover us from the burnout, which we wouldn’t have working less, no needing this journey.

        • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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          4 hours ago

          Have you been to Spain? I’m not saying it is not better than where the US is headed to, but it’s a “western” country in Europe, with all the issues that come with it. Somewhat social market economy, but still suffering from the usual issues, including people driving Ferraris while others sleep on the street.

          Also, at least since Franco I don’t think anyone genuinely thinks of Spain as third world.

      • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        If you can eat well for $1 then it is definitely a poor country relative to the US. Differences in purchasing power are a direct result of differences in wealth.

        • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          I think that the US is a third world country, it’s rich but most money is used for weapons and to make richer the billonairs and big corporations, in the social and cultural sphere, it is one of the most backward in the world. Now with Trump the US is turning in a running gag for the most countries. A country where 40 milloncof citizen don’t have enough to eat at least 2 times a day, isn’t a rich country.

            • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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              21 hours ago

              USA is an total dystopic country, any Banana Republic has more culture. US is only powerfull because use all the money for weapons, developed by foreigner scientifics. First world is anything else.

              You will say that the US is a first world country, it’s better for your health