Just the latest social group that’s still broadly acceptable to shit on.

There’s not a ton of global census data out there, but in Canada trans and non-binary people make up 0.33% of the population. Which means there’s a lot of people who don’t know anyone who is trans or non-binary. Unfortunately there’s also a lot of people who are unwilling to emphasize, or even sympathize, for those they feel are different or strange to them. It take time and effort to listen to others’ stories and to gain appreciation for their perspective, and it’s an effort many people are uncomfortable making if it feels they are deviating too far from society’s norm. What you’re observing is those in power taking advantage of the same human weakness that’s been used forever to discriminate on whoever the current permissible outgroup to hate is.

How many times have you heard, “I don’t care about anyone being/doing Y, but…”, and then proceed to say some sort of transphobic, homophobic, racist, or sexist shit? When I grew up it was the G in LGBT. When my parents grew up it was African Americans. Women only got the right to vote a century ago, you better believe some of our great granduncles had some shit to say that would make today’s uncles look like saints.

That fucking watermark…

The etymology section of your link suggests different:

The demographer, anthropologist, and historian Alfred Sauvy, in an article published in the French magazine L’Observateur, August 14, 1952, coined the term third world (tiers monde), referring to countries that were playing a small role in international trade and business. His usage was a reference to the Third Estate, the commoners of France who, before and during the French Revolution, opposed the clergy and nobles, who composed the First Estate and Second Estate, respectively (hence the use of the older form tiers rather than the modern troisième for “third”). Sauvy wrote, “This third world ignored, exploited, despised like the third estate also wants to be something.”

But you’re right in that the term began to be used far more widely during the Cold War for political alignment.

Forgot the part where management also says use it or lose it, your vacation no longer rolls over, and your vacation bank now has an expiry date. But thanks again for all your hard work.

Classic Dutch beach volleyball sleeping positions

Same with your side gig.

It is not a flex if your primary job isn’t enough to pay the bills. It’s a societal failure that wages have not kept up with inflation and that capitalism continues to filter the benefits of increased productivity to ownership at the expense of labor. Being forced to cope with your own exploitation, or worse, figuring out how to exploit others, is not the flex you think it is

And if it ain’t about the money, it’s definitely not a flex that you filled your free time with more work. Unless you’re trying to make your side gig into your 9-5, there is a world of activities, hobbies, and pastimes to better yourself that you are missing out on.