The root of your disagreement lies in the fact that "The Third World" isn't really a useful abstraction anymore. Plenty of former 3rd world countries are middl

The root of your disagreement lies in the fact that "The Third World" isn't really a useful abstraction anymore. Plenty of former 3rd world countries are middle-income now. There is just no comparison between living in Thailand vs. South Sudan, even though there might be in the 1950s. Time to toss the expression entirely, it doesn't really describe anything concrete anymore. The world has changed.