ninety-nine problems
I feel like rambling, and I feel like explaining myself, so here goes.
By now, most people have been sublimated by the memetic appeal of the phrase "first world problems", ie the type of crap that only people in a overwealthy, pampered society would be overly bothered by. A lot of folk in real life have had to deal with third world problems - ie REAL problems - because of the recession: lack of food, shelter, medical attention, that sort of thing.
A lot of what I have to deal with, instead, are what I've dubbed "second world problems".
For those who don't know their socio-political history, the whole Three Worlds theory first started as an "Us Vs Them" portrayal in the Cold War era, strictly political. The particulars are sketchy, but the First World was whichever side you in particular were on (usually the US's side, or one of its closest allies such as Britain or France), the Second World was the other side (in turn typically the communist nations of the world). The Third World was unaligned countries. This got noticed when the definitions took a more financially-slanted term - most of what had been labeled as 'third world' were typically too impoverished to CARE about things like WW3, a nuclear winter was nothing when everyone in your village was dying of cholera, as an example.
However, as the "Second World" died out in usage after the cold war, I've kind of adopted it as a go-between. Second world problems, for me, are the type of problems that you wouldn't get in a third-world country... but that you WOULD get in the less fortunate sectors of the first world, namely slums.
"That hooker gave me an STD" would be a second-world problem. "I'm trapped in a rival gang's turf without any means of defending myself" is another. "My father-in-law is selling his prescription drugs to get a nicotine fix", in a more personal example. Stuff that is deeply disconcerting, but does not directly counteract the BASIC needs for living - food, water, shelter - even if they are potentially life-threatening.
Where do my recent computer issues fall? I'm not sure. By all rights, were this a third-world scenario (or even second-world) I would already be dead, insane, or imprisoned. I cannot handle face-to-face social interaction. Period. The computer, and the internet, is my voice, it is my sanity, it is what keeps me alive.
So it's hard to say. "The complex machinery that is allowing me to function on a level resembling human is starting to fail" isn't really a shallow, minor inconvenience like a first world problem, but... it still sounds overly priveledged.
I don't know where I was going with this. I just wanted to ramble. Hope nobody minds, as I don't much care.
By now, most people have been sublimated by the memetic appeal of the phrase "first world problems", ie the type of crap that only people in a overwealthy, pampered society would be overly bothered by. A lot of folk in real life have had to deal with third world problems - ie REAL problems - because of the recession: lack of food, shelter, medical attention, that sort of thing.
A lot of what I have to deal with, instead, are what I've dubbed "second world problems".
For those who don't know their socio-political history, the whole Three Worlds theory first started as an "Us Vs Them" portrayal in the Cold War era, strictly political. The particulars are sketchy, but the First World was whichever side you in particular were on (usually the US's side, or one of its closest allies such as Britain or France), the Second World was the other side (in turn typically the communist nations of the world). The Third World was unaligned countries. This got noticed when the definitions took a more financially-slanted term - most of what had been labeled as 'third world' were typically too impoverished to CARE about things like WW3, a nuclear winter was nothing when everyone in your village was dying of cholera, as an example.
However, as the "Second World" died out in usage after the cold war, I've kind of adopted it as a go-between. Second world problems, for me, are the type of problems that you wouldn't get in a third-world country... but that you WOULD get in the less fortunate sectors of the first world, namely slums.
"That hooker gave me an STD" would be a second-world problem. "I'm trapped in a rival gang's turf without any means of defending myself" is another. "My father-in-law is selling his prescription drugs to get a nicotine fix", in a more personal example. Stuff that is deeply disconcerting, but does not directly counteract the BASIC needs for living - food, water, shelter - even if they are potentially life-threatening.
Where do my recent computer issues fall? I'm not sure. By all rights, were this a third-world scenario (or even second-world) I would already be dead, insane, or imprisoned. I cannot handle face-to-face social interaction. Period. The computer, and the internet, is my voice, it is my sanity, it is what keeps me alive.
So it's hard to say. "The complex machinery that is allowing me to function on a level resembling human is starting to fail" isn't really a shallow, minor inconvenience like a first world problem, but... it still sounds overly priveledged.
I don't know where I was going with this. I just wanted to ramble. Hope nobody minds, as I don't much care.