Blog Entry #5

   This week I was really intrigued by how our ideals and culture in the developed world affect the less developed world and how capitalism facilitates the exchange. As we have moved towards a globalized and capitalistic planet, we see cultural ideals exchanged rapidly. Western images of female beauty are readily available underdeveloped countries. This can be psychologically damaging to individuals, especially as we see typically "western" diseases such as anorexia spread to other regions. I think this is a huge danger that globalization brings. It is important that we as a human race value other standards of beauty, so that other cultures do not feel like they are less beautiful. More importantly, we need to teach people that their value as a human is not based on their beauty.

   The film we began watching on Friday, "Killing Us Softly 4", illustrated the un-achievable standard of beauty the West has created. People living in slums do not have the education or knowledge to understand that these images are completely unrealistic and should not be seen as healthy bodily standards. It is sad to me that people who already have very difficult lives feel badly about themselves because they cannot embody the perfect body image in advertising. It almost feels morally wrong to use edited images in advertising - it isn't a truthful way of representing the human body and human beauty. However, as we have seen throughout this course, the economic opportunities seem to outweigh the moral or health issues. It is unfortunate that capitalism seems to disregard human psychological health.

   I would like to know more about the advertising industry. It would be interesting to see to what extent does modifying images in advertisements actually increase sales revenue. If given unlimited resources, I would create an advertising/awareness campaign to show people - especially those in underdeveloped countries - how unrealistic and fake the images we see are. Maybe then we would begin to see a decrease in sales on products promoted by these fake images, and in turn, advertisers would not be as apt to use them. Ideally, we could promote the beauty and acceptance of real people, not fake images. It would also be important to promote other ethnicities as being equally beautiful and attractive.

Blog entry 4

This week I primarily was intrigued by the video The Empathic Civilization. I thought it was interesting how over the course of human history, we have grouped ourselves into empathetic groups based on various things, Culture, religion, language, and ethnicity have all provided reasons for the human race to show empathy to one another. They have also given us reason for conflict, differences in beliefs can, often irrationally, lead to war. The video was closed related to our discussion of what a nation-state is and how they play a role in international relations currently. Following the Cold War era, many states formed began to break up due to cultural differences as their citizens began to seek meaningful representation. Everyone wants to belong to empathetic group that will keep their best interests in mind when dealing with public policy. 

I think it is natural for people to want to find nation-states to belong to to represent their interests. However I think as the world becomes increasingly globalized it is important that we begin to see ourselves as one global nation state -- a nation of humans residing in one global state. Our everyday decisions affect one another. This also ties into our ongoing discussion of human rights vs. cultural rights. Each nation-state will define their own rights, but at some point, as one global body, we need to define basic human rights to protect anyone who may be taken advantage of. I found comfort in the example the video gave of Haiti. As a race, we are inherently empathetic. After the earthquake, the entire globe began to raise relief funds - within hours. We need to channel that empathy into a global discussion on human rights. 

With unlimited resources, I would hope to lobby celebrities and other important figures in society to encourage an empathetic attitude towards other cultures. I think it would also be helpful for people to travel and experience other cultures - and realize that other people aren't quite so different. The video mentioned the biological "Adam and Eve", to whom every person's DNA can be traced back to. We all descend from the same ancestors and inherently posses empathy - we just need to begin to think of ourselves as one human race and express our empathetic nature. 

Blog Entry #3

This week I couldn't choose between the film Girl Rising and the talk from Raul Diaz. I have been internally struggling all week to come to a conclusion on how to create better educational opportunities for girls in less fortunate situations. It seems that education has had nothing but positive benefits, as shown by the film, but at some point giving girls an education often violates cultural or religious values. I was also interested in Raul's work in re-entry. I think helping incarcerated individuals reenter the work force is an extremely under appreciated and underfunded field. As a country, the United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. I think this may have a connection to the amount of gun violence and shootings we see in the States. As a classmate in my small-group discussion about violence and terrorism on Friday pointed out, the world has become highly armed. To be safe, many people claim you should simply "carry a gun in your purse" to protect yourself. A highly armed world without properly transitioning incarcerated individuals back into society is a dangerous one.

Regarding the first topic, it is clear education has obvious benefits to our advancement as a human race. However, as a human race, we have to at some point define what our innate human rights our. I don't believe we can guarantee or provide a free education to everyone on the planet, but I think everyone should have the right to pursue an education if they have the means. I don't think this equates to Western hegemony. I think the UN should determine education to be a human right, and although it may not be enforceable initially, recognizing the importance of education could go a long way in influencing the developing world.  Secondly, Raul's work demonstrates the kind of change I think we need to fix the violence issues discussed in this week's readings. We need to look for a solution that prevents the problem. Unless people feel they are included in society, they won't hesitate to lash out violently towards society when they feel disenfranchised. Our culture needs to shift into being more willing to "pay it forward" to prevent the problem rather than sit back and blame the individuals that eventually lash out without understanding where they are coming from. I admire Raul's compassion and willingness to try to understand difficult people and give them a second chance to make things right in their lives.

I would love to know statistics on how aiding reentry for incarcerated individuals affects their likeliness to be involved in violent crime after reentry. It would be really interesting to see how big of an effect people like Raul have on preventing crime and violence. If given unlimited resources, I would hope to influence the UN to put in place some kind of global human "right" to education. Perhaps trade embargoes could be used to force countries to allow education and allow women to live their own lives freely. I would be against using force or violence to enact this but I think through using Western influence we could make a huge difference in the world.

Blog Entry #2

This week, the article on Walmart, from Chapter 4 of "Globalization", by was the most eye-opening to me. I had never thought about the idea that the upper class (outside of Walmart itself) also benefits heavily from the economic pressure Walmart exerts globally. Walmart is the most perfect embodiment of the "race to the bottom" that we have. Not only does Walmart keep wages as low as possible for its own workers, but it provides minimal benefits in a work environment that has been accused of its unfairness to workers. However, the most interesting thing to me is how Walmart's race to the bottom enables and, in some cases, forces other companies to participate in this race.

On one hand, Walmart forces its supplies to provide products at cheaper and cheaper prices, because of the monopoly they have globally. If supplies don't participate in Walmart's world, they are likely to go out of business. This also forces a lot of cultural beliefs on those working for said supplies, such as certain work schedules and participation in our capitalist economy. Additionally, suppliers pay their workers (especially in foreign countries) appallingly low wages. The book gives an example of one 16 year old worker making only thirteen cents per hour, working ridiculously long hours. I personally find this highly inappropriate, where the actual producer is being forced into poverty while the wealthy profit off of their labors. Another problem with the system is the fact that Walmart enables local business here in the West to continue to call the "minimum wage" reasonable, due to Walmart lowering the cost of living with their low prices. This further reinforces the vicious cycle - it almost requires those working elsewhere at minimum wage to shop at Walmart, while their bosses profit. The economic system we have set up today only exists to serve the wealthy.

If I was given unlimited resources, I would be interested in investigated the relations between suppliers and Walmart. I think the details of how they are somewhat forced into doing business with Walmart would provide insight into how to solve the problem. Perhaps running advertising campaigns to convince consumers to shop elsewhere would go a long way. I think the Fair Trade movement is a major step in the right direction. We should be conscious about what we spend our money on, as consumers, because we really do vote with out wallet. If we shop at Walmart, we are voting for the unfair wages someone in another country is being paid. I think we need to make sure that workers have a meaningful voice when it comes to their pay, and everyone who works should make enough to ensure their basic needs are met. Our economic system should be structured to benefit as many people as possible, not only a select few.

Journal Entry #1

   I really found the visual description of globalization from the second reading from chapter 2 of E&Z, "The World Is Flat" to be powerful. It shows how a country like India, which has had a history of being dominated and colonized by world powers, is becoming an economic powerhouse. Globalization has allowed many individuals to gain economic status and begin to level the playing field with Western civilizations. I agree with the authors argument that the world is becoming increasingly flat on a national level, but this article does not address the effects of cultural globalization on those individuals who drive such economic prosperity. Prior to this course, I never thought about the issues with globalization that chapter 6's "Yearning For Lightness" addresses. I now think it is extremely important to consider how damaging globalization can be, if corporate greed is left unchecked. 

   As globalization opens up foreign markets, the opportunity increases for corporations to take advantage of the different cultural values other people have. Lighter skin, for many, has been associated with a higher economic standing. As American culture is spread, many people wish to emulate it and are willing to use products such as skin lighteners to appear more beautiful, regardless of the side effects such products have. The book claims such consequences include "eczema, bacterial, and fungal infection" (pg. 168). I was never aware that such products were being used around the world and I think it is extremely dangerous for the emotional and mental health of individuals from these cultures. We shouldn't be using our Western economic leadership to take advantage of other humans through degrading their value as a human because of their skin color. We should make a conscious effort to ensure that people of all colors feel beautiful and comfortable in their own skin, literally. 

   With unlimited resources, I would hope to run an awareness campaign detailing the harmful effects of such lightening products. I would hope to encourage individuals to continue to attempt to better themselves economically and participate in the increasing flat world, whilst not harming themselves. I think governments could require beauty companies to openly disclose the side effects of their products. However I think that in order to fix the situation, it is necessary to change the cultural values that lighter skin is superior. This could be done through simply advertising competing beauty products that women could use that do not lighten their skin but promote embracing their natural beauty. I think it is highly important for Western celebrities to use their influence to promote the beauty of natural skin tones to help change the idea that lighter skin is in any way superior.