From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Thu Jan 23 2003 - 00:03:01 MST
Lee Corbin's response is more balanced than my own probably would have been.
My comments below.
Lee Corbin wrote:
> Kai Becker writes
>
>
>>[The U.S.] First world? Maybe by some technology and financial power, but
>>neither by political standards, nor by credibility of its government. A
>>president not elected by the majority of the voters, the voting system
>>faultier than once in east Germany, power-shortages like in Siberia,
>>human rights non-existent if you unfortunately become suspect of certain
>>crimes, big brother around the corner and in the sky, ... I'd rather
>>say: A threshold country on its way back into the middle ages - only
>>with TV.
>
>
> I think that you are exaggerating, perhaps deliberately for
> effect. What mainly distinguishes so called "first world"
> countries is rule of law. Second is economic and technical
> progress, and a close third is form of government (where
> this is independent of the most important "rule of law").
Interesting that Lee chose to put these criteria in this order.
At first I thought he was itemizing the "three worlds'" most salient
aspects in the modern reading. This is due to my recent reading:
The term "Tiers Monde" is attributed to French sociologist
Georges Balandier around the time of the Hungary revolt (1956).
Quoting from succinct text I found on the Web and believe to be
substantially corret:
""
To Balandier, the First World was the industrialized West,
the Second World was the communist nations of the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe, and the Third World was all the rest.
""
This writer goes on to say that over time it's gotten blurry.
He then says that nowadays, apparently "First" is still used to
refer to the industrial West, "Second" is those countries which
have advanced through tech or oil, and "Third" is everybody else.
This dovetails with Lee's comments in a way that made me blink.
Me, I'd be happy to have the USA called Second World (in homage
to its being located in the Post-Rennaissance "New World")--
especially if being in the First ("Old") World engenders the
hauteur and posture exhibited by some Old World residents on-list.
MMB
The USA is the NYC of the world. I didn't plan it or wish it that way.
It might be sick in spots, but it still has more than a few T-cells left.
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