4/15 readings

     After reading all these, I think the thing that really stood out to me was the David Brooks article about the "death" of the optimistic era of globalization. I think the reason for this was that he stated the world was diverging towards a western set of values. While maybe true at the time, I think it is obvious that even while it was happening it was never going to last, mainly because the west isn't the world. While I do believe these western ideas are much better than a lot of others in the world, it doesn't mean that everyone is just going to accept them. The world is made up of very complex and different cultures, and they aren't going to just give those up. I want to tie this into the pages 458-460, specifically about the idea that globalization "threatens" traditional ways of  life. Hearing this, it makes me think about how people don't want to move away from traditions, especially if is something that'll benefit them. Even here in America, where people tend to be more open minded about changes and progression, there are a ton of people who'd rather keep the traditional ways, even if those ways hurt or keep others down. I also believe it is influenced by the fact that people want their cultures and traditions to be respected, and even if they would be willing to change, they may think twice about it if they feel as if the people suggesting the change are telling them that their culture is "wrong" and they need to change because of that. All of this are things that maybe should have been considered before thinking that the whole world is just going to fall at their knees and change to western ways just because they are "better" and to be clear, I do believe there a ton of things that the western values do that help and better people, but there are things about them that aren't always better, and it isn't as simple as western ways are better and everyone else's ways are worse in every way.

    The main thing I took away from the other reading that came out of the book is how everyone experiences globalization a little differently. We each take bits and pieces of the global cultures and insert them into our own lives. To me, this shows that we can control how globalization effects us and even how globalized we are.

    As for the NPR article, I think it shows one the great things about globalization, as people who may not have been able to share their culture with the world are now able to and we can see this with the spread of music throughout the world.