What are not first world problems?

Rape
Homelessness
Domestic abuse
Wearing socks with sanda…no, wait!

Malnutrition
Lack of clean drinking water
Clitoridectomies
Refusal of men to use condoms during intercourse
Parasitic diseases (Guinea worm, for example) (Often related to tainted water sources).

Having enough to eat, clean water, access to education, fear of abduction, being bombed daily, etc.

Bad health, illness and disease.

Basic needs not being met. This includes having enough water and food, but also the freedom from violence or serious health issues.

These are all great answers. Thanks!

What are your thoughts on this old meme? Have you seen it evolve? Years ago, it was funny and helped direct our attention to how fortunate we are. But lately, I have seen it used in different ways.

On Friday, I was talking “free will” with a coworker (we’ve been having an ongoing conversation about this for awhile now). In the middle of our great discussion, a guy from implementation came over and said, “Philosophy! Pfff…first-world problem, guys. First world problem.” This same thing (essentially) happened twice in the past few months. Discussion was occurring (in one case, it was the potential legal issues surrounding self-driving cars, and in the other, it was the pros/cons of standardized testing in education), and the conversation was killed by the FWP bomb. I’m seeing it pop up here as well.

How do you feel about the ratio of first-world problems vs non-first-world problems here on fluther? Are you concerned, or is it still worthwhile discussing things that are not in the list?

I don’t consider first world problems unworthy of discussion. We have the energy to define – and then question -our beliefs precisely because we don’t have to worry about where the next meal is going to come from.

Where there is hunger, disease and violence, new ideas are going to be disregarded as unimportant.

Being trapped in circumstances with no hope of ever getting out.

I don’t think identifying a First World Problem as such is inappropriate, I think that using that phrase to diminish and dismiss the discussion is arrogant and rude. Most of us here on Fluther, and in my real life are products of the first world, why should we not discuss our lives?

We discuss all sorts of things. It’s allowed.

famine

I have also seen what you mention, that some people seem to throw the phrase out there as a way to diminish any conversation about things that they deem irrelevant. Perhaps the next time, you could say to the implementation dude, “You’re so right, dude. Come join us and tell us your plans for solving the problem of ensuring access to clean drinking water across the globe.”

Most of us are not in a position to solve the big problems in our world, but we can choose actions that support our positions on the issue by buying from companies that use fair trade, or don’t use GMO crops, or hire women from shelters, etc. It does behoove us to be educated consumers in that regard. Beyond that, we are social creatures, so we do make conversation about things that are current in our realm of awareness.

If someone is pitching a fit because the store didn’t have the nail polish that perfectly matches their dress for the wedding next week, that’s when I’m inclined to think “first world problem” because of the high importance they seem to grant to such a superficial thing. If someone just expresses mild annoyance at the same problem, they seem to have their priorities straight, as it were. It’s all contextual, to me.

@ucme…I didn’t quite understand your post. How are rape, homelessness, and domestic abuse not first world problems?

Depression

There are plenty of depressed people in America.

Most issues labeled as First World Problems – if the label is applied correctly – are considered to be more or less trivial in comparison to their opposite: Third World Problems.

Complaining at a restaurant, for example, that “The portions are too large!” is clearly a First World Problem. The “problem” is trivial compared to “I can never get enough to eat! I am always hungry, and my children are starving!” That’s a non-trivial problem.

So a discussion of philosophy and free will during some leisure time at work really is a First World Problem compared to a discussion about, for example, how to get one’s relatives out of a prison where they are being beaten and tortured for daring to oppose the ruling political party. That’s another non-trivial problem. It’s also not uncommon, I suppose, for people who can barely eke out an existence in back-breaking labor to not even have a few moments of “leisure time” at their labor, either. That’s certainly not a First World Problem.

It’s not to say that problems of overeating in the First World don’t exist, or that discussions of philosophy and free will are mere trifles; those are issues that are certainly worthy of address. But when one is fighting for one’s life, those things are not in the fore of one’s mind.

And that’s also not to say that problems of hunger and political violence and repression don’t exist in the “First World” either! Those problems certainly do exist here, and they are no more trivial when they occur here than they are elsewhere. Labeling some of the issues that other jellies have identified as “non First World Problems” as FWP simply because they occur in the First World simply demonstrates a huge misunderstanding of a simple enough term.

@hominid The next time someone interrupts a philosophical discussion you’re having with the phrase “first world problem,” you might remind them that there are and have been philosophers on every inhabited continent in every time period (even if most of the West’s attention is focused on the dead white guys).

@Dutchess_III The phrase “first world problem” typically implies that something is only a problem in the first world. So saying that something is not a first world problem doesn’t mean that it doesn’t occur in the first world; it says that it doesn’t only occur in the first world. That, I think, is how the problems mentioned by @ucme are supposed to count as not being first world problems.

Oh. I can see that. But that’s not how I interpreted it.

Then that is your problem.

It is a first world problem!

We are the world, we are the childr…

Being forcefully married off to some old smelly bastard when the girl is about 11.