Third World

The term originated because the democratic world was the First World, the communist countries were the Second World, and the Third World was the poorer, nonaligned countries that had to navigate their way through this dangerous arrangement, playing one off the other as well as they could. It soon came to mean just technologically poor countries, and by the time the Iron Curtain collapsed, the original meaning collapsed for good as well. 

It might pay to recall the original framing, at least for purposes of understanding the resentment that comes our way, even from third-world nationals who have come here. We are puzzled that Islamists and leftists make common cause so easily, and this is at least part of the answer. The belief is that the First and Second Worlds fought over them and used them, leaving them nothing. They were victims of the great powers, which ruined them. Now that one of the worlds has collapsed, there is only the West left to blame. For many, victimhood and resentment are permanently installed. They don't just want a seat at the table, they don't just want to start making money, they want revenge. One can find this all over the Global South.

The first thing to notice is that it is not completely untrue. We have much to be ashamed of. We might feel the same in their shoes, and even in America there are groups that cling to the victimhood narrative. 

We read about people who came to see us differently, who had experiences which turned them around, but in general, those who grew up with this mentality keep it all their lives. Charts and graphs that show how much they benefited from contact, or illustrating it was their own leaders who took the money, or revealing how cultural attitudes prevented them from doing better often have no effect. There are cartoon images, movies, rumors, and myths that rule their minds. The Maya Angelou line is almost true: I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. The missing piece is that that won't forget how they did feel, but they will forget whether it was even 10% their own fault. They will forget everything but how they felt, and blame it on you.

It becomes an entire mindset of "if you succeeded and we didn't, you must have cheated." We believe that about sports teams, business competitors, and romantic rivals. Is it any wonder that people believe it of all billionaires, or the majority of the other sex, or political competitors, no matter how crazy that is in reality? Not to mention that it is sometimes true. 

This has resulted in one of the most bizarre inversions of my lifetime, that Israel must be oppressors because they have succeeded. Facts do not matter, only impressions, and the need to retain victimhood.