First world problems

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Jargon, buzzwords, slogans

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First world problems is a piece of rhetoric mainly used for two purposes: (1) to dismiss another person's grievance as trivial, and/or (2) to put an overreaction into perspective.

The underlying idea behind both is that other people have it worse, namely by deriving from the nature of the complainer's grievance the implication that they are otherwise comfortable; comfortable enough to complain about something that would only bother someone used to a life of luxury. In case (1), this implication is used in the sense of shaming the complainer for having bothered to speak at all, whereas in case (2) "first world problem" is invoked to counter someone in the process of making a mountain out of a molehill.

It may also be applied ironically to the speaker's own grievances, as self-deprecating humor.[1][2]

Note that use of the terms 'first world' and 'third world' is discouraged nowadays, since they refer to an outdated view of assigning ranks to countries according to their economic and political status and influence.

Contents

[edit] Xenophobic implications

A major issue with the use of 'first world problems' is the implication that second and third world countries do not have the minor concerns or small luxuries the phrase is often applied to. (Pretending for the moment that there is a clearly defined 'first world', which is only found in 'the West', and that there is a clearly defined 'second' and 'third world', which is the rest of the world.) This contributes to the stereotyping of non-Western countries as backwards, poor, or ignorant, and often betrays the speaker's ignorance as to the actual quality of life in non-industrialized countries.

Examples of problematic applications of the phrase include:

  • Complaints about emotional issues, especially those involved in dating and romance (dehumanizes non-Westerners by denying their emotions)
  • Complaints about traffic or cars (apparently, these people have never driven in Beijing or New Delhi)
  • Complaints about one's appearance (even non-Western cultures have standards of beauty)
  • Complaints about money (not all non-Westerners are poor)
  • Complaints about food (you don't have to be Western to want your food to taste good)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. First World Problem, OED
  2. This song runs down some "first world problems".
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