= a place where even the wealthy suffer, and only every third word is intelligible during a zoomcall.
The Coronavirus does not discriminate between socio-economic strata, leveling all of Humanity; so when a grey rectangle appears on our screens--YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION HAS BECOME UNSTABLE-- we can barely make out every third word, combined with TERRIBLE distortion, during our only tenuous links to the outside world-- our [Zoom} calls-- & we are all, thus, living in "A Third-Word Country!"
When one who is inexperienced and/or not completely fit for the task at hand is given a chance to try it without assistance from a more experienced person, they are being given their deserved third string solo.
Phil: I'll be away Friday, so the intern will have to finish the project proposal.
Clyde: But he's only an intern! Shouldn't George help him with it?