# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 135
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2681 "2025-12-29T23:03:47Z")
Really? I thought that third group were the non aligned nations. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2682 "2025-12-29T23:33:50Z")
[The Master Speaks](https://www.straightdope.com/21341680/what-s-the-origin-of-third-world-what-are-the-first-and-second-worlds). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2683 "2025-12-29T23:36:58Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Really? I thought that third group were the non aligned nations. How does that differ from what I said? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2684 "2025-12-29T23:40:56Z")
You said, “The Third World was everywhere else, the places where the US and USSR were competing to exert their influence.” I always understood Third World nations to mean developing ones ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2685 "2025-12-30T00:05:44Z")
Wow! It’s been so long since I’ve seen a “The Master Speaks” cite! I almost forgot why I originally found the dope! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2686 "2025-12-30T00:30:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I always understood Third World nations to mean developing ones Pretty much. As per Cecil’s article, in the Cold War, much of the developed world was split between the capitalist and communist developed nations, with the developing nations consisting of the “third world”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2687 "2025-12-30T00:31:02Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You said, “The Third World was everywhere else, the places where the US and USSR were competing to exert their influence.” I always understood Third World nations to mean developing ones Were there any developed countries that weren’t allied with either the West or the Soviet Block? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2688 "2025-12-30T00:35:59Z")
I suppose that Switzerland would technically be “third world”… ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2689 "2025-12-30T00:41:23Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > It’s been so long since I’ve seen a “The Master Speaks” cite! Does the master still speak? I haven’t read a column in for ever. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2690 "2025-12-30T01:00:09Z")
Well, don’t look into it, but I heard his consciousness was uploaded to AWS and he speaks via high speed fiber to his robotic assistant, Discobot, who does his earthly bidding. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2691 "2025-12-30T01:08:35Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Does the master still speak? I haven’t read a column in for ever. Cecil passed away a while back. The article in the link was dated 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2692 "2025-12-30T03:58:15Z")
The last “article” was 2 years ago. > [@Straight Dope 6/6/2023 - What did Johnny Appleseed actually do?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-6-6-2023-what-did-johnny-appleseed-actually-do/985098): > > What did Johnny Appleseed actually do? I know what you’re thinking. In an age of global upheaval, existential threats, and outrageously overpriced Taylor Swift tickets, why is your columnist writing about a guy who’s been dead for the better part of two centuries and whose chief claim to fame is that he … planted trees? I’ll tell you why. Because, to the inquiring mind, Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was John Chapman, is the most inexplicable figure in American history – a matter worth some… ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2693 "2025-12-30T04:03:37Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > Cecil passed away a while back. Cecil cannot die. Only the mortals who temporarily host his immortal essence. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2694 "2025-12-30T04:23:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Only the mortals who temporarily host his immortal essence. It was before my time. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2695 "2025-12-30T04:24:02Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > It was before my time [![](https://preview.redd.it/v1ogtkpatsz71.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=05231179bab10b0a1e6313d63b979806c92a4190) ](https://preview.redd.it/v1ogtkpatsz71.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=05231179bab10b0a1e6313d63b979806c92a4190) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2696 "2025-12-30T07:46:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Were there any developed countries that weren’t allied with either the West or the Soviet Block? South Africa? The Trump administration seems happy to accept immigrants from there, as long as they meet certain “criteria”… ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2697 "2025-12-30T10:08:19Z")
White-ever could that be? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2698 "2025-12-30T11:08:40Z")
Yes. That worked out so well for [Benjamin Schoonwinkel](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/us/trump-afrikaner-ice.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AlA.xXGp.PYZgCI4hQrYM&smid=url-share) (gift link, should work for all). ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2699 "2025-12-30T15:01:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > You said, “The Third World was everywhere else, the places where the US and USSR were competing to exert their influence.” I always understood Third World nations to mean developing ones > > Were there any developed countries that weren’t allied with either the West or the Soviet Block? I believe France could have been considered a Third World Country. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2700 "2025-12-30T15:56:50Z")
France was absolutely 1st World once postwar recovery got going. They never left NATO , just asserted independent command authority. The numbered “Worlds” did not map solely to Western Ally/Soviet Bloc/Nonaligned. Just as if not more important was Market-economy Industrialized vs. Communist Industrialized vs. “Underdeveloped”. Prosperous democratic neutrals like Switzerland were First World. But the thing in Miller’s context really is that in common Western usage the phrase “Third World” quickly evolved into the “R-word” of geopolitics and, as mentioned earlier, employed as the “polite” euphemistic way to refer to what a later President would say “s—-thole countries” but still communicating you meant poor, dirty,“backward” places. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=134) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=136)