"Third World is a categorical label used to describe states that are considered to be underdeveloped in terms of their economy or level of industrialization, globalization, standard of living, health, education or other criteria for "advancement". The name Third World arose during the Cold War to refer to nations that did not belong to the similarly termed First" or "Second Worlds". There is debate over the appropriateness of the term. Critics of the term caution that the term implies that industrialization is progressive."

The concept of a “developed” versus “undeveloped” or Third World country is based purely on economics, period, even though proponents of these definitions claim that such things as education, health, etc are considered when applying these labels. Notice that the above definition states, “in terms of their economy OR level of education…” There is a clear separation made between the economy and the very products or side effect of economics. It’s no coincidence that in our modern societies (the ones applying these labels) education and health have taken on economic related importance and delineate one's importance in our market. One no longer goes to school to learn, one attends school for a job, and our health is but a factor in some complex productivity and cost-to-society equation.
If our true goal in life and reason for creation is to advance industries and markets to make more things better and quicker…and smaller, then perhaps our society and way of life should be imposed on others. But I like to believe that I wasn’t put on this earth to consume in order to be accepted, nor to please a boss because I’m earning him more money; should I be considered a nut-job living in some sort of Hare Krishna cloud for thinking that we humans should have a purpose higher than owning plasma TVs and fancy cars and that perhaps our so-called developed countries have taken a wrong turn some centuries back, and that this has obviously resulted in the terrible loss of true values and an increasing number of mental disorders?
Many tribes come to mind which appeared to be living in near perfect harmony and symbiosis with nature until we came along. What would the world be like today had these cultures imparted their ways of life on us? What if colonising and ‘exploring’ countries had considered spirituality (not to be confused with religion) and true joy to be more worthwhile commodities and had foregone the idea of exploiting these people for their natural resources?

And isn’t there something totally ethnocentric in wanting to impart our ways of life unto these people and cultures? Couldn’t this behaviour be compared to the Jesuit obsession – what exemplifies a summum of pretentiousness – with wanting to convert non-Christians? The driving force behind many of these developmental aids really stems from expectations towards the Third World to ‘catch-up’ to us in order to be more economically viable? Is this the world-in-mind version of “no child left behind” – no race left behind? Isn’t our so-called modern world partially responsible for many of their hard-ships? We’ve colonised and re-populated and divided and decolonized and exploited and taught them shame while we acted like true Vikings! Should it be surprising that these are now many of the very cultures we feel obliged to help today? It saddens me further to think that the help we bring removes them even further from the people they once were, and the cultures and values they once had.

But history has lead us into a world where Third World villages have become museums for tourists and life-changing trips for confused teens and adults. I was dumbfounded to recently learn that some of these all-inclusive resorts now offer packages that include ‘adventure’ treks and Monster truck tours to “typical” Third World villages way out in the boondocks. Of course these villages are no longer typical in that, like in any scientific experiment, the mere act of observing alters the observed act i.e. these villages have been transformed to encourage and please tourists – you can damn well be sure that ‘souvenir huts’ appeared where there were none before and that these towns’ economy now relies on tourism … (here’s an example of what I’m talking about: Monster Truck Safari).
And so people, under the guise of adventure, tell themselves that such an opportunity is a real eye opener, a life lesson, etc. That through this experience, they will be able to better appreciate the benefits of living in the conditions we are offered. Unfortunately, the success of marketers in constructing and shaping our capitalistic mindset implies that for many, this experience and subsequent lesson generally translates into a greater appreciation for consumer goods rather than the opposite. Moreover, this experience has merely changed their attitude in that it permits them to brag to neighbours and friends that they’ve seen hell, and they now know what it’s about, yet always conclude with something along the lines of: but it’s the people’s own fault; they live like pigs!
Yet viewed this way, aren’t these gated-community type synthetic-paradise resorts that tend to act more as status symbols than true travels doing more good to many of these people than the average humanitarian organization? They certainly boost and/or create local economy.

It cannot be denied that guilt-induced hypocrisy – modern day’s eight deadly sin – plays an important role in motivating many of these groups as well as donations to these groups. If we really wanted to end poverty and hunger throughout the world, we would do so. Heck, consumers spend how much money each year on ‘self-help’ products that essentially teach us “anything is possible if [we] aim to have it!” And with that very motto in mind, CERN has put how many billions of dollars into attempting to re-create the Big Bang?! And yet it seems that nothing can be done to end hunger in the world while on December 19, La Presse, a francophone daily out of Montreal, published an interesting article questioning why, in many industrialized countries, roughly 40% of our food ends up in the trash while there’s so much hunger in the world?

But for now, at the individual level, since aid is a natural and necessary part of our world order, I applaud every effort that actually brings food to the truly hungry, and a sense of self-worth and preservation to those suffering unimaginable moments, abroad and at home – wherever it is needed!
What’s the solution? I don’t know. Perhaps, and certainly Ayn Rand would disagree, it lies in finding a way to hinder the competitive and individualistic nature of capitalism so we can all start believing in other things again…


Merry Christmas and all that...but I wish mostly joy!

Keep on clicking!

PDL

© 2008, Pascal-Denis Lussier

Photo credits: "Which Way?" by Pascal-Denis Lussier
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