Tuesday, August 5, 2008
from others to fellow, literally.
Walking down the street after buying the latest iPhone 3G, hoping to show it off. however, 'everywhere' is used to describe the iPhone; Apple is 'everywhere'! I was paying too much attention to my hand-phone when a huge truck whizzed past me. It was a FedEx International delivery truck rushing to meet their deadlines. Does not this scene sound familiar? Here's an account given by a Dominican Republic citizen. "I remember in 1997 when my small village, with population less than 1000, went into culture shock when electricity was finally provided, utility service for telephones became available, and civil engineering tore up streets installing a water system. The trade-off now, in 2003? Television antennas clutter the sky, and there's no less than a dozen places where you can access the Internet, but the government never returned to repave the streets - hence, the backwoods dirt-road effect everywhere within the village." Such is the effect of globalisation.
Globalization101.org has defined the phenomenon of globalization as the "acceleration and intensification of economic interaction among the people, companies, and governments of different nations." Jeremy Rifkin, a prominent critic of globalisation and genetic engineering writes that: "The powers that be have long believed that the world is divided into two spheres of influence: commerce and government. Now organizations representing the cultural sphere -- the environment, species preservation, rural life, health, food and cuisine, religion, human rights, the family, women's issues, ethnic heritage, the arts and other quality-of-life issues -- are pounding on the doors at world economic and political forums and demanding a place at the table. They represent the birth of a new "civil-society politics" and an antidote to the forces pushing for globalisation."
With the rapid expansion/development of globalisation, everyone is living in a global village. National boundaries are obsolete as anyone (with the money) can fly to places in the world which he names. With physical boundaries broken, globalisation promotes the interaction and communication of different cultures and races. However, globalisation is at the same time driving some native cultures towards extinction from the face of the earth. Whether a not its advantages outweigh the benefits, will reamin the focus of argument through-out the years.
Globalisation is barely avoidable for countries and failing to keep up with this world pace will be at the expense of the country's economical growth. Globalisation can been seen as a double-edge sword. It has helped to give more prominence to a greater sense of nationalism and individuality amongst countries and more specifically cultures. This has lead to people realising that they need to protect their own national and cultural identity from the "external forces". This draws attention to the nation's distinctive culture highlighting its strengths and covering up their mis-doings. Thus although globalisation is subconsciously changing our mindset, the way we behave, the way we dress etc but it has undeniably helped to highlight different distinctive cultures.
Preserving culture and naional identity is no doubt important, however, being unrealistic and looking only at the disadvantages that comes with globalisation such as McDonaldisation (as Darren mentioned) will be foolish. Implementations and ideas must be put forth to keep and promote native culture through or under globalisation.
Andrea Khor 2B
=)
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