Stop Using ‘Third World’ As An Insult

I live in the ‘Third World’. You’re not better than us

indi.ca
5 min readNov 29, 2020
A map of the ‘three worlds’ of the Cold War. Also a map of your ignorance

People use ‘third world’ as a slur. ‘Oh we’re like a third world country now,’ obviously talking about something bad. But, uh, I live in a third world country. You guys are being dicks. Words are used to assert power and this hurts us more than feelings.

Billions of people live in what you call the third world and we’re not some uniform hellscape. You’re insulting us and you’re plain wrong. This hurts us cause we get stomped on, but it hurts you because you remain ignorant. Worst of all, the slur comes from people I otherwise respect.

I like umair haque, but it’s just awful when he says “the average American began to live a life more suited to a third world country.” Like we’re uniquely suited to shit. April D. Ryan seems cool but not when she says “what makes us different from a third world country & dictatorships?” Like we’re all despotic hellscapes. These are people I like, and even they insult me. You can imagine how the racists are.

Umair seems aware, but read the following quote. It’s just a litany of insults towards billions of people, like we’re the fountain of bad. And it’s not even true. We are hugely diverse and almost none of us live like this.

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indi.ca

Indrajit (Indi) Samarajiva is a Sri Lankan writer. Follow me at www.indi.ca, or just email me at indi@indi.ca.