Today we had a teleconference with a member of the department of state. He started off with the topic of globalization in general. He made points on the good effects of globalization in the world. These are: how global price levels are lower and this is important for poorer countries in the world, increasing trade, movement of people or immigration, exchange in information and also knowledge, it empowers consumers, it gives efficient resources, gives exposure to other cultures, increases humanity. In his own opinion he thinks that the government is limited in the issue of globalization. He quoted the statement “No pain, no game.” Everything wont ever be perfect. Questions from the Founders consisted of Immigration, Urbanization, Americanization, Cultural extension, and the difference between propaganda and public diplomacy. When asked about Immigration he made the points on how all countries not only the united states is have having cultural pressures, how the government can only take a limited role in this issue in globalization, and how the united states needs the illegal immigrants; also how illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from legal immigrants. When on the topic of Urbanization he hit the points of: internal immigration, how urbanization leads to immigration, how a plan of action is to slow down urbanization and making it manageable, he also said that urbanization is a growing problem in the world. Coming to Americanization he simply stated that the media: TV, music, movies, shows, etc. aren’t American Culture.
Another hot topic during our teleconference was problem of cultural globalization. And the representative of the State Department insisted on the fact that local cultural problems should be solved by local government. And American government doesn’t have a lot of impact in the sphere of culture. In the opinion of the member of the State Department cultural globalization can’t be defined as Americanization because of the limited role of the governments in globalization. But still two most important players of the cultural globalization are China and the US, so the impact of these two countries is bigger than others. So we can see that the State Department doesn’t care a lot about harmful effect of the cultural globalization. At a close we talked about the difference between propaganda and and public diplomacy; he considered propaganda to be a method to shape a persons opinion or thought, where as public diplomacy to be a distribution of facts and thoughts.
Anderson Cooper shout-out
Hi, I am Alex
I am from BFTF Globalization group
Hve you seen our video question to 2008 USA presidential candidates on Youtube ?
Not yet ? Then visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbvAXy6Zurs and watch our video. Do you see the guy which comes out from under the camera in the end of the video? It’s me. Funny ? Unexpected ? Then you can comment and rate it on the same web page. You can ask who is Anderson Cooper (the man I am talking to).Actually he chooses the videos on you tube. Here you can find a little about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Cooper.
You can also ask if it was so necessary to do like that. And I shall answer Yes, and here are the main reasons.
1.Somethimes candidates don’t answer the questions they are ask, they just ignore it.
2.One of the main factors the video to be chosen is uniqueness. And I think it is unique because nobody does such a thing.
3.Also my appearing is funny, and it makes the video a little happy
Thank you for the time you spend with me and our video. And remember as many people watch our video as many chances it has to be chosen.
The Others
Why do we need to care about the rich-poor gap? Why should we bother, sitting in our air-conditioned, beautifully furnished houses, that there are people out there who do not have even their most basic human needs satisfied?
For some people it may seem normal that by working harder, they deserve to be paid more. In essence, it is indeed so. I agree, it may seem unfair. But we should not forget that nobody can choose his country, parents, or living conditions. Nobody can shape his own destiny from the first year of his life. Our parents have to do that for us. And not everyone has that privlege - or has this privilige turned into an obstacle.
That is why we should not turn our backs to the problem. It could easily be any one of us. Eveyone can feel like a wanderer, searching for something or somebody. Some people get a chance to reach safe land again. And others have no harbor at all.
I dedicate this post to The Others. They are those “subjects” that invade our spotless blue horizon, remind us of their existance, of their misery and dirt. And one day, when they leave this world, nobody will ever know. There are no grieving relatives. Nobody feels their absence. Nobody remembers they ever existed. They die in silence, leaving only the silver dust of a tortured soul to remind us… that we should have cared, that we should have acted.
We do not know their names. And sometimes we just act as if we haven’t noticed them. Becuase for you, your world is more important then the world of the others. It’s not your fault, you think… I wonder, if everybody got a chance to switch bodies with one of those people for a day, would the world be a better place? I wish I knew… But it is not that simple. In fact, when there are people involved, it is never simple. “The human heart is a line, whereas mine is a circle, and I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the tight time. The consequence of this is that I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. ” (narrated by Death in Markus Zusak’s novel “The Book Thief”).
People deserve respect. And my post goes to all the kids who never eat candy, to the people who never pay for heating because the only thing that warms them is their bare skin, and to those who suffer daily.
And none of them will ever know that I care. Simply because they don’t have computers. And because I still don’t have what it needs to make an impact. But some of you do… Will YOU make a difference?
AMERICANIZATION: NEW SUNSHINE OR POISONOUS FLOW?
The
USA is undoubtedly both the main recipient of other cultures’ elements and the major distributor of its own culture.
America’s influence on globalization is really (too?) great.
Actually it’s quite difficult to analyze the phenomenon of americanization objectively: the majority of Americans regard it as a natural process, whereas non-Americans are inclined to recognize only the bad influence of cultural globalization. As a matter of fact, americanization has both positive and negative impacts, which should be considered.
Let’s begin with the drawbacks of americanization, which are quite obvious:
· Other countries are likely to lose their cultural identity.
· Low quality of certain American production (e.g. fast food and meaningless movies) endangers physical and mental health of customers.
· Elements of American culture, copied by other countries, often turn out to be even worse than originals, so human culture as a whole deteriorates.
Without a doubt, the aforesaid consequences of cultural globalization sound threatening. However, there are some significant pros of americanization:
· The aspiration to copy from
America pushes other countries to develop.
· Cultural unification often helps people understand one another better.
· Americanization cancels borders: people all over the world, regardless of their ethnicities, learn English.
As we can see, americanization can be both constructive and destructive. The question raised in the title of this article is therefore extremely controversial; the possible answer to it could be: “Americanization is shining poisonous flow.”
Only in a Mad World is There Such a Wide Rich-Poor Gap
Created and produced by Ellie, Lily, Mia, Vanja, and Alex of the Global Rich-Poor Gap Group.
An Introduction
Here’s an introductory movie from Nancy Birdsall, the President of the Center for Global Development regarding globalization and the global rich-poor gap.
So who are we? and what is this all about?
My name is Elliana, and I am a BFTF Founder this summer from California. As the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Initiative’s Founders, we represent high school students from all over the world. We met at Wakeforest University about, and have been together for about three weeks thus far. As part of this diplomacy program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, we have been attending different classes, from Citizenship to Blogging. For our current Advocacy classes, we are participating in the CNN and Youtube presidential candidates’ debate.
The candidates for the 2008 election have thus far spoken mostly about the rich-poor gap in the
United States, but we want to know about the same problem globally. What will each of the democratic candidates do to narrow this gap if they are elected? The rich-poor gap is made larger by such factors as immigration and urbanization. A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half of the world adult population owned barely 1% of global wealth. People in developing countries are immigrating to wealthier countries for better work, pay, housing, healthcare, etc., and as a result, the countries they left become even worse economically. With no technological advantages there is no future for urbanization and economic growth. Hence the gap between the rich and poor is created. The developed countries with resources continue to prosper and work with the materials and people they have, while the developing countries are trapped in an inefficiency pattern.
The Middle Class
Were talking so much about the the rich-poor gap; about the upper and lower class. So, what about the middle class?? This is exactly what these videos show; they show what is happening to the middle class while the rich get richer and poor get poorer.
Americanization
Everywhere we look, we can see American labels: Mc Donald’s,
Danny’s, Adidas, Nike, “Friends”, Coca-Cola, Sprite and others.
Why do they mean so much in the today’s world? Why do we keep trusting them?
Only because we’re influenced by advertisements and mass media.
Is there any special value in American world? I don’t really think so.
Everyone in world seems to know the label of MacDonald’s, but hardly ever anyone would be able to remember a picture by American artist. This means that they spread economically beneficial stuff, which exterminate our CULTURES.
Americanization
Look out the window. What can you see? I guess I know the answer: MacDonald’s, and adverts of new
Hollywood movie, and people walking down the street drinking Coke…
Nowadays, globalization changes the world rapidly. We can talk a lot about the phenomenon of globalization, but actually now it’s nothing but Americanization. And it is clear why. The flows of globalization are exports and imports, tourism, mass media, migration of population… So the leading countries have the biggest impact on others, including cultural integration. We all are influenced by the
USA, as one of economical leaders. Their culture integrates into our everyday life. But it is like a one-way road. Our cultural heritage is exterminated by tones of fast-food, r’n’b, American brands and labels… Using its economical power, Americans promote their production all over the globe, without any significant support of other cultures to develop and be recognized in the
USA. American stuff is not bad. There is just too much of it.
Look out the window. What can you see, wherever you are? MacDonald’s, and adverts of new
Hollywood movie, and people walking down the street drinking Coke? No? Then you might be living at Mars.