It has become fashionable to call America a third world country. The definition being
>Third World countries are those that display economic, social, political, and environmental issues such as high poverty rates, economic instability, and lack of essential human resources compared to the rest of the world.
Is this accurate?
I realize crime and decay have gotten really bad, but is this stuff so much worse than in places like Northern Europe or East Asia?
I realize America is very big so perhaps some parts are like this while others are still first world?
What is your honest, non meme opinion?
 It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
 |
It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
Not travel
My perspective as an outsider that would love to go to America is yes and no.
Some parts are third world others aren't.
Where are you from?
Ausfailia
No absolutely not. It’s very functional, but soulless. We’re not far behind Japan. There’s literally no fun to be had because everyone is poor and angry and wary of eachother.
Gender wars, race wars, class wars
The Third World definitely exists 'within' the USA but on the whole, it's easy to escape it if you really want to. That's not to be equated with me saying it's easy to succeed in the US, you can live the American dream etc., just that it is a lot easier to be comfortable/have a decent standard of living if you work towards it. In the actual third world, this isn't the case.
Considering that the USA has a
- functional judicial system that is one of the least corrupted in the world
- functional police force that isn’t gimped by government
- functional and amazingly fast emergency services
- functional public services with the famous exception of health
- functional safety net that although despised is better than what you get in European countries
There is great poverty yes, but those poor people make more per year than the average European. Poverty in the USA is different from poverty in Europe in many ways. I have a more comfortable existence in Europe on 1300 a month than the average American on 60k a year.
Lack of Human Resources?? Dude literally everyone in the world wants to go to the USA. There’s the best of the best of everything in the USA.
A lot of so called environmental issues aren’t even a thing in Europe, which is why you know about the American problems, because they got laws against it and it becomes a problem. In Europe there’s asbestos literally everywhere and nobody gives a shit.
I would say it’s very much first world by any definition. You will find urban decay and crime anywhere.
Random crime is probably only something you’d find in certain neighborhoods in big cities because as a tourist you will walk and that exposes you to greater risk of being a victim of crime because no one in America walks outside of certain major metro areas. There is a great problem with drugs in the USA, but that doesn’t translate into random attacks on tourists. As a tourist you’d be fine no matter where you go. Although my advice for you is to have a car and get on the road, see the country.
t. yuropoor who lived in the USA
If you consider "Third World" as meaning great lodging and dining available for low prices, then no, the USA is nowhere near a Third World country. As far as infrastructure, USA still stands far above typical Third World countries despite progress in the latter and a degree of decay in the former.
As far as crime, people who drive everywhere don't get a proper feel for how dangerous the streets in America are. They are insulated from reality inside their car. Even a bicycle provides you a certain degree of autonomy and distance when it comes to unsafe neighborhoods. But when you spend hours a day trudging the city streets and coming face to face with the local characters, as a poorgay urban tourist would, you pick up the real vibe on the street, the tension that underlies the seemingly relaxed postures of the idlers. One insult and things can pop off just like that. People who insist that you will be safe if you avoid eye contact are being delusional. Your safety is entire at their whim.
You are overstating the effectiveness of the justice system and police/emergency forces in the decayed portions of America. About the only thing going for the police is they won't try to hustle you for a petty cash bribe. And no, there isn't much of a safety net for the numerous people with no family or friends. If you are living in a van or car, a serious mechanical problem can be enough to put you out in the street with whatever you can fit in a backpack. In many parts of America, if you don't have a car and a house, you can get trapped very easily, and succumbing to drink or drug will invariably result in full homelessness. You're lucky if you can find a motel room for $350/week in many cities. Then you might have to pay for Uber to get to and from work and the grocery store.
>you’re overstating…
Listen I have something to compare it to. I didn’t get dropped on the usa and had no prior experience with life.
>safety net
Let’s start with this. In the USA if you work a full time minimum wage job you qualify for Medicaid (100% paid in full healthcare), you qualify for section 8 hud benefits, you qualify for snap benefits, you qualify for communication benefits (aka Obama phone) that have existed for decades and in the USA there is welfare cash payments aka disability which most people in that poor condition qualify for which also includes Medicare for disabled people. There’s also Medicare for seniors.
In my European country if you’re poor, disabled or homeless you know what you get? Goose egg. Zero. Nada.
There is nothing comparable to snap benefits (cash money to be used at grocery stores for food only) in almost all of Europe.
You couldn’t live on disability/neetbux in most of Europe with exception of a few states.
Healthcare here if you’re poor, it exists, but your access to it is limited because we have a flood of immigrants inundating our system, who unlike in the USA are able to use the system.
There is no hud type system here. HUD provides for more than housing, hud provides for government guaranteed mortgages for first time home buyers. You have 30 year fixed rate mortgages in the USA for a reason, that doesn’t exist in the vast majority of the world.
Are you dependent on cars and are the costs higher in the USA? Absolutely. But we pay double the price of gas that you pay, literally double. Because we have internal borders and higher taxes our car prices here are also higher and the used car market is very limited because you have to pay taxes on importing cars from different states.
Like I said there are great difference between USA and Europe. But to say that even your police force and judicial system don’t work is to be ignorant of how it works elsewhere. I can point you to our corrupt politicians who have been able to escape convictions because the judicial system here took over ten years investigating his crimes and only after nearly fifteen years did they file charges, you know just when the statute of limitations came into effect in contrast your judicial system has brought a current and ex president of the country to court, regardless of politics this is a stark contrast of systems, regardless of wether you’re in a big city or in BFE, your judicial system and police system truly work.
I lived there long enough to understand the society well. And I can say without any doubt the USA is definitely anything but a first world country.
I guess my English didn’t help me there.
There is no doubt that the US is a first world country. Anyone who says otherwise simply lacks experience of the rest of the world.
Fascinating that a third world country would be the #1 emigration destination in the world by far
I am in Japan right now so I am interested in discussing this. I live in Philadelphia and I would say that parts of America are definitely 3rd world but they are segregated from the rest of society. For example Kensington in Philadelphia is an absolute cesspool more dangerous then most places in Europe but the police contain it to a specific neighborhood so people in other neighborhoods don't have to experience it. Many Native American reservations have unemployment rates as high as 50% as well which is a statistic that also comes to mind.
Visiting Japan as someone who lives in Philadelphia is absolute culture shock. I can't believe how safe it is. I used to Live in West Philly and had to listen to gunshots sometimes at noon in broad daylight and my neighbor was breeding pitbulls and they would fight late at 2 in the morning. My car also got set on fire one time. Meanwhile in the suburbs its more safe but people live in boring isolation and are unable to walk anywhere completly reliant on there vehicle for transportation and would be fricked it it broke down. Not to mention that used cars have gotten so expensive post covid. Idon't know if that counts as 3rd world but it was definitely shitty. Only place I could afford though and was much more spacious of a house then I could get in most places for the price.
Also on the topic of the rampant drug issue in the US. My mother and brother both died of drug overdoses. So yes i can also tell you from first hand experience it is incredibly real and rampant. Japan has been making me incredibly emotional. I did face prejudice as an American last night at a bar but besides I never been to a place that has done more to convince that God may be real. I was so flabbergasted when a beutiful Japanese women sat next to me on the bullet train and seemed entirely non intimidated by me as a man. I asked her for travel recommendations and she helped me and then fell asleep right next to me while I watched the Japanese countryside go by. She picked up my apple earbuds that were hanging out of my pocket as I stood up to leave grabbing my backpack and I wanted to tell her she looked beutiful in Japanese as I was leaving but pussed out knowing I wouldn't see her again and it didn't matter anyways.
>It has become fashionable to call America a third world country.
The only people who say this are
>Foreigners who've never been.
>moronic Gen Z'ers on twitter who've never left their home state outside of an expensive college they're currently overpaying for.
>People who say it hyperbolically.
IMO the reason the last group of people say America is "third world" is because as an American you know for a fact your country has the ability to do even more for its people and yet due to lack of political will power. We're the richest country to ever exist and while we do have many governments benefits it always feels as if we can do more.
There are parts of America that are how anon here described it. With that being said that not the majority of our country and if you graduate high school and get a median paying job you will have the ability to not be in these areas for a long time. I say this as someone who used to live in an area similar to Philly.