Globalization of the Local

• "globalization means Americanization"
• Yes, that's generally what I've been led to believe. I mean, we don't really see foreign brands over here, do we? Maybe the number is growing.
• "It is becoming clear that the flat-world platform, while it has the potential to homogenize cultures, also has, I would argue, an even greater potential to nourish diversity to a degree that the world has never seen before."
• Very interesting. But wouldn't diversifying the entire world be, in a sense, homogenizing it? 
• uploading = "globalization of the local"
• Hmm... tell me more.
• "The fact that more people can now not only survive but even thrive by staying home in their native region, in their own environment, has got to be a net plus for the forces of cultural diversity versus the forces of homogeneity."
• But if people stay in their own country/culture, how does the world get diversified??
• "Even those individuals who have had to uproot themselves from developing countries to go west... have been able to take advantage of the flattening of the world to hold on to many aspects of their local culture."
• So people do need to leave their own country for this globalization of the local to work...
•  "Globalization of the local 'is globalization in reverse. Instead of global media enveloping Asia, the region's 'local' media are going global. This... is being driven by the demand for local news and information from Asia's diasporas, notably the millions of Chinese and Indian emigres now living in all parts of the world.'"
• (Same note as above.)
• "Globalization has empowering and disempowering, homogenizing and particularizing, democratizing and authoritarian tendencies all built into it."
• Both good and bad... It's basically a contradiction in itself, or at least that's how the author is explaining it. (I develop this thought further in the last bullet point.)
• Toodou = Chinese version of YouTube
• "I am confident that this flattening phase of globalization is not going to mean more Americanization, but more globalization of local cultures."
• I'm not against globalization, honestly. I think it would be really cool to have access to other cultures' products without having to travel to each country. But the "globalization of the local" that the author describes only works for people who may have left their country of origin and want to stay connected. For instance, a Japanese newspaper only has a very narrow audience in the United States, really only people who have emigrated from Japan and possibly American students studying Japanese/Japanese culture. Native Americans (not to be confused with American Indians - I mean Americans who were born in the United States) without any Japanese background would have no use for a Japanese newspaper, and so those ideas are only spread to a very small number of people. Like Toodou - it's great that Chinese people can create their own content for all the world to see, but how much of the world besides China will actually understand what's going on? I can only fathom a functioning world with limited globalization, that is, only the globalization of products and possibly art styles. Otherwise, if every nationality in, for example, this melting pot of America is catered to in their own culture, then where does the American culture, the American language, the American opinion go? Complete globalization is homogenization. There wouldn't be a division anymore. I believe that when someone moves to another country, let's say the United States, they intend to adopt that country's culture. I wouldn't move to Nigeria unless I was willing to completely change my lifestyle, especially my language. Of course I can still have ties to my old American life, but I live in Nigeria, and if I wanted to live the American life, complete with American newspapers, films, and fast food, I should have stayed in America. I am an American, born and raised, but my mother is Brazilian, and I have such a strong connection with that culture that I've considered many times just moving there once I graduate because I feel the Brazilian in me so much more. Even if I don't, though, I will still read a Brazilian book or go to an American celebration of Brazilian Carnival every once in awhile, but I will remain an American consumer of American culture.

(This reading reminded me of a project I did my freshman year about samba and its globalization: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbZJNLt_6sc)

America's Waste

Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill

• "There was once a time when we wasted far less, and we can get back there again. Doing so will ultimately require a suite of coordinated solutions, including changes in supply-chain operation, enhanced market incentives, increased public awareness and adjustments in consumer behavior."
• Personally, I think that's wishful thinking. Of course, it would be great if we could revert back to our old ways and not waste as much. But I just think America, despite our great successes and first-worldliness, is on a downward spiral toward environmental chaos, and there's no turning back. Politicians aren't in power to make the world happy and healthy - they're there to further their own agendas.
• I feel so fortunate to have grown up in the United States and to have had the childhood that I did, but politically, America is the devil (I apologize for always being so pessimistic). Sure, the UK and the EU have taken steps to combat food waste, but they're a lot more environmentally conscious than we are. We have so much space to set up shop that this concept of "too much waste" doesn't seem to take hold, whereas Europeans, with such little space to work with, can see the effects of such waste immediately.
• "There is the plain economic truth that the more food consumers waste, the more those in the food industry are able to sell."
• The simple supply and demand of economics. My own family has so much extra food lying around in freezers, the pantry and the refrigerator, all because we thought there might be a need for it one day. Once my mom finally decides to do a deep cleaning to only keep what is still fresh of what we normally eat, I can safely say that at least 70 percent of the food in my house will go in to the dumpster. And I'm sure my family isn't the only one like this. Plenty of American families go to the grocery store and buy things that they might one day use, not what they absolutely need. This constant surplus encourages producers to produce even more, which results in even more waste.
• "Standardize and clarify the meaning of date labels on food so that consumers stop throwing out items due to misinterpretation."
• I must admit, I have fallen victim to this misinterpretation as well. It wasn't until I was throwing away a loaf of bread on the printed expiration date and my mom explaining what the "Good by" date meant that I actually understood.

Americans Waste $130 Billion a Year on Energy

• "U.S. businesses and individuals could save money, curb emissions of global warming pollutants, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and cut energy consumption by 23 percent by 2020, merely by taking sensible, practical steps to use energy more efficiently."
• I can agree with a statement like this. I believe in campaigning to make a difference in the individual's way of life, but when it comes to trying to make a difference with government officials, I generally have no hope.
• "Buyers of new homes neglect to ask about the insulation's R-value."
• What's an R-value? There's a reason for all these "market failures!" We don't know a thing about them!
• Impressive numbers.
• "To accelerate that progress, McKinsey says we need federal, state and local government action, more education of consumers and businesses, and greater alignment among utilities, regulators and consumers of energy."
• Aha, that is where our problem lies. Unless something drastic happens that will make those people in power change their minds, they are not going to sacrifice any time or energy on something that doesn't personally benefit themselves.
• Gigatons and quadrillions? What is this, math class? I can't wrap my head around numbers like those. 

 
Energy Waste Rebounds: Top 10 Energy Pigs in the Plug

• "Indeed, commercial energy use per square foot of commercial building space has declined by 25% and residential energy use per capita household has fallen by nearly one third since the late 1970s."
• Because it saves money. Not necessarily because people want to be more environmentally-friendly.
• "On the contrary, while base building systems have become more efficient, plug loads have done something closer to the opposite."
•  Very interesting. I've always been under the impression that sockets use less energy than the so-called "base systems."
• "High capacity color copiers are the largest common plug loads in offices, one of which consumes about as much as about 30 laptop computers."
• WHAT.
• "Video game consoles, especially those from 2007, and room dehumidifiers are among the largest energy consuming plug loads on an annual basis."
• I guess now we have a good reason to tell my little brother to take a break from playing video games.
• A major portion of the power is used when the electronic device is turned off or in standby mode, which is commonly called "phantom power."
• There are a lot of things I could be turning off, I suppose...
• "North American households waste about $7 billion a year on phantom loads" = "50 million tons of carbon dioxide, or enough electricity to power 6 million households"
• Incredible.
• The coffee machine is #7??
• More important: the hair dryer is #1?!

Fast Soul Food Junkie Nation

Soul Food Junkies

•  I really enjoyed this documentary. It's very interesting and has a good flow to it. I did find fault, though, with one thing. While I do agree that slaves were given the the food that wasn't good enough for their "owners" to eat, I don't believe that that's the reason that we have soul food nowadays. The United States wasn't the only country to have African slaves - all of the Americas and even parts of Europe participated in the slave trade. I know most about the slave conditions in Brazil, the country with the highest slave population in the world. Brazil's national dish, feijoada, a plate full of rice and black beans stewed with meats, has a history that dates back to the slave days of Brazil. Brazilian slaves were given the parts of the pig that the "owners" didn't want - the ears, the tongue, the intestines, the snout, etc. - and mixed it into a pot of black beans to be served with rice. Nowadays, feijoada is still served (albeit with better meat ingredients), complete with rice, of course, as well as diced oranges and cooked collard greens. My point is that Brazilian slaves had to deal with similar conditions that American slaves had to, and they didn't end up with this problem of obesity and/or weight-related health conditions. The soul food revolution is very Americanized and can't be blamed solely on the American institution of slavery.

Fast Food Nation Introduction

• "Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music - combined."
• That's crazy... If only it could be the reverse, we'd be citizens of such a great country.
• "The entry of so many women into the workforce (2/3 of mothers) has greatly increased demand for the types of services that housewives traditionally perform: cooking, cleaning, and child care."
• So it's all our fault, is it? Just because some of us aspire to be more than incubators and/or domestic slaves, we are to blame for the nation's growing waistline? There may be some truth to it, but it just perpetuates sexism, and I don't buy it. Men must shoulder some of the blame, too.
• "The company annually hires about one million people, more than any other American organization, public or private."
• There's always a tradeoff. McDonald's gives such fuel to our economy, but the food is slowing us down.
• "A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald. The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus."
• Whoa. The main fictional figures of American children's childhood are Santa Claus, a fat man that gives out toys, and Ronald McDonald, a clown who represents obesity and also gives out toys. Sad, isn't it?
• "The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross."
• I think that's stretching it a little...
• "In many respects, the fast food industry embodies the best and the worst of American capitalism at the start of the twenty-first century - its constant stream of new products and innovations, its widening gulf between rich and poor."
• This, and the fact that it's created a nation full of overweight and obese people, are reasons why those golden arches are a symbol of the country as a whole.
• "The current methods for preparing fast food are less likely to be found in cookbooks than in trade journals such as Food Technologist and Food Engineering."
• I've read/seen pictures of/watched videos of various studies and/or personal experiences with years-old McDonald's food. Here's a website with such a study. It's very revealing on how the "food" isn't really food at all, but more like a science experiment.
• "Subdivisions, shopping malls, and chain restaurants..."
• Even more symbols of the American lifestyle.
• "The United States now has more prison inmates than full-time farmers."
• This isn't only because the amount of farmers has decreased, though. Prisons are multiplying and getting fuller.
• "These changes have made meatpacking - once a highly skilled, highly paid occupation - into the most dangerous job in the United States, performed by armies of poor, transient immigrants whose injuries often go unrecorded and uncompnesated."
• So they're America's version of sweatshops.
• "That is one of the main reasons people buy fast food; it has been carefully designed to taste good. It's also inexpensive and convenient."
• Have I mentioned that at this very moment, I am eating some cold, leftover Little Caesar's $5 Hot-and-Ready pizza? Oops.

Fast Food Nation Ch. 2

•   "Hoping that nostalgic childhood memories of a brand will lead to a lifetime of purchases, companies now plan "cradle-to-grave" advertising strategies."
• Advertising is just evil. It represents all that is wrong with the world. (Might be a hyperbolic statement, but it is truly evil.
• "Market research has found that children often recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name."
• Not a comforting find.
• "Children as 'surrogate salesmen...'"
• The industry is sick, I tell you!
• "The chains often distribute numerous versions of a toy, encouraging repeat visits by small children and adult collectors who hope to obtain complete sets."
• And, as even more of an incentive, consumers can make money off of those collections like this kid did. He got over $11,000 for his collection of about 7,000 Happy Meal toys!
• "Now you can buy a Happy Meal at the Happiest Place on Earth."
• All this talk of the "kid kustomer" almost makes me not want to have children. I don't to bring a child into the world, only for it to be part of the "Man's" ploy for more money.
• "'The challenge of the campaign,' wrote Ray Bergold, the Chain's top marketing executive, 'is to make customers believe that McDonald's is their 'Trusted Friend.''"
• But it's not!! Advertisers are so frustrating! Stop trying to make us "want" what we shouldn't have!
• McDonald's as the "official restaurant" of the Olympics DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.
• "In 1993 District 11 in Colorado Spring started a nationwide trend, becoming the first public school district in the United States to place ads for Burger King in its hallways and on the sides of its school buses."
• That will never be seen again. Especially with Michelle Obama leading the way to healthy living.
• "Children spend about seven hours a day... in school. Those hours have in the past been largely free of advertising, promotion, and market research - a source of frustration to many companies."
• Let the children learn, gosh darn it!
• "He [DeRose] doesn't think that advertising in the schools will corrupt the nation's children."
• Are you kidding me?? Ugh, I just can't handle this.
• "The nation's three major beverage manufacturers are now spending large sums to increase the amount of soda that American children consume."
• Just stop! Do they not have a conscience? How on Earth could they think this is okay?
• My roommate and I were just talking about what people drink the other day. We were talking about how we need to drink so much water just to not feel dehydrated, yet some people are constantly dehydrating themselves by drinking less than a bottle of water per day, and replacing the rest with sodas. My little brother, for instance, hardly drinks water, and instead prefers to drink milk and/or Sprite. It's not as bad as drinking Mountain Dew all day, every day, but it's still not great.
• "Celebration [Florida], a planned community run by The Celebration Company, a subsidiary of Disney."
• This exists?! What is happening...

Conscious Capitalism

• "I never took a single business class. I actually think that has worked to my advantage in business over the years. As an entrepreneur, I had nothing to unlearn and new possibilities for innovation."
• It obviously worked very well for him. As consumers, we are constantly looking for something new and intuitive, something that they can't just teach you in school. Whole Foods is now considered the hip place to shop for groceries.
• "I had become a businessperson and a capitalist, and I had discovered that business and capitalism, while not perfect, were both fundamentally good and ethical."
• My dad, the uber-conservative, needs to see this. He'd never believe "one of them Austin hippies" would appreciate the capitalistic lifestyle. And frankly, as a by-product of my dad's ideology, I think it's rather surprising as well, considering his background.
• I really appreciated the story of Whole Foods' youth. Very neat.
• "Businesses galvanized by higher purposes that serve and align the interests of all their major stakeholders; businesses with conscious leaders who exist in service to the company's purpose, the people it touches, and the planet; and businesses with resilient, caring cultures that make working there a source of great joy and fulfillment" = Conscious Capitalism
• I can't wrap my head around this. Not necessarily the ideals, which are exactly that - ideals. Just that a majority of companies would adopt them.
• "In the long arc of history, no human creation has had a greater positive impact on more people more rapidly than free-enterprise capitalism. It is unquestionably the greatest system for innovation and social cooperation that has ever existed. This system has afforded billions of us the opportunity to join in the great enterprise of earning our sustenance and finding meaning by creating value for each other." BUT "Too much of the world still has not embraced the core principles of free-enterprise capitalism, and as a result, we are collectively far less prosperous and less fulfilled than we could be."
• I have never heard this theory before. That capitalism is the solution to poverty?
• Capitalism vs. socialism: capitalism always wins! Hooray!
• The facts that the authors display are very interesting and put the information into an interesting perspective.
• "Rather than being seen for what they really are - the heroes of the story - capitalism and business are all too frequently vilified as the bad guys and blamed for virtually everything our postmodern critics dislike about the world."
• This is typically the hippies' argument. Capitalism is always the cause of all the problems.
• The authors say that capitalism has brought us out of "extreme poverty," they didn't say that it made us all billionaires. People are just angry/jealous that they aren't one of the few that came out on top and need to find something to blame.
• "Capitalism is portrayed as exploiting workers, cheating consumers, causing inequality by benefiting the rich but not the poor, homogenizing society, fragmenting communities, and destroying the environment. Entrepreneurs and other businesspeople are accused of being motivated primarily by selfishness and greed." 
• Well, yeah. Not a whole bunch of companies are doing it because of a "desire and need to care for others and for ideals and causes that transcend one's self interest." Money lies at the core of absolutely everything.
• People create businesses to make money. People create good businesses by basing "on [their] ability to empathize with others and to care about their opinions," thus making a lot more money. Wal-Mart, for example, realized that consumers wanted cheaper items, so they provided a service for that. But their ultimate goal wasn't just so that we could all buy a $5 pair of pants - it was to rake in the dough.
• "Much of today's animosity toward capitalism stems from a misconception that we need to share all resources fairly and equitably. But the reality is that by artfully combining resources, labor, and innovation, wealth can be greatly expanded... The pie grows, and there is more for everyone."
• I like this.
• The ratio between CEO pay and average pay = Wow... I didn't realize the gap was so large.
• I guess my skepticism isn't unwarranted, considering most of the country feels similarly (according to stats presented).
• They have too much faith in humanity to think that we humans aren't "maximizers of economic self-interest to the exclusion of all else." Get real, guys. We've been raised to live by "survival of the fittest," and these days, fittest = richest.
• "But the true narrative is that by participating in business, they are creating prosperity and lifting people out of poverty."
• I was pro-capitalism before, and I'm even more so now!

Wal-Mart

• "Wal-Mart today is the biggest retail company in the world, and it does not make a single thing. All it makes is a hyperefficient supply chain." Whoa.
• The author makes the analogy of a cheap AND reliable trucking company - cheap and reliable?
• "It is more profitable to incure shortages than overstock." - That's how I would run a business. I don't want to waste money!
• "Products are turned from innovations into commodities faster than ever, competition is coming from all over the globe and is more intense than ever, and consumer demand is more volatile and informed than ever, with fads moving in and out around the globe like lightning bolts." Amazingly true.
• When the author talks about how Wal-Mart tracks everything we buy and knows exactly how to respond to our wants and needs, I'm reminded of "Big Brother" from 1984. Nowhere is safe.
• "I wish that I could say we were brilliant and visionary, [but] it was all born out of necessity." I'm glad he said something, because when I discovered that Wal-Mart was founded in Arkansas, I was like, "Really?" I'm only joking (on some level), but they truly were/are innovators.
• I wish I could have been an investor in Wal-Mart... They're rich now, right?
• Headphones for pallet drivers that play music and give them instructions in whatever voice they so please? So high tech! But these pallet drivers are likely the first versions of cyborgs/subjects of robot overlords.
• I believe that efficient business always sacrifices something else, and since Wal-Mart maximizes its efficiency, what does that mean? Lawsuits.
• Wal-Mart alone is China's 8th biggest trading partner, ahead of other big countries? Mind-boggling.
• To me, offshoring doesn't make sense. Doesn't it cost more money to ship the products from so far away? (I modify this in a later comment.)
• It's weird to think Japan used to be so far behind us technologically. Now when I think of a tech hub, Japan is the only country that comes to mind.
• "quality products at low prices" vs "cheap products at cheap prices" - I can understand how tech products are surprisingly good quality for the money, but they're actually tech products - they involve more work than a couple hours on a sewing machine and can do more neat things than clothe your body. Wal-Mart clothes are definitely cheap products at cheap prices.
  
  
• After having just watched The Walking Dead, the beginning paragraph sounds like a scene from a scary movie.
• Wal-Mart fight scene = The Hunger Games cornucopia scene (in my head)
• Frankly, Black Friday doesn't make sense to me. Why on Earth would someone willingly sacrifice hours of sleep to sit outside a store in the cold, dark hours of the night, only to fight someone tooth and nail to buy yet another gift to throw onto the pile under the tree? Sorry, future child(ren), you are getting one, full-priced item for Christmas.
• I feel so sorry for poor Damour... He was recruited in the very same fashion that Michael Moore pointed out that soldiers are, just to do the job that nobody else wants.
• "For better and for worse, ours is the age of the bargaineer." - EXTREME COUPONING, ANYONE?? - I've heard of several women (mostly from Extreme Couponing) that either quit their jobs or don't pursue a job, simply to cut out coupons and make their shopping cart(s) = $0. They say that couponing itself is a full-time job, and it's their way of helping the family.
• "The glorious thing about the 1990s was that we rarely had to think too hard about where our stuff came from. It just seemed to be there." - I wasn't even old enough to make money in the 90s, but I can still see the difference! Life is different now with money not being so easy, but we don't want to get rid of that precious lifestyle, which then equals debt. I'm close with a family that is practically going bankrupt, but doesn't seem to change any habits in lifestyle, so it's a steady decline to the seemingly-inevitable living-in-a-cardboard-box.
• "That we will experience complete economic recovery and a return to growth in the wake of this latest world recession may be wishful thinking since the decades of easy growth are well behind us." Darn...
  
  
• Chinese people working in factories and sending money to distant homes - I see it in documentaries and read it in books, but it still seems fictional. My mind just can't grasp that so many people in one country can live so meagerly.
• "There is a thin margin of error: too little development, and poverty and hunger dangerously afflict 300 million of china's poorest." - It makes me feel like I need to go and shop at Wal-Mart RIGHT NOW so that these people don't starve, like I am personally responsible for their survival. But then I'm just feeding the cycle...
• THEN I'm just putting more money into China as a country, and they will get closer to being the world's superpower! They wouldn't need our business anymore, and our way of living is compromised.
• Pollution in China - I just read something about a large number of Chinese people dying from cancer, likely caused by all of the pollution.
• After so much protesting about the environment (and so many health issues), shouldn't the authorities wise up and cap emissions?
• "In Hunan's most famous village, authorities did what many other governments have done in a crisis - they built a theme park." LOL
• Domestic production (not offshoring) = higher wages, greenhouse gas credits, and worker safety (Then I guess it sort of makes sense to offshore.)

What Watchdog?

• When it comes to financial journalism, whether I'm reading it or attempting to write about it, I feel like Patrick and Spongebob with the Orb of Confusion. The information goes in one ear and out the other. I just can't wrap my head around numbers like that, and I know I'm not the only student journalist who feels this way. Many students choose journalism because they enjoy writing, or they've at least always been the creative type. Math/numbers do not mesh well with writing, so it's very hard for us to put them together. I believe that is a big reason that there aren't too many financial journalists and why we don't see very much about Wall Street in the news.
• Maybe I'm just a piggybacker, but after reading this article, I'm thinking, "Yeah! Why doesn't Wall Street get more negative coverage?" Like I already said, I'm not very knowledgeable about numbers, especially how money works in this country, but Wall Street is to blame for at least some of our economic problems, right?
• "At its best, it is the main thing that is capable of explaining complex problems to a mass audience. That’s its most critical role--and its most difficult task." - I constantly need to be reminded of this. All too often do I just take what sources give me, no questions asked, and write my stories on stupid topics that don't even warrant any public attention. As a journalist, I must constantly question the motives of our government. I think many other student journalists need this rammed into their heads as well.
• "It’s very poorly understood and documented." - Good summary of financial journalism. But in order for people to understand it better, more journalists must be trained on how to correctly interpret numbers so that we can properly make things easier for the public to understand, because ultimately, that is our job.

Framing Effects of News Coverage

• "It cannot be concluded that framing effects are limited to the naive and the ignorant." - So very true! Some things are obviously framed a little more subjectively than others, but in reality, everything, not just politics or news, in our society is framed in some way, and it affects people from every rung of the ladder. An obvious example is that the events of September 11th were framed for our society as a terrorist attack, but if we were reporting the news for al-qaeda, it would be a victory against an opposing nation. There are just too many perspectives in this world and everybody thinks too differently for anybody to be completely and truly objective.
• episodic vs. thematic news coverage - It would be nice for news to be more thematic and therefore, more informational/educational, but it isn't possible. At least not if we're talking about nightly news coverage, when there's no time to cover more in-depth topics. Broadcast reporters need something to fill up the news block, and events are easier and quicker to cover than thematic news.
• "The ultimate political impact of framing is proestablishment." - I never thought about it like that, but I guess it is true. But if a station were to report on all the issues and blame everything on the government, it probably wouldn't be respected as a very credible news source (just considered as one of those right-wing extremists).

Smart Power, Chinese Style

• Mahbubani says that there is surprisingly no tension between America and China. I'd have to agree with that, I suppose. But there is, I believe, tension (or at least some type of rivalry) between American and Chinese people. Americans typically believe that Chinese = genius, and this creates a divide between the two cultures. Also, this may be a completely ignorant comment, but I think Chinese people are sneaky! They don't express themselves like Americans do, Facebook is banned in their country (what?!) and they're Communists (which, historically, automatically means that they are untrustworthy). I also had a really bad roommate experience with a Chinese girl, so I'm probably biased.
• Three of Xiaoping's seven guidelines are: "conceal our capabilities and avoid the limelight... keep a low profile... strive for achievements." This basically sums up my view of Chinese people in general, so they seem to be doing a good job! I agree that these are why it is  "difficult to describe Chinese successes, because the Chinese themselves say so little about them."
• When Mahbubani talks about how American diplomats aren't the best and brightest (like those of China), I immediately connected. There are way too many jobs in the United States that just have the "wrong man for the job," but there is one in particular that I have a problem with. I love my future-teacher friends, and most of them are adequately prepared, but there are a lot of teachers who really confuse me as to how they were ever qualified to teach children, the future of our country. I blame these problems on our poor public education, but how are they going to get fixed when bad teachers are constantly being put into classrooms?
• "American diplomats live and work in fortress-like compounds" - Well, especially now after the attack on the U.S. diplomacy in Benghazi, Libya.
• "Obtaining any kind of assistance from the US requires compliance on a battery of restrictions." - It would be nice to just help countries out, but we live by "If I do that for you, then I have to do it for everyone else, too." We believe in contracts because we like rules and don't want to get jipped. What's wrong with that?
• "Western incompetence has provided significant opportunities that China has been able to exploit without paying any serious political price." - Ouch.
• "It is amazing how solid and stable the sino-american relationship has become" - I will refer back to an earlier statement: Chinese people are sneaky! I think I may just be a conspiracy theorist, but if I were China, I would play nice with America (my biggest threat) for the time being, at least until I've gotten strong enough to be the world's absolute superpower. Because if I'm not nice to America, they'll get suspicious, and I can't have them snooping around. (Maybe I watched too many Scooby-Doo cartoons as a kid...)

*Most of what I write has a sarcastic undertone, so please don't think I'm anti-China!

Anti-Americanism Down in Europe, but a Values Gap Persists

• "Obamamania" - I like it. Very accurate, both domestically and internationally.
• I think our "go it alone" attitude stems from our nation's history. The United States was fed up with British rule and took matters into its own hands. We're pompous because of it, and ever since then, we've approached foreign relations with the same mentality, and it generally works out well for us in the end. Why don't they try something else? Well, why fix something if it isn't broken?
• I have several European friends and I know that none of them are terribly religious, but I always kind of assumed that it was just because those are the type of people I tend to attract (as friends). It's good to know that Europe isn't quite so intolerant of non-believers because I definitely feel like I'm put up for persecution everytime I don't participate in the prayer before Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. Latino countries are similar to the United States in that being religious is a part of everyday life - for everybody. Maybe it's just a "New World" thing. Europe was once extremely religious - I guess we need to evolve a little bit more to get to where they're at now.
• I'm going to refer back to American history for the subject of Americans believing "that everyone be free to pursue life’s goals without interference from the state" instead of "the state play an active role in society to guarantee that no one is in need." This country was built by people who valued working hard to get what they wanted (aka, capitalism). Typical Republicans prefer the former ideal, and typical Democrats prefer the latter. The Democrats seem to be gaining more popularity (as opinions shift) and surpassing the amount of Republican voters, so we seem to be shrinking the values gap in our very own country.
• I like that Wike made the connection between Europeans and young Americans. I think that this resemblance (or acceptance) comes from the popularity and perseverance of the Internet, particularly Facebook. We're allowed to connect with other cultures so much easier, we see the differences between our culture and theirs, and we think, "Why the heck are we so backwater?" We want change.
• This is completely (well, not completely) irrelevant to the text, but every time I think about the difference in values between Europeans and Americans, I think of an old family friend. Europeans are big on inheriting culture and history, whereas Americans don't really care as much. When our family friend found out that my family was selling our property to move on to bigger and better things, he was furious because he believes that a piece of property should stay in the family for centuries. He stopped talking to us after we moved.

The Rest of the West?

• His predictions are still accurate - more non-Western countries are up and coming
• When I was in Brazil and even in my interactions with people from other countries, I've noticed the influence (or the layers) that the West has over the rest of the world. It's nice to have a shared experience with people (such as a similar interest in movies or general pop culture), but I agree that other countries have the right to produce their own content instead of just consuming ours.
• I had never thought of revolutions in the West shaping or "advancing" civilization, but it's quite intuitive (at least from my democratic perspective).
• In his first argument, the thesis, he talks about the "architecture of power relationships," both economic and environmental. Basically, the West holds all the power, but he does mention that Eastern Asian countries are catching up, as if that holds all the answers. But what about all of the other countries that this mentality excludes? Where is Nicaragua, or Tanzania, or Kazakhstan?
• "Where the decisions are made makes a huge difference in the deployment of real resources" (110). I agree that we need to change this mentality. We typically only provide aid when it's beneficial or convenient for us, not the other way around, as it should be.
• On a related note, since I wasn't old enough to understand the tragedy of Princess Diana's death, and now that I can look back on how people reacted, I don't understand what the big fuss was about. Sure, she was a princess, but she's a foreign princess. She should have received just as much publicity as (or even less than) Kim Jong Il did upon his death. But for some reason, we Americans are fascinated with the royal family (I can't tell you how annoyed I was with the influx of Facebook statuses about the royal wedding). We got rid of England over 200 years ago! They're not our royal family anymore.
• When Mahbubani mentions that the West has more universities, research, publications, etc. than the East, it sounds as if he doesn't approve of it. Personally, I consider it an accomplishment that we have achieved so much in our 500 years as opposed to 2000-year-old China.
• In his second point, his anti-thesis, he talks about economic and environmental global interdependence. It couldn't be more true. Example: This "great recession" and how it's affected many foreign economies.
• We talked about terms last time (West/East). Personally, I don't appreciate 1st/3rd world terms, and frankly, they're outdated. They were used during the Cold War to denote government systems. A 2nd world doesn't even exist anymore! 1st world sounds as if we live in the Capitol of The Hunger Games (please forgive my pop culture reference). And 3rd world just sounds so derogatory, as if those countries belong in a sewer. If we must constantly need a way to classify countries, I think it's time to find something new.
• In his third point, synthesis, Mahbubani talks about the need for a "two-way street," integrating all cultures to become one massive culture. "New world" countries (Western hemisphere) already have a head start, though, since they were built by immigrants. Part of me agrees with what he says - America is already a big melting pot - but another part of me thinks that people really enjoy and appreciate their own cultures too much to participate.
  
  (I didn't want it to be so long again, but I couldn't stop writing!)

The West and the Rest

I'm glad that the author posted the little foreword about how most of his predictions had already come to fruition because when I was reading it, I couldn't help but think about current events.

It's interesting. Whenever I think about "the West," I automatically think of the United States - only the United States. I don't bother to think of Canada or any of the western European countries. And I think that my mind goes directly to America because I feel like everything is blamed on the US. We were once considered the world superpower, and we still are for some (primarily Third World) countries, so sometimes I feel like we are at fault with the strife and starvation that other countries face. However, we are in part responsible, at least for not putting an end to it. (Although that in and of itself is a controversial subject.) And then we have the problem of not finishing what we start.

People question the motivations of well-off countries helping poorer countries. Does this aid come from your "white man's burden," the mere goodness of your heart, or are you using me to help yourself with some political end? Then comes the question of what type of aid it will be: monetary, survival, infrastructure, or a complete government overhaul? Do we get to choose our type of government or will you force us to adopt democracy?

I appreciate that the author included that bit of how democracy doesn't necessarily mesh with all cultures, about how the only way to fix government is just to give it "good government." I do appreciate my rights to freedom and a voice (albeit a small one) in my country, but democracy isn't always the answer. It's best to just help struggling countries implement a system that works best in its own cultural circumstances.

An all-too-familiar topic covered in this chapter is immigration. Living in Texas, it's a subject you can never shake off. I particularly liked this segment: "Superior Western military technology will be useless against these invading armies because they will arrive as poor and defenceless individuals and families, moving without commanders or orders, and seeping slowly through porous borders" (56-57). He could never have a more insightful and correct prediction. Immigration is a huge problem in our country, and it's one that we seemingly cannot find an appropriate solution to. However, if we, the Western world, pick ourselves up and focus on making the world a better place for everyone, we could improve the governments of Third World countries so that their people don't have to worry about moving somewhere better.

The population boom is also a big deal in today's news. I read a book a couple years ago (I can't remember the title) which really opened my eyes to the problem. Basically, the premise of the book was that "survival of the fittest" doesn't really apply anymore. Ever since the hunter/gatherer lifestyle went out of style, and especially since modern medicine took hold, we don't have to rely nearly as much on our skills or genetics to survive this thing called life, so people don't die, according to Darwin, as much as they should. We're trying to solve the problem with birth control, but it will only work if all countries, rich and poor, have the resources.

I thought it was a little funny that the author talked about how East Asian nations have been modernizing and becoming effective global players, and how China has (had*) the possibility of becoming one as well. Well, it's no news that these days that China is possibly America's biggest competitor in being the biggest world superpower.

So far, I'm really enjoying this book!