Globalization

This is only the 4th topic I've chosen to address--after marriage, religion and the Internet--since beginning this blog a few days ago. The list of topics is nearly endless at this juncture, which makes the process of writing all the more fun. I can speak out on anything, saying whatever I like. I choose to take on globalization at this point as it is something that I can speak about from a personal perspective. I need to qualify, however, that it is not the business, but social and cultural aspect of globalization that interests me. It comes as a by-product of my chosen field of work, teaching English as a second language. In practice that means I interact daily with people of other cultures, and specific to my case is that I have chosen to do so overseas. This has taken me to posts in three countries thus far in disparate regions of Asia--Japan, Sri Lanka and the UAE.

For me, globalization is a very personal reality. I first experienced it in Japan in 1981. This was well before the term gained popular use, but there were other similar expressions already being used. In Japan at that time "internationalization" was a popular buzz word--a bit of a tongue-twister for even a native English speaker. This is one borrowed expression that the Japanese decided NOT to keep in its native form. Instead they used the Sino-Japanese term, "koku-sai-ka." The Japanese were fully conscience of (and perhaps oversensitive to) the influence of other cultures and countries on their society. As an "agent" of that influence I was able to appreciate how people and their cultures differed from each other and at the same time benefited through such exposure. This appreciation gives me a preference for living and working in communities and countries foreign to my own.

In this light I view globalization positively. Certainly there is a negative side, but I would prefer to equate this to growing pains. In order to grow or develop one must grapple with problems and challenges along the way. Perhaps the most serious issue that cultures and societies face is the potential weakening or fading, or in extreme cases even disappearance, of their own culture. I prefer, however, to think that the risks, and even certainty to some degree, of these things occurring is counter-weighed by the rich variety that such interaction is able to bring to people's lives and their societies at large. I believe that every culture, for example, has its own gifts or strengths, i.e. its positive attributes. Through association with other cultures these attributes can be shared and, thus, globalization might exert a positive influence in the world.

My argument here is over-simplistic, of course, and doesn't even scratch the surface of the myriad of issues connected with "cultural" globalization. I would accept the idea that convincing arguments can be made on either side. My point here, however, is to simple assert that there is a positive or beneficial side too--one that I see and experience on a daily basis. This form of globalization at once shows us that people are people wherever they may come from and whatever language they may speak. At the same time, they differ from one another in a wealth of ways, which serve to add color and--forgive the cliché--spice to life.

Globalization has made the world smaller in a positive way, I would say. People of all nationalities, travel, work, live and if nothing else communicate with others in disparate regions of the globe. No one, who so chooses, should ever be isolated from either other people or their thoughts, ideas and views. The world is clearly becoming more globalized, despite the fact that people and nations hold on to traditions and beliefs nurtured over years and centuries past--as in deed they should, while at the same time interacting and mutually sharing with others.

The Internet

I saved a copy of a special Time magazine edition dedicated to the Internet. That was in 1994 and the "World Wide Web," "cyberspace," and "the information super-highway" were the hot new buzz words. I bought my first computer that year as well and was all prepared to join the legions of net surfers. I was in Japan at the time and was pleased to discover that the city of Kyoto had a dedicated internet service at a flat fee of about $12 per month. Although I had trouble figuring out how to set everything up, in time I was making contact with people in Japan and around the world and managed to put up my own homepage.

Some 10 years later, the Internet is as much a part of daily life as all the early hyperbole said it would be, probably even more. Not as essential as electricity but extremely useful all the same--perhaps more analogous to the telephone--it is rather interesting that there were no predictions about anything like it despite years of futurologists and science fiction writers speculating about what the future would be like. That is one of the beauties of the Internet. It is at once something so useful and practical, yet no one really had the vision or insight to actually plan it. It seems to have evolved out of the growing role that computers began to play in society, a need for a super military power to develop the most sophisticated communications network possible and the needs of a world growing more and more integrated in terms of business and commerce, information and travel. I would presume that all three elements were essential for the evolution of a worldwide multimedia communications network such as the internet has become, but I believe it was the emergence and popularity of personal computers that really made the Internet happen with the speed and breadth that it did. In only a few years it became a network that covered the planet and it has steadily become more dense through the years.

In line with the growth of personal computer use, what makes the internet most fascinating is its use as a personal tool. It seems to have replaced in large part letter writing and to a lesser degree phone calls. It is becoming the preferred medium for enjoying music and photographs and has made serious in-roads into the world of video. These are but a few of its common uses at the personal level. A new addition to this panoply is the phenomenon of blogging. Where email was a way to communicate with individuals or groups of individuals instantaneously, blogging provides a way for the ordinary man to broadcast to the world whatever he so chooses.

I will save blogging for a future topic. Of course I share these very words through the medium of the blog. Whomever and whenever one happens to read a posted message, it is the ability to express oneself that seems to provide the blogger with the most sense of satisfaction. It is enough that there is the potential for an audience whether or not it actually materializes.

Like the emergence of the Internet itself, its uses seem to naturally evolve, evading efforts to predict. After email, online music downloading and now blogging, what will emerge next? My guess is that the growing wireless connectivity for the Internet will result in its use for even more fundamental and wide-ranging tasks. Beyond that, I dare not offer any predictions.