`` Jihad Vs. Mcworld, Political Scientist Benjamin Barber

Some argue that globalization will, on the long term, bring all cultures as a unique Western, if not Americanized, culture, while others argue that some cultures will persist in order to keep their own essence and therefore avoid the homogenization of all cultures. Alongside pure tradition, global conflicts, contradictory political regimes and the diversity of economic systems, some cultures are bound to face issues when trying to fully fit in a global western culture, and that is why cultures are adaptable to one another, but with some limits that we will express in this essay.

America has long held the threat of the “Western influence,” and countries scramble to keep up with the stunningly fast-paced changes happening. In America the Beautiful: What We’re Fighting For, Dinesh D’Souza investigates the way Americans live and the effect this has on others lives, specifically Islam culture as the Islamic people must decide whether to fight or adapt to the western influence. D’Souza discusses an important topic but makes many broad generalizations and assumptions, using his biased opinions in order to provide support for his claims, which lessens the effectiveness of his

In “The Case for Contamination”, the author, Kwame Anthony Appiah uses his article to argue that globalization isn’t always a bad thing and that forcefully preserving cultural institutions does more harm than good. He uses examples to show how the world is being ‘Contaminated’. By “Contamination’, he is referring to the mixture of values, cultures and traditions. Globalization doesn’t always mean assimilation. People tend to fear change. Appiah encourages others to learn more about different culture and traditions, and throughout the article he dismisses the idea that societies changing and adopting cultural practices of other societies are inherently negative. People should be able to choose what they value and what not to value in their

The general aim of a country is to constantly extend its influence into global affairs, because with influence and knowledge come power. America and the world has grown to be extremely diverse, so the eternal debate is discovering the best way to control the variety in order to consolidate power. The Capitalistic system attempts to incorporate, assimilate, and implement every variety. This homogenization is the basis for Americas aim which relies on multiple inherent human characteristics: self-interest and rational. This “all embracing system”(Robbins) uses the panopticon to manipulate these dependencies.

In conclusion, Donald Trump is both charismatic and holds himself in high esteem, he is eager to explain how exceptionally well he did in the election and does this in great length in his speeches. He even has a framed map of the 2016 election results displayed in the White House (Lozada, 2017). In his recent speech in Poland, Trump made reference to the ‘West’ ten times. Beinart (2017) argues that in this context the West is not a geographical term, but a racial and religious one. Trump is unlike his predecessors, who acknowledged that democracy and capitalism were not Western, but the universal aspiration of humankind. Previous leaders of the US discussed globalisation as a process where America improved the world. However, Trump describes globalisation as a process by which the world cheats, weakens and threatens America. His words, ‘The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive’ (Trump, 2017), only makes sense if non-white, non-Christians are seen as invaders. Thus, this implies that anyone in America who is non-white and non-Christian is a threat. Trump, by describing that being Western is the essence to the US’s identity, is defining the US to be in opposition to many of its own people.

In truth, its history dates back as far as the sixteenth century, following the first great expansion of European capitalism, which resulted in slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism (Ezema, 2009). Throughout history, world powers have continually sought to perpetuate their way of life: from the philosophy and mythology of the Greeks, the political ideologies and linguistics of the Romans, and the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance (Daghrir, 2013). Thus, it comes as no surprise that the aftermath of the post-war era, which saw the collapse of Soviet communism and the emergence of the United States as the sole hegemon, saw the aggressive spread of American ideals, values, and beliefs. Indeed, just as American goods flooded world markets in the post-World War II era; American culture now penetrates every continent through the aggressive development of mass communications, trade expansion and information technology.

Overall, the article explores how America’s foundation was built the quote, “we hold to the self-evident truth that all men are created by God, which imparts to each of them equal, inestimable and eternal value.” The author claims that Americans have the right to be defended by the government. Unfortunately, the history of America does not always involve in keeping everyone safe, especially ones who do not value their own life. In addition, the author claims that jihadists threaten every human’s life. The author also claims that every jihadist has an agenda, which is to plot and kill the lives of innocent Americans.

The article Jihad vs. McWorld contributes to the rationalization of society thesis. Like the beginning of the protestant reformation when people begin to wonder and seek their purpose on earth, people are having are spiritually and physically struggling. In trying to understand faith against economic and cultural interdependence, people start to lose their own sense of rationality. Rationality is then determined by the institutions. Jihad is the struggle of civilizations in the context of cultural globalization and McWorld is the political, economic, and cultural globalization that has affected nationalism. Individuals become disposed to the forces of rationalization.

Globalization forces me to analyze who the real winners and loser are regarding who can access the benefits that it may create. The United States has massive domination of pop culture and presence on the internet. I read an article that argues English makes up about 80% of the internet’s content. Considering that there are about 7,000 living world languages this is highly unbalanced. This may lead to the dilution of smaller global cultures as argued by both authors. As we discussed in class, the United States is a highly exceptionalism country. This exceptionalism often leaves Americans feeling a sense of superiority about their actions and values. Baraldi argues that ethnocentrism can lead to positive values of pluralism, individualism, and modernism to be lost as individuals evaluate the behaviors of other’s through their own cultural lenses judging them by their own cultural standards. The United States domination of power in both organic and virtual society may allow for the internet to be another mechanism for the United States to increase its sphere of influence. Baraldi posits that ethnocentrism is present as the United States confronts issues and conflicts with an “us versus them” mentality. This impedes actor’s ability to solve international issues because there is an inherit assumption that those who are different, or not with us are against us. This has been present in many conflicts the United States has engaged in, the Cold War and War Against Terrorism are examples of

It was once a word unfamiliar to American ears. But in recent years it has become all too familiar. The actions of Muslim militants and terrorists have seared the word into American consciousness.

The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts

The book by Thomas Friedman, "The World is Flat", discusses the enormous changes regarding technology and communications which have altered the lives of people all over the globe (1). A large aspect in regards to the "flat world" is that we are competing with foreigners all over the world for jobs, status, and power.

Imagine a world where geographic separation does not inhibit the social or economic mobility of people. A place where cement roads are obsolete and unnecessary and the information super highway is the only road you need to know how to navigate. Information technology becomes the glue and nails that binds our (global) society together. Development becomes a matter of installing fiber-optic wiring, cellular towers and satellite launching. World Bank projects change from road building to wire laying. Now imagine a world where there is no electricity, telephones, computers, roads or other mediums of transportation other than legs and feet. Communication exists on a face-to-face level and nothing more. An individuals’

In light of recent events in the global community, one word that is used frequently but rarely truly understood is the Islamic word Jihad. Jihad has become a very volatile word, so it is necessary that those who use it should understand exactly what it means, what it entails, and what significance it has in current global events.

In today’s world, with a few notable exceptions, nearly everyone in every region of the world has access to the same products, information and services. A long-distance relationship is no longer so distant, since each party involved in the relationship can communicate through Skype, Facebook or through any of the vast amount of social media available. A person in Easter Island, one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, can go to the other side of the world and travel to Canada. An economic crisis in Argentina could affect the economic landscape in Brazil. A person in Chile or Peru can buy an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt because this transnational corporation decided to expand its market to developing countries, or as you might prefer, to emerging economies in South America. Although many of these examples might be trivial, these are the consequences of globalization.