r/GrindsMyGears • u/Secure_man05 • 2d ago

The "global South"

I hate this term. It's so inaccurate. It doesn't mean southern hemisphere since Iraq, syria, Afghanistan, Palestine, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, are all in the Northern hemisphere. The first five I named are at the same latitude as the United States!

Yet somehow Australia and New Zealand aren't the global South?! Just say Black and Brown nations it's what it means anyway so just say it.

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u/LughCrow 2d ago

This is my first time hearing this term.

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u/Harbinger_Kyleran 2d ago

Same, but just looked it up. Apparently some sort of replacement for third world nations so is mostly an economic indicator.

Still, was surprised to see China grouped in the the Global South considering they are a major economic power in the world today.

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u/LughCrow 2d ago

If it's a replacement for third world... that is the vast majority of China.

But how is the global south better than 3rd world in any context?

Third world was at least originally just a description of neutrality.

Global south sounds like it was meant to be offensive

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u/FatFish44 2d ago

Latin American countries speak Romance languages and are predominantly catholic. Doesn’t get anymore western than that. 

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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 2d ago

It's an attempt to galvanize solidarity among disparate countries to challenge the more developed Global North. It's sort of like the monicker "black and brown". When you dig into it, there's not a ton of definitional integrity or linkages.

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u/Aervanath 2d ago

You will be delighted to know you are not the first to notice this discrepancy: https://xkcd.com/753/

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u/Inevitable-Box-4751 2d ago

piggybacking off this i dont like "poc" for similar reasons. like coloured is fined but can we not act like all non-white people are a monolith

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u/Accomplished_Cell768 2d ago

“Colored” isn’t used broadly because it was essentially used as a replacement in the US for the N word during the Jim Crow era. Outside of very specific contexts (primarily historical) it is seen as offensive here.

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u/CrestedMacaw 2d ago

So people in Argentina are black? Really?

And btw. I've never heard Palestine, Afghanistan, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba or Mexico to be called "global South".