THE FOLLY OF EUPHEMISM.

Your tax dollars, and your tax deductions (net of the value of the dweeby tote bag) are at work.  "[T]he very term 'Third World. is a problem."  It's the same sort of sugar-coating the deficiencies by making them sound less bad that comes with "intellectually challenged" or "differently-abled" or "irony-impaired."

Years ago, third world countries were those neither in the communist bloc nor members of the Western Alliance.

The "First World" consisted of the U.S., Western Europe and their allies. The "Second World" was the so-called communist bloc: the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and friends. The remaining nations, which aligned with neither group, were assigned to the "Third World."

Put another way, these might be former colonies, still working on self-government, or resource-rich but institution-poor, or perhaps places where the two Great Powers might wage proxy wars. For a while, China and India were vying for leadership of those countries, and their preferred term was "nonaligned."

These days, a scatological term the outgoing president notoriously used might summarize the category.  "Because many countries in the Third World were impoverished, the term came to be used to refer to countries where poverty is rampant, where health care is inadequate, and where democracy does not flourish."  And there, dear reader, is the problem.  No matter what polite term the Guardians of Woke Manners agree on, it is always possible to say that term in a sarcastic way, or to simply use the scatological term.