The greatness of globalization

Almost a decade ago I was diagnosed Celiac, or in other words, gluten intolerant. I was in 6th grade at the time. Back then, it was almost impossible to find anything labeled "gluten free" in the stores. Although my mom tried really hard to get me to make special gluten free food, the majority of the gluten free food that we experimented with seriously tasted about as good as soggy cardboard.  Because of globalization, many new gluten free foods have emerged in the last 10 years. Also, not only is there more variety of gluten free products, but many of them actually taste really good too. One of these, as we have discussed in class is Quinoa. Quinoa is a naturally gluten free product. Not only that, but it tastes great and is extremely healthy.

In addition, I was born with what's called club feet. Basically that means that both of my feet were upside down and backwards. When I was about 6 months old I had to go through complete reconstructive surgery on both of my feet. They cut all the way around the back of my feet and rearranged everything. I was then outfitted with spring loaded casts that went up to my waist for the next 6 months to a year of my life. This surgery that they did was state of the art at the time. Research had been combined from many different doctors around the world, and this new surgery was born.  In short, it's safe to say that if it were not for globalization, I would be a cripple and living my life in a wheelchair instead of traversing the walkways of BYU and playing basketball multiple times a week.

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Globalization is one the biggest factors that affects our lives, even if we don't realize it. The benefits of globalization are many. Everyone can agree that people, especially Americans, appreciate convenience and a reasonable price when buying materials or items. Globalization has made products that are produced around the world available to us for a cheaper price. To get exotic fruit from South America, you no longer have to fly there; all you have to do is go to your local Wal-Mart. Globalization can be seen as positive because of the accessibility we have to everything around the world.

However, globalization can also be seen as a negative process that is occurring throughout the world. It is hurting the individuality and uniqueness of different cultures. I am an art history major and there is nothing I enjoy more than the artwork and architecture that comes from the different cultures of the world. Art communicates what is most important to the people of a certain time period or place and if the world becomes too globalized, the art will all start looking identical. Lots of modern art today looks very similar whether it is from Asia, Europe, or America. Looking back in history before commerce was so international, the art from different areas was more diverse and represented the culture of the people producing the work better than it does today.  Globalization may make the world more unified and increase our convenience, but it also takes away the diversity of art and culture that can be found and make the world a more monotonous place.

Globalization is completely based on location. For multimillion dollar companies, globalization is a means to an end for creating more product and raising revenue. For American jobs, it is a consuming threat. For international jobs, it is a grand opportunity and growth avenue. For factory, industrial workers, it could be a God-sent miracle of work, or it could be the cause of serious and devastating pay drops that reduce poverty stricken families to starvation. I believe that taking any stand on this topic is altogether pointless at the moment because there are so many different perspectives to consider. While I would love to concretely take a side and argue pro or against, I simply can’t at this point because I feel overwhelmed with the angles to understand. In my life, my experiences with globalization have been entirely beneficial because of living in Wal-Mart headquarters. Globalization has brought culture and credibility to my city, has created hundreds of jobs, and has stimulated the economy. With the profits created from Globalization, Sam Walton’s daughter, Ann Walton, built the world-renowned art museum Crystal Bridges into the stunning natural beauty of the Ozark Mountains. This brought people from all over the world to our little town, and I know it personally stimulated the business I worked for, a little Italian Restaurant in Bentonville Town Square. However, I am in an area where I cannot see the deprivation of jobs in other sectors, or the harmful effects of industrialization at such a frantic, quick pace.

You know I'm not even sure if this counts, but I think globalization has affected me, and well, my family and it has not necessarily been positive. I come from a small farm community of about 4700 people. My family owns one of the biggest ranches around and we own a little farm on the side. It is really hard to watch the influence of globalization on our ranch and farm. As globalization occurs so does modernization and so small town businesses like ours become less and less needed. Not only do things like profit and revenue fall, but also emotional aspects of it. Instead of watching people from town drive out to our pumpkin patch in the Fall time with their families and their big smiles, we see more and more people just run to the nearest super center. It is pretty depressing. People who used to be able to make a comfortable living just working out in the fields and raising cattle, can no longer stay afloat. I am happy to say that my family has not suffered that severely from globalization yet, but who knows how long until we too suffer the same fate?

And the other thing that kind of bothers me about globalization is that it takes away from individuality. I really like to believe that modernization is a blessing, and in many cases it is, but as the world begins to globalize, that sense of culture and individualism kind of gets lost. People on the big-time business side of everything get caught up in making money and how to grow bigger, while the normal folks just trying to put food on the table kind become forgotten. That's sort of what I feel is happening to my family and my town.

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I am fortunate to say that globalization has only affected me positively.  My benefits start as small as using technology that was assembled in another country or enjoying lunch consisting of food from a foreign culture.  They stretch from here all the way up to living under a government whose structure was inspired by many different foreign philosophies.  On another basic yet crucial note, one of the biggest benefits I enjoy like many others is of course the supply of gasoline we receive from foreign resources.  Currently in my life as I am furthering my education, more and more ideas and helpful academic principles which are being brought to my attention originally arose from foreign countries. Globalization allows the good of all the different countries and cultures to be enjoyed by others.  I have seen that with globalization, people aren’t limited to the good advantages of their own country or culture alone, but on top of that they can enjoy the good of others as well.  There are truly countless benefits I receive in every aspect of life thanks to globalization.  This is why I think globalization is a good thing.  Like all good things, globalization does have to come with a price.  I recognize that there are some negative influences of other countries, and because of globalization they reach countries around them and can harm them.  However, this harm has to reach them by force, where as globalization allows for good things to be both introduced and sought after.  I personally believe this allows globalization to spread more good than harm.

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Before taking this class, I haven't dived too deeply under the topic of globalization. However, after pondering throughout this week, I realized that globalization has a great influence over my life. A great example of globalization would be the dramatic improvements of our medical history. Looking back a few centuries, the health conditions of quite a number of people weren't so great. Their lifespan was a lot shorter in comparison to our lives in the present. Medical procedures are more sanitary and safe for the patient than it was back then. About half a year ago, I got into an accident, which resulted in a deep cut on my leg. The wound was a minor injury, but needed to be surgically treated in a hospital before a possible infection would have a chance of occurring. I'm not going to go into further detail about the operation due to respect of those who might get nauseous over surgical procedures and details, but I came out of the hospital perfectly healthy with the exception of my leg recovering. This proved to me how globalization has improved the world in this sense. If globalization had not improved the world's medical procedure, things might have turned for the worst after the operation.

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Honestly, after reading the first side of the argument in the book I was uninterested in the topic (and a little confused as to why I was even reading it). I found the article to be dry, verbose and underdeveloped. Cut out the bombast and you’re left with just a few starving paragraphs.  Despite my disinterested and negative attitude, I continued on to the other side of the argument. The author initially caught my attention by whipping out Christianity from the get go. I braced myself as the patronizing blows of a judgment rained down. Who is the author to define “the gospel of globalization” and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as completely contradictory ideologies? Thank God God is God and the author is not. Did not Christ himself support globalization to a certain extent when he commanded his disciples to go forth and preach? Without globalization and the exchange of ideas, would the author even be Christian?  Would any of us? Would Christianity have expanded as thoroughly as it has? It is impossible to know, and it is best not to dwell on hypothetical situations.  However, as a Christian, and more specifically a believer in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I can say that I am thankful for Globalization. The most influential and important aspect of my life, my religion, has reached me indirectly through globalization. Missionaries from the United States traveled to northern Europe generations ago and carried with them the message of this gospel. My family accepted the message and came to the United States. Without the integration and interaction of two separate communities, missionaries would not have found my ancestors and shared the gospel with them and my life would be vastly different.

P.S. I’m not as cynical as this writing makes me out to be. I was just messing around and making things interesting for myself.

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Globalization is not something I was really aware of until we discussed it in class last time so coming up with an example that has affected my life was somewhat difficult. After thinking about it though, I remembered a time when globalization affected me for the better. Ever since I was a little kid I have played soccer and loved every minute of it. My perspective on soccer was that it was a fun way to compete and get involved in a sport.  That changed when I was a freshman in high school and I played on a different club soccer team. The interesting part about this team was that the coaches were from Brazil. In Brazil, soccer is the main sport and a big deal! All of these coaches had traveled to America to come teach soccer to us. I had been on other club soccer teams in the past, but being on this team with the Brazilian coaches changed how I looked at soccer. They really stressed making soccer a "beautiful game" especially since soccer is such a big part of the Brazilian culture. We also focused on conditioning and accurate ball control more than any other team I had been on. I would consider this an example of globalization because I had my way of thinking about soccer based on what I had learned growing up in the United States, and then my thoughts and my teammate's thoughts were changed completely because of these coaches from a whole other side of the world.

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Globalization has had a huge impact on my everyday life.  One example of how it effects my life is from the clothes I wear.  Most of my clothes are made in China, Taiwan, or other parts of the world and are then shipped back to the U.S. where I can buy them in the store.  Another example is the foods I eat.  I am able to buy foods such as star fruit, pomegranates, oranges, and bananas that were grown in other parts of the world and brought here to the United States for us to enjoy.  A third example is the electronics that we buy like cell phones, computers, and I-pods.  The companies that make these products outsource many of the parts to be made too many different countries.  A simple cell phone can have parts made in over twenty different countries.  These parts are then shipped back to the company and are put together and sold here in the United States.  Although there are many benefits to globalization, there are also many costs as well which is why this topic is debated as either a good thing or a bad thing.  Globalization can lead to a worldwide homogenization where unique or indigenous cultures are disappearing and becoming more like western culture.  Globalization can also make the richer countries richer and the poorer countries poorer because they may just not have the natural resources that the world wants or the funds to get it started or are just not politically stable enough.  However, In terms of business it is a great thing because companies are able to make much more profits because they are able to outsource and things like that.  Although there are many negative things with globalization I think overall, globalization is a good thing.

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Last semester I had the opportunity to take Geography and World Affairs from Professor Knapp.  One element of world affairs that we discussed throughout the entire semester was globalization. Globalization is how the influences and operations of the world have affected the globe.  Even though globalization has many positive effects, it is still an international debate on whether it is destructive because it affects people negatively as well.  Living in the United States, I am lucky because I have all that I do because of globalization.  The most common for of globalization in my life is clothing.  Most of the clothing that we buy from stores was made in countries such as China, Thailand and Taiwan.  Designs are created in the United States and then outsourced to other countries to be made.  Another example of globalization in my life is the produce at the grocery store.  With Utah’s continental climate we are not able to grow many crops year round, so we ship produce in from other countries that have more maritime climates and are able to grow fruit and vegetables throughout the entire year.  I am also affected by globalization because of medicine.  Throughout the centuries as people have researched diseases and sicknesses, they have created cures through medicine to heal.  These scientists and researchers were not all Americans, they were from all over the globe.  They were able to find these medicines by going to countries such as Africa to research those who are sick, and now I am able to benefit from the medicines they have created.  I am so grateful for globalization.  It allows me access to resources I could not live without.     

-Alexis Williams

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                 Globalization has affected my life in ways that I really have never even noticed. Today, we live in a society centered on convenience. We really don’t recognize how easy things are for us and how lucky we are to have so many options. One way that I am affected by globalization is all of the choices that I have every time I go grocery shopping. I can choose almost any fruit and any vegetable from a grocery store like Wal-Mart. Some of these foods are not grown in America, yet in a twenty minute drive I can gain access and possession of them. Although this is true, these foods are not necessarily safe to eat. Pesticides and other dangerous things can easily be on the food that I obtain. Another way that globalization affects me involves jobs.  Jobs that my family members and I could be getting are outsourced to other countries where people will do the work for an incredibly low price. I am now competing with people all over the world for jobs. Gas prices are an example that show how globalization has increased the price. Global economies are growing and competition is causing prices to increase. A large topic today, technology, is also a large way that my life has changed. I have a phone, laptop, and TV all manufactured in countries other than the United States. International businesses and technology have changed the way that I can communicate and receive the things that I want. The world is quickly becoming global and changing every second. 

Blog Post 1: Globalization

With advances in transportation and technology, we have been able to experience different cultures and ways of life that previously we didn't even know were possible. Our scope of goods and materials we can obtain has changed from a national, to a more global approach and with thats comes an adjustment to how we interact from day to day. Practically every aspect of our lives has has been affected by what we can sum up into one word, globalization. Personally, i am grateful for these shifts in our world today and all the various opportunities, outlooks, and culture it has given me. I think of how many times my family was in the car driving to somewhere for dinner and my parents would ask us, "What type of food do you guys feel like? Chinese? Italian? Mexican?" If it weren't for the discovery and spread of different country's cuisines through globalization, i doubt we would have had such a conversation. Because of this, i'm also constantly amazed at how i can connect with people on social media network sites that I've met halfway across the world, let alone my ability to travel to those remote places in the first place. I'm also in love with the idea that the music i listen to, the clothes i wear, and the cars i drive are not strictly limited to the borders of where i live. What it all comes down to, is i believe all the benefits that come from globalization far outweigh the disadvantages it personally brings to my life. 

Mary Thompson

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Doran Porter,

Globalization is everywhere and it affects everyone. Personally I feel the effect of globalization every day. If I look at the tags on my clothes I can see that many are made in countries that are not the United States. For example one of my T-shirts are made in Taiwan and another made in Nicaragua. Even the Realtree jacket I got from Cabelas was made in China. Now their style may be American, but every time I wake up and put my clothes on technically I am not wearing American clothes. Another example is my phone or iPod or computer. The technology and knowledge that is in thous devices come from all over the world. Some smart dude in South Korea designed my Samsung phone and it works just fine. Maybe the main reason we have the technology we have today is thanks to Globalization for letting the great minds from all over the world share and think together. But just like globalization is good and bad the way it affects me is good and bad. The price I pay for gas is affected by how the government chooses to drill for oil outside of the Country rather then drill all or oil here in America. We have the resources and deposits to do it but because of foreign policy and globalization we don't and the price I pay for gas goes up. Another simple way globalization affects me is by the music I listen too. You can search and find a lot of songs on iTunes that are sung in a different language. Globalization has affected my life.

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Kayla Cummings

         Being a citizen in the United States, my personal opinion of globalization is quite biased. Unlike many other countries the majority of acts towards globalization benefit the US. I can go to the store and have a large variety of products that may be considered exotic. The main portion of my wardrobe consists of items manufactured outside our country’s borders. We as Americans may see globalization as purely beneficial, however by having our factories on foreign soil it costs us job opportunities within the United States. This has been evident in my life as I was searching for a job in high school. I must have applied to over ten different job positions, two of which were in the manufacturing industry. I was finally able to secure a job through a friend of a friend. If we were to cut down on globalization, people could receive jobs that they actually fit the necessary requirements for. My job was in the medical career path while I have hopes to become a structural engineer. Although I am grateful I was able to secure a job, it did not help me achieve my vision of the American Dream. By opening factories and plants on American soil we could provide not only jobs for the unemployed but as well as the people whose dream career is not on the path they are currently on. I find that any essay small or large regarding America is best closed by a quote from a true patriot. So in the words of the balding gentleman who took my passport photo, “I want it American made, gosh darn it!”

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Olivia Simons

Globalization has had a huge effect on my life. Lots of the things we enjoy today are possible because of Globalization. We talked in class about exotic fruits. Many of my favorite fruits are products of other countries. Globalization makes it possible for us to enjoy those fruits that we are unable to grow here on United States soil. Globalization can either really help a specific country by providing well-paying jobs, or it can harm a country by making the prices too high for the locals to afford some of their food and products that come directly from their land. I tried to think of an example that related to me specifically. I drive a Volkswagen car. Volkswagen is a German company known for making some of the safest cars. I always thought that Volkswagen cars were made in Germany and shipped here to the US. After looking into this a little bit I came to realize that the Headquarters in Germany actually hire people in Mexico to work on assembly lines to build and manufacture the cars. They specialize in specific parts of the car which makes for a very productive business of manufacturing Volkswagen cars. It provides a very good job for people in Mexico and actually is helping the locals by opening up more job opportunities. Now we have so many countries all around the world involved in this one trade. It also provides for people at individual dealerships across the globe. As a result we end up with a good quality car that is available for consumers to purchase. It involves so many people and seems to me to be a very positive production. 

Shopping locally

I love to shop on the internet.  I get a little put out when going to a local store and finding their prices high and selections minimal. But as I had the opportunity to live in Peru I was able to see how narrow and inpatient my thinking and experiences were. A short example would be our daily food needs. While in Peru in a common day we would buy just what we needed for the day, 1 cup quinoa and a mango for breakfast,  2 eggs, 1 cup of lentils, onion, garlic, and a sweet potato for lunch and 2 rolls, avocado, and fruit for dinner. Because all their food was local and fruit was vine ripened we would often have to switch out the mango with another fruit when the mangoes were out of season and be sure to buy fish when the fish boats were in the dock.  I soon learned that what I was giving up in variety and convenience I was gaining in flavor and quality. Nobody would consider buying the bread they would need for the next day because it would not be fresh. The Peruvians were proud of their cultural ways and foods, in this regard they pitied the American ways. Through close observation of their food traditions I came to the belief that being closer to your food source has many healthy ramifications both in diet and in behaviors. Benefits that I want to have in my own life. I now at least try to first buy local, in season produce and support local venders and craftsmen. This is a hard and lofty goal in a country that has so fully embraced globalization but it is a way of life that I want to explore and find compromises that will work for me and contribute to a stronger sense of community.