#FirstWorldProblems #WhiteGirlProblems #MiddleclassProblems – we see you says @WritersofColour
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#WhitePeopleActivities ‘self-deprecating’ hashtags that ultimately cast white people as the sole occupants of a literate upper middle class
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…to which Cole then further responded:
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Alexis Madrigal (@alexismadrigal) at the Atlantic helpfully puts my “First World problems” rant into essay form: theatlantic.com/technology/…
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Pull my calloused finger. RT @mat_johnson Or as I like to tell my student writers of infinite antebellum gloom: Even slaves told fart jokes.
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Teju Cole’s rant as he calls (we think it a bit better than a rant) reminded us of the following fantastic article first published in Granta Magazine.
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‘How to Write About Africa’
by Binyavanga Wainaina
Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title. Subtitles may include the words ‘Zanzibar’, ‘Masai’, ‘Zulu’, ‘Zambezi’, ‘Congo’, ‘Nile’, ‘Big’, ‘Sky’,‘Shadow’, ‘Drum’, ‘Sun’ or ‘Bygone’. Also useful are words such as ‘Guerrillas’, ‘Timeless’, ‘Primordial’ and ‘Tribal’. Note that ‘People’ means Africans who are not black, while ‘The People’ means black Africans. Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.
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- Oh Come All Ye White Saviors (mediadiversified.org)
- The White-Savior Industrial Complex – Teju Cole – The Atlantic
- Twitter Teaches You How to Hashtag (mashable.com)
- The case against “first world problems” (thewellesleynews.com)
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I would say #FirstWorldProblems (or memes with the same caption) are being primarily sarcastic, as to show that some people are so spoiled and privileged that they make a big deal out of petty and unimportant things. Although I completely agree that First World, or Third World for that matter, are problematic concepts (where is the Second World, btw?), these hashtags are probably not meant to belittle disadvantaged people. The primary purpose is rather to mock spoiled morons – and I would even say that it’s salutary that they are able to make fun of themselves.
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Very interesting piece.
I completely agree that much of the West has a 2d view of the developing and that lives are much more alike than they are different.
I always took the term ‘First World Problem’ to mean a problem that takes on an extra importance above its worth because the person experiencing it has few other issues in their life to be concerned with. It doesn’t mean the problem is exclusive to the ‘first world’.
I also don’t like the terms first and third world.
Thanks for writing.
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