Third World?

So there was a very interesting discussion that erupted the night I was watching the fireworks. Somehow it was brought up that there are people who consider St. Thomas to be part of the Third World. Well, I have long counted myself among those people, but I refrained from joining the conversation because people seemed rather indignant at the proposal. But then again, I suppose that many people think "Third World" has negative connotations, whereas I find it more neutral and certainly less insulting than "developing world" or any other of the other alternatives. And it means at least we don't number among the nations that went out and colonized others.

Later on, though, I mentioned it to my cousin who had been at the party and another friend. My cousin asked me how I can consider St. Thomas Third World when I've been to a country like Haiti. But what about all the countries that are far better off than Haiti, but still considered Third World? Then I brought up the fact that we have neighborhoods like Savan, Nadir and Smith Bay. Then the power outages. But those are all aesthetic.

I remember when I worked at the law firm one summer in college and I looked at some demographics for the Virgin Islands. That's when I realized what part of the world I was in. Poverty levels, birth rates, infant mortality, distribution of wealth, it all points to the fact that we are not on par with the industrialized world. My friend decided that we are a Third World society with First World amenities. I can accept that. I'm sure they said the same about Suriname when it was still Dutch Guiana, and look at it now.

Funny then, that we had a power outage the other night and this picture occurred to me. I'll title it "Third World but with First World Amenities".