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I am just amused by the "2nd world country" thing. I really fail to see how life in Central Europe is somehow of "lower quality"(e.g. Czech, Poland, Germany) co

I am just amused by the "2nd world country" thing. I really fail to see how life in Central Europe is somehow of "lower quality"(e.g. Czech, Poland, Germany) compared to USA. I'd actually prefer living in Central Europe or especially Southern Europe over USA any day.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago
It's really Old World, New World and Other, which was labelled "The Third World". It's not supposed to be ordinal. Media is advertising supported ( mostly still ) and it's therefore targeted at the New World, which breeds this curious resentment. But if one of these Worlds is to be the Second, I'd think it would be the New World.
- kgwgk 10y ago
  Actually the term "Third World" was used to refer to the non-aligned countries (as opposed to NATO on one side and the communist bloc on the other).
  - Aoyagi 10y ago
    Yeah, it's can have many meanings (including "non-EU, non-EEC and non-EFTA countries". I just used the one that's the most popular. ^^
Aoyagi 10y ago
Well since you just bulked Czechia, Poland and Germany into one group, I can understand how you fail to see it. Since you mentioned Germany, I'll use that. A Czech earns about a third of what a German earns. But everything costs more or less the same (except for housing, but the difference certainly isn't multiples). Gasoline costs the same (and much more than in US), vast majority of consumer goods costs the same, food seems to be cheaper, but that's because it's of lower quality. Yeah, education is "free". As is government free to take more than half of what people earn. By "2nd world" I mean "1st world prices, 3rd world wages" (yes I know 3rd world is something incomperable).
- alehander42 10y ago
  Oh, I did it intentionally. I live in Bulgaria and the situation is similar. However my definition of 2nd world is just different, that's all.
  - Aoyagi 10y ago
    Well, of course, I consider it more of a tongue-in-cheek term, heh.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago

It's really Old World, New World and Other, which was labelled "The Third World". It's not supposed to be ordinal. Media is advertising supported ( mostly still ) and it's therefore targeted at the New World, which breeds this curious resentment. But if one of these Worlds is to be the Second, I'd think it would be the New World.

kgwgk 10y ago
Actually the term "Third World" was used to refer to the non-aligned countries (as opposed to NATO on one side and the communist bloc on the other).
- Aoyagi 10y ago
  Yeah, it's can have many meanings (including "non-EU, non-EEC and non-EFTA countries". I just used the one that's the most popular. ^^

Aoyagi 10y ago

Well since you just bulked Czechia, Poland and Germany into one group, I can understand how you fail to see it. Since you mentioned Germany, I'll use that. A Czech earns about a third of what a German earns. But everything costs more or less the same (except for housing, but the difference certainly isn't multiples). Gasoline costs the same (and much more than in US), vast majority of consumer goods costs the same, food seems to be cheaper, but that's because it's of lower quality. Yeah, education is "free". As is government free to take more than half of what people earn. By "2nd world" I mean "1st world prices, 3rd world wages" (yes I know 3rd world is something incomperable).

alehander42 10y ago
Oh, I did it intentionally. I live in Bulgaria and the situation is similar. However my definition of 2nd world is just different, that's all.
- Aoyagi 10y ago
  Well, of course, I consider it more of a tongue-in-cheek term, heh.