The important factors which affect our decision to tend towards a global village would be discussed in this essay. The critical analysis and evaluation would show why it is not desirable for the world to become a global village.
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The global village has allowed distance to be a thing of the past. Information, ideas, culture and goals around the globe can be easily disseminated and therefore amalgamated into a ‘super culture’ (Dixon, 2009). This paves the way for the new generation to better adapt and integrate to new cultures of the world. As seen in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, despite being a multicultural society, America has yet to achieve a state where multiple cultures are united as one culture. Each has their own takes and some were defensive or even in denial towards cultural difference. By becoming a global village and as a united, one super culture as a whole, both new and current generations can both live harmoniously with one another, where each can understand and work together with appropriate cultural behaviour and cultural point of view, becoming ethno relative towards one another.
Another positive aspect of becoming a global village would be the achievement of global peace and security. The trademark of a village community is in its collectivist attitude and way of life. (Nair, n.d) The compassion, sympathy and neighbourly environment between the residents allow the village to exist harmoniously. Therefore, as a global village we can achieve a humane behaviour pattern across the globe, enabling economies to flourish, as stronger nations would aid those weaker nations to grow, and a greater level of peace and security as every nation are working hand in hand to protect and insure the entire globe. (Dixon 2009) .The United Nations is an international organisation which embodies the idea of a global village. Representatives from different nations across the globe come together and work as a whole, committing themselves to “maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights”. (United Nations, 2012)
Though being a global village has its advantages, it may be a big mistake on its own. Becoming a global village would mean that everything; culture, language, religion, music, etc. are homogenised as one kind. This not only causes diversity to become extinct, but moral and principles of the future generation would be affected as well. Every person would blindly believe in that one superior culture, which diminishes our intelligence and our ability to tell what is good or bad for us in the long run. These issues are the disadvantages of becoming a global village.
Primarily, as a global village and having one superior culture, the world is effectively sacrificing the choice of having a diversity of cultures. The decision to opt for forgetting every roots, history, identities and beliefs in favour of adopting a new culture, regardless if it really is for the good or bad for the world no one would know as the global citizens would not be able to tell as they do not have any basis to compare it to. The world is effectively uniting underneath one government and one religion. (Andromida, 2012) This homogeneity would never be by choice of the people, but dictated through force and oppression. Every single individual is different and have their own choice and preference; therefore no two individuals can ever agree on every single decision let alone the entire globe. Thus in order to achieve this homogeneity for a vision of a ‘good life’ or a ‘good society’, the ‘global government’ must restrict the individual’s thinking and behaviours and ‘guide’ it so that the individual would think and believe the choice that is predetermined by the government. Using one rigid stagnant point of view to look at the world would not bring forth new inventions and ideas or economic growth as creativity and growth are stifled by this conformation. By conforming to this template of conduct and thinking set by the government, we lose the ability to think and reason critically. As expressed in the literary text by John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, only when an individual is confronted with conflicting views and idea from their can he or she learn from it and grow as a person. If the ideas are correct, his or her understanding of it would improve. If the ideas are incorrect, the individual can argue and better understand why their own ideas are correct and detect the mistakes of the opposing argument. (Mill, 1999) For this reason, if the individual does not encounter any opposition in his or her entire life, they become intellectually weak and brittle and ultimately feebleminded, similar to one who does not maintain regular exercise becomes weak and unhealthy.
Another peril from living in a global village, underneath one central government and religion, would be the devastation of lives due to racist, ethnicist and nativist bigotry. Because one does not conform to the framework or the role decided by the government, they would be harshly punished or ‘re-educated’ so they would follow what is expected of them, regardless if it is what they wish to do or if they are suffering because of it. Ultimately, this homogeneity would be fatal to the entire global population as the people have been reduced to an intellectually feeble-minded race where in any change or adverse impacts to their environment would effectively wipe out the citizens, as they are unable to react and deal with the new change. (Stolyarov 2011) An exemplification would be that of North Korea. The citizens are feeble minded, brainwashed into thinking that they are superior and that they must live in the lives dictated for them by the ruling government. Any opposition would be harshly dealt with via banishment into prison camps, where political, economic freedom and human rights would be stripped from them. (Harden, 2008) Should the world ever become a global village, we might eventually become a ‘North Korea’ on a global scale instead.
A further flaw of a global village would be the issue of the ‘super culture’. Currently, due to globalisation, the world is already experiencing a similar occurrence known as McDonaldization or Cocacolonization. It is the spreading of popular culture and principles, mostly from the west towards other parts of the world. Currently, its characteristics based on the models set by the western culture for example the music, language and food. What we would see in America could be easily found in other countries no matter if the country is half way across the globe. The exotic country of Hungary or japan dotted with franchises of MacDonald’s selling coca cola, while playing the latest popular song from America. (Bereza N.D.)
However in the long run, would we all adopt this same culture or would there be a conflict out break as different groups would fight to become that one superior culture or religion? There are on-going conflicts happening around the world with regards to differences in culture or religion. Radical nutcases would push to spread their extreme ideologies and beliefs, influencing others to support their ’cause’. As such, fallouts, riots and conflicts would occur, some even extending over long periods of time. A good example would be the Al Qaeda, which pushed for its Islamist religion, beliefs and ideologies. The war and its radical movements have lasted for more than 20 years despite global actions and movements against it. On a lesser scale, the incident happening in Sydney with regards to the insult felt by the Muslims about their Islamic religions due to the low-budget internet film, “Innocence of Muslims”, is a case where people are not sensitive towards other cultures, choosing to ridicule and ignore the repercussions of the actions. (ABC News, 2012) In addition, would we all end up speaking just English alone and forgetting our native language? As sad as it seems, many immigrant children end up forgetting or not learning their parent’s native language, as seen in America where American born Chinese children end up not being able to utter a coherent sentence of fluent Chinese. The gradual extinction of language not only makes the world more mundane, but it effectively endangers the existence of some cultures as well. (Dixon, 2009)
The morals and ethics in the current popular culture are based on what the current society decided as a social norm. Promiscuity, lack of piety, cheating and many others has become accepted when it was considered taboo a decade ago. (O. Lerche III, 2012). This shift in ethics is the effect of the American media which depicts certain societal behaviour, even though it is purely fictional, this effect has already taken root in people’s minds and are further reinforced unintentionally by other countries.
In conclusion, becoming a global village will have a more detrimental effect than its intended good. Though it may create a hybrid super culture and increase global peace and security, the loss and other adverse effects resulting from becoming a global village is too great to be measured. Therefore rather than becoming a global village, it would be more ideal to achieve ethno relativism towards cultural difference for each individual as it can not only allow the globe to be harmonious, but enjoy its unique cultural diversity as well.
