Tuesday, September 23, 2008
MARKED
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Received- late 1 day
Globalisation of politics (Manaswi)
Through the process of globalisation, various groups around the world are trying to bring across their point to the world and they are allowed to do so with the advancements in technology. The groups use media and images to tell what they believe in and try to persuade other people as well to join in. For example, in this video above (not by us, it is from some random user on youtube), it can be seen that there is this group that is trying to expose the secrets of the governments (especially the American government) and trying to get as many people as possible to their side. They especially used images which portrayed the American government in a negative light. Like for example, images showing soldiers pointing guns at unarmed civilians tend to show that the American soldiers are in the wrong and are abusing their authority. Also towards the end, President Bush is shown stammering many times repeatedly uttering the word “I” until in the end he just walks away saying he “does not know.” This shows a lack of certainty and hence brings out a possibility that President Bush is trying to hide something. Through globalisation however, this group aims to expose Bush and his secrets to society so that they may know what is really going on.
However, although it is true that the world must know what is really happening and all of their governments’ dirty secrets, this may spark a revolution and cause riots. The riots will cause the deaths of many people as fighting between the police and the protestors will break out. This will also cause the economy of the country to suffer. This is one way how the globalisation of politics may have a negative consequence.
Uploaded by: Friendly10 from youtube
Date uploaded: June 13 2008
Date accessed: August 11 2008
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Qz-4sqPhA
Globalisation and Culture (Dong Ying)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Culture:
"Total pattern of human behavior and its products embodied in speech, action, and artifacts and dependent upon man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." ~ Webster's Third New International Dictionary
Indeed, globalisation signifies a very substantial change in culture, but whether this change is good or bad is determined by how we accept change itself. For so long we have dealt with cultural animosity, arising out of cultural differences which can be further differentiated into three broad categories, which include religious conflict, ethnicity conflict, and conflict between between cultures that are similar in a respect but have some significant differences. Some examples of these conflicts include that of the Christian and Muslim, between Anglo-Saxon Americans and the African Americans, and between the territorial conquest of Britain and France respectively. Thus, this absence in cultural differences leaves one little to argue over, in effect eradicating such potential probl
Although one might argue that the disappearance of culture as a whole eliminates the possibilities of such dangerous problems, one will lose his/her identity in the process of eradicating culture by blending ourselves into this homogeneous global culture as everyone is now has a similar culture. Thus as we adopt trends of the global culture, by learning the English language, using sophisticated (current day) technology, replacing our forms of entertainment with that of which technology provides, we would necessarily be displacing old culture, of course unless our old culture is coherent in nature to that of the global culture (American culture) . This happens because our global culture chooses that of the most efficient and effective and adopts it into its culture, thus for us to keep with the most updated and modern, we would have to lose whatever our current culture is and implement the new, superior global culture.
Also, while one might argue that the loss of our current culture is a bad thing, we must weigh the advantages with that of adopting a global culture. When we do so, issues of efficiency and effectiveness come out as a factor yet again, and technology does it, better communication between countries result in better relationships, improvement in standards of living make people feel more secure are examples of such. While this lessens our guilt of ultilising cheap labour in sweat shops by claiming that we are making the best use of resources, this blinds us when we fail to morally uphold our decisions when we only see the goodness of the advantageous rewards behind the whole process.
Thus in conclusion, globalising all cultures actually tends towards the greater good, for those for feel that this good represents effectiveness and efficiency in all aspects of our daily lives, which in fact has quite a few opponents to the idea.
Globalisation and Technology (Dong Ying)
Technology and globalization go hand-in-hand. Globalization unleashes technology, which in turn drives firms to plan production and sales on a global basis. Technology changes the work we do and in nearly all cases, the jobs created by it demand more education and training. It also changes the way business operates by transforming relationships between suppliers, producers, retailers and customers. (Ross, 1993, p. xii)
As we usher in the new age, the information age, inevitably new innovations and changes in technology must be made to adapt. This includes using technology to enable us to get connect to information, in addition, other factors include efficiency and effectiveness, so this new piece of technology must still be frequently upgraded to keep up, otherwise it would certainly be outdated. Some examples include the communication sector, cell phones have been vastly improved the most basic ability to make a call, to making a conference call, video call, surfing the internet and such, as this allow more people to get connected to information both faster and better.
As all of this technology is not easily developed, companies that develop all this technology require a huge amount of manpower, and this brings about increased staff employment in the research and development companies. This in result, aids other forms of globalisation, by speeding up industrialisation, as the global culture and economy changes revolve about technology. Common examples of how technology revolutionises the global culture would be the usage of cell phones, in the past, we could only communicate to people whom we meet, face-to-face, which brings about a huge amount of inconvenience, but now with a cell phone, we can connect to them virtually anywhere and at anytime (if they don't mind), and even 'face-to-face' in a sense for video calling. Another obvious example would be the computer (internet), the internet connects people, however it also more importantly connects people to information, which may be required for working, researching, doing away the hassle with bulky books that can only be found at the library, and from this, the internet (technology) revolutionised the sharing of information.
Thus, as the world progresses, globalises , the already high demand for better technology increases, and when better technology arises, the world globalises (economically ect) more efficiently with the usage of this better (more efficient and effective) technology. This self-perpetuated cycle results in a global society that keeps advancing technology progressively.
Globalisation of Politics (Jonathan Lee)
Globalisation definitely had a huge effect on politics. It played a very important role in the nature of politics. There are as much as 100 large economies in the world, of which 51% are corporations and 49% are countries. Multinational corporations (MNC) can be seen as a significant force that challenge the concept of a national economy. In the 21st century, governments have much less control over their economies than before. Governments need the support from multinational companies in order to run the country well and effectively. They are dependent on corporations for their resources and services. One example is by providing aid for government initiatives such as natural disasters like Tsunami relief or earthquakes. However, if a country becomes too interdependent and is overpowered by a stronger economy it will lose its economic strength and may be forced to set policies that are differing to its citizen's interests or desires. In my opinion, it would be wiser to implement a new system of governance that has emerged where policies are based around benefiting governments and multi national corporations, rather than the citizens.
Jonathan Lee
Globalisation of technology: Trinda
The Communicators: Globalization & Technology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfqKZlMfnX4Richard Elkus on his book "Winner Take All: How Competitiveness Has Changed the Face of Nations." : Over the past thirty years, the United States has lost commanding leads in business after business. We no longer make cameras, TVs, MP3 players, cell phones, or DVD players, and we have become the world's largest debtor nation. Everyone thinks this is because of cheap labor costs, but in fact Asian leaders have a fundamental and different way of thinking about business. They are playing a different game. If the U.S. wants to regain its competitiveness and preserve its global power, it must play the game as it's played in the rest of the world. "Winner Take All" tells us what it takes to be competitive, and how we need to reform our thinking to regain what we have lost. This is the essential primer for any policy maker, business leader, or general reader interested in knowing how America can regain the economic clout it once had. Jacob Kirkegaard, a research associate at the Peterson Institute of Int'l Economics, is the guest host and fellow debater on the topic.
Richard Elkus mentioned his experience with Apex and his trip to Japan to sign a deal with Toshiba to manufacture their products and also cited the participants of the technological arms-race, for example Japan and Korea. It is trips like these where countries come together to collaborate that leads to globalisation. Globalisation of technology has connected the world together and led to advancement of technology. The technological arms-race is a competitive arena; gadgets come and go, and people change their handphones like changing clothes to stay at the forefront of the race because handphones become obsolete very quickly, and companies struggle to outwit each other with their products. But it is the use and abuse of technology that impacts the world, because technology can be used both to harm and help the world.