The Possible Outcomes of Globalization
Human beings have always been dirty, corrupt, deceitful and horrible. But humans also have some redeeming factors that account for our current state of relative peace, our ability to innovate, the ability for great kindness and to care for other living things. All because each individual person is as different as the last with their own unique experiences and morals and standards that accumulate to our own incredibly different personalities and attitudes. Yet there are those who believe that striping us of the things that makes us… s will be a great improvement on society even when the evidence points elsewhere. There is a very clear disagreement in our society about what we should do and what the benefits of globalization are. ‘Black’ and ‘White’ sides to a very grey issue. Usually people on the right will say that globalization is a good thing, giving you this; Claims increase in diversity and creativity, trade becomes easier and cheaper, goods become more accessible and cheaper, and that everyone will be materially richer. Countries are becoming more alike in the sense of offering some more commonly diverse choices. ”-Tyler Cowen(supporter of Globalization) The other side to this are people that are decidedly on the left and they will say things like; Homogenization of culture, loss of creativity, total loss of some cultures, people will become easier to control through advertisements, society becomes about working and keeping ‘afloat’ and not living an actual life, creates violence within people try to protect their culture. ”Fast food… ecomes a fueling up ritual… but if it social or family values is what you about… then its a disaster. ”-Benjamin Barber (advocate against globalization). Although I say most conservatives and most liberals is because some conservatives don’t see it for what is and buy into what the businessman would say and that all cultures would get a bit of every other culture and are fearful of the blending of culture and are against it. Some liberals think that bringing money to the third world countries, and many more reasons.
This is not to say that the political spectrum doesn’t play a role but rather a major one, as most people on the right see it for what it is and support it because globalization creates wealth for the multinational corporations and destroys the native peoples culture and making them more focused on work and it becomes a win-win situation. Liberals are fearful of the corporation as once the people are on the bandwagon it’s very easy to keep them on it and the power of the people of those nations falls to the businesses.
Another reason for concern on the part of all citizens regardless of political ideologies is the outsourcing of jobs, which we are already seeing the effects of as unemployment “unemployment rate moving to 9. 5% in the U. S. , the highest level since 1983. The same thing happened around the globe; the unemployment rate surged to record high values. ”-London Forex Broadsheet. My opinion is that there are large winnings and some very hard losses to be had.
On one side it boosts the local economy and overall wealth of the certain poorer country, and poverty by any measure is a horrible thing to live in. Unfortunately it destroys the culture that has survived for possibly thousands of years “Just over 38% of global cultures are in danger of extinction or are already extinct”-UNESCO and we lose some of the history that makes the world the way it is, also globalization can destroy the local environment and cause serious physical injury and sickness. ”About one half of the forests that covered the Earth are gone.
Each year, another 16 million hectares disappear. ”-globalchange. umich. edu And the only reason they live in poverty is not because they’re useless and lazy but because of the current global economic system we use. So overall I believe that the losses outweigh the possible gains. The driving forces behind globalization is the corporations they first lobby the government to build an airport saying it will bring more tourists and money. afterwards they move in and set up factories (depending on the ethics or pressure put on them by the public) or sweatshops.
So the increased tourism brings foreign ideas and technology like: democracy, freedom, wealth, internet, computers, TV’s, etc. After they make some money in a dangerous mine or a low paying factory they buy a TV/Computer and they see what we have and they want it, they see our big houses and big cars and they will save up and buy one. when they do that they adopt our north american culture and they stop going to church because they can get more money working weekends, they dress like we do and act like we do.
They want to be like us so they tell their parents that their culture is dumb and look how this new culture brought us out of poverty, and how we don’t have to pick through garbage anymore. Once people think like this and act like this it causes other people to join them, thinking “Well he has a car a house and nice clothes, why can’t I have that? ” So as more people drop their culture and uniqueness the faster it speeds up. The possibilities of an outcome of this en masse shift towards a North American lifestyle are endless, but what is almost certain is the fact that 99. % of the time this will end badly and not just for the humans that live here but the entire planet. So I will propose 3 scenarios that generally cover the possible outcomes at this point in time. Scenario 1) As more and more people get cars, computers, and use more electricity the CO2 emissions increase exponentially and we get to a tipping point in the atmosphere and a cascade/domino effect happens. Methane from the bottom of the ocean is released into the atmosphere and the Earth heats up even more.
Then the Amazon burns heating it even more, etc. etc. and the world fries and after 100000 years the Earth is plunged into an ice age. By the way almost everyone died. Scenario 2) As more and more jobs are outsourced to cheaper labour the North American way of life collapses because there’s no jobs and with no money you can’t buy anything. Then the whole global economic market crashes and burns. World is plunged into WWIII for the remaining resources, nuclear bombs are launched, whole countries become uninhabitable.
Billions die. Scenario 3) In a global effort we switch over to renewable resources and solve the global energy crisis and with that we are able to stabilize the economy and regain peace. It is then possible to help and provide electricity to developing countries. There are many proposed solutions to the crisis we are dealing with but just as with many other problems many of the ‘solutions’ prove to be ineffective or even more harmful. So what will it take to have a solution that will save us?
Unfortunately its too late to have a gradual change that would allow for people to adapt comfortably to the new lifestyle that i am about to propose. We will have to do this quickly and without hesitation because the longer we wait the more painful this will be. In scenario 3 of the last paragraph is what we will have to do as currently many of the wars being fought around the world are about or were started by the need of the black gold, oil, and n order to restore peace we need to switch over to a more renewable way of life especially here in North America. Not only will this reduce the incentive to kill each other over something that will become increasingly obsolete but it will also help calm the people who are angry at the way we live here because of our wastefulness. Also legislation by the government will have to be passed in order to make it harder for corporations to treat people poorly and pay them less, also make them create jobs in their home (eg; US, Canada, UK, etc. ) countries.
Increased tourism from more money and cheaper bills will help reinforce the local cultures as people usually travel to see the culture. Advertisements will have to be localized and not forcing the American way of life down peoples throats. I believe that this will, if not completely solve this issue, help out greatly. Unfortunately people can’t see what is happening around them and then when they finally realize what has happened its too late, and that is the problem, why we can’t solve this crisis and why we can’t solve many other difficult issues that exist.
The fact is that until something catastrophic happens no one will do anything about it, history shows this and as the saying goes History always repeats itself. Globalization will continue to be a problem for a very long time and when the mass population sees what has happened it will be too late. all we can do is support groups in foreign countries that try to sustain the culture and language of their ancestors.
