Gerlich's Blog

The Truest Definition of Globalization

Okay, here's my post for the week of August 7th: Yes, Kleeman, I know I'm behind on posting, but my blog was spammed--the least they could have done was fry it up and put a pineapple ring on it. I know that predates some of you who have never had the experience of Spam on your dinner plate...
As I prepared for the first day of classes, I came across this definition of globalization I have used in A.P. U.S. to discuss the development of an "Atlantic" World in the 1400s (Europe, Africa, the Americas). It was taken from an e-mail Martin Rosenberg sent me a few years ago and though a bit of it seems dated, it's still useful:
What is the truest definition of globalization? Answer: Princess Diana's death. How come?
An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. This e-mail is sent to you by an Armenian, using Bill Gates' technology, and you're probably reading this on one of the IBM clones, that uses Taiwanese-made chips, and a Korean-made monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by lorries driven by Indians, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, trucked by Mexican illegals, and finally sold to you by Arabs. And that, my friend, is globalization.

posted by k gerlich @ 4:27 PM