Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization

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A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization

As the wise men uttered, “One person’s meat is another person’s poison.” People have different opinions, perceptions, and beliefs on issues. In his essay, “Globalization: Two Visions Of The Future Of Humanity,” Marcelo Gleiser believes that globalization has made the world a global village and will continuously improve the world. Gleiser fears that globalization will make people abandon their cultures but believes this can be resolved if people are informed. On the other hand, Jeffrey Wasserstrom's essay “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization” views globalization as Americanization. He dislikes globalization and points out that people retain their cultural beliefs, terming foreign products as foreign irrespective of globalization. Considering the two arguments, globalization has positive and negative impacts on society. Educating people to embrace globalization and avoid negative impacts that might destroy them is important. Gleiser manages to persuade the reader that globalization is positive through his logical arguments and the evidence he gives.

The steady and rising rate of globalization has benefits and shortcomings for humanity. Today there are several benefits we can derive from living in a globalized society where we are connected to the world through technology and other media. Education has become cheaper and easier to access due to the increased communication rate. Cultural diffusion has been the order of the day in the world today, and many people have, through communication and information sharing, been able to learn about other cultures easily without any difficulty. Products produced in America have easily entered the European, Asian, and African Markets. These products have customers who feel that they own or are attached to them regardless of their country of origin. This means that technology has improved global trade to a large extent. As Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom puts it, the world has become smaller, CNN, which is an American television station, is watched worldwide, people wear American clothes, take the same drinks like soda, and live a similar lifestyle. In his own words, he says that people live the American lifestyle outside of America.

Conflict could be one challenge due to the fast-paced globalization and advancement in technology. These conflicts may arise, especially in cases where those with competing interests want to block others from accessing their markets. For instance, take the case of Mickey the Mouse in China. One would argue that this being an American product, the Chinese may have not embraced it because they see America as a competitor that intends to drive them out of business. Ideological differences between these competing states may contribute largely to this competition. China, being a communist state, may not look at America as a trade partner interested in trading with other states by using globalization; instead, China looks at the US as a capitalist state aiming to exploit other states through economic imperialism. This perception is likely to bring about unhealthy competition in global trade, thereby threatening diplomatic relations between states and even world peace.

Globalization: Two Visions Of The Future Of Humanity

In his well-documented essay, “Globalization: Two Visions Of The Future Of Humanity”, Marcelo Gleiser believes that the world will be better than it is in the next century. He points out that the generation living in 2100 will have a very different life from what we have today. According to Gleiser, it was very hard for people in the 1920s to believe that devices such as laptops and computers would be invented and used worldwide. This is the same way people might find it hard to believe that in the next century, expensive technological advancements will be used even in the medical department to treat diseases that are a nuisance in today’s world. Unlike Glesisrer, Wasserstrom believes that globalization is only symbolic. In his article, “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization”, Jeffrey Wasserstrom believes globalization is similar to Americanization. This is because people worldwide want to behave and talk like Americans. Jeffrey Wasserstrom believes that globalization has not made the world a global village, but makes people want to behave like Americans while retaining their inborn behavior. In this article, Wasserstrom claims that selling similar products in the entire world does not make people in all parts of the world think and behave similarly. People view the products differently depending on how they were brought up.

Both Wasserstrom and Gleiser acknowledge what other scholars have said concerning globalization. They have done a deep literature review to support their ideas. This makes their work to be reliable and academic. Wasserstrom quotes several authors who had experienced globalization views in different parts of the world. For instance, he points out, "Anthropologist Yan Yunxiang has convincingly argued the experiences of eating them and even the meaning of going to McDonald's in these two locales was very different in the 1990s.” Similarly, Gleiser quotes Mikio Kaku, who stated, “By the year 2100, intelligent computers will work in tandem with humans”. In his view, Gleiser believes that human beings have the power to change the world, provided there is the will to do so.

Wasserstrom dislikes globalization because it only makes people admire being Americans, whereas, in reality, they want to remain as they are. Whenever an American product is taken to other parts of the world, people take the product differently depending on their background. This is because people have their cultures and cannot abandon them completely in the name of globalization. On the other hand, Gleiser is saddened by the fact that technological advancement is destroying the morals and cultures that our ancestors built for millions of years. Technological advancement means people are no longer concerned with their culture, norms, and beliefs. Instead, people are copying what others are doing, making it complicated to distinguish people of a certain culture. Gleiser believes this is dangerous as it destroys the traditional setup that gives people a sense of belonging and identity. In this case, people should be cautious to avoid ruining their morals and values in the name of advancing with new technology. He believes that culture is important and should by no means be eroded. Therefore, people should embrace the culture but retain their dignity and cultural background.

In conclusion, today's world is regarded as a global village thanks to technological advancement. It is for these reasons that communication has been made so easy globally. Distances have been reduced significantly and considerably by the modern means of transport and communication. Technology has been beneficial to the human generation; however, it also comes with many challenges that may, in a way, threaten the progress made through the same technological advancement. In the 21^st century, technology has been the center of all human activities. Most people and institutions have embraced technology and used it for different reasons that have ultimately been successful. In a nutshell, technology has changed all aspects of human relations, ranging from their social, political, and even economic lives. Communication has become easier. More people can be able to communicate more easily and work has become even easier because computers are used to do jobs more accurately and quickly as compared to how human beings would do such jobs in the past. This, therefore, means that communications have changed so many things in the world. This analysis focuses on the benefits of modern technology on globalization and how globalization can also negatively impact human cultural relations and other aspects of human life.