Chapter 24 pt 1

I found the beginning of the chapter to be the most interesting part of the reading. Talking about how toys in different countries are foreign both in look and also in nature and how it may not really make sense to have Barbie and Ken in a Muslim society. The ideals they portray are not necessarily common with the ideals in Muslim society. The irony is that the thing they do share in common is that they were made in China. This story was just about children’s toys but one could really expand upon that to extend it to things beyond toys. It is weird today to think about the time where foreign countries were exactly that, foreign. They were faraway places that if they did not exist then you might not be impacted today. However, with the technology today and because of globalization, it became really difficult not to become dependent on everyone else, especially when so many different places have so much to offer. I also found it interesting that they traced the roots of globalization all the way back to trade routes like the Silk Road. It makes more sense to talk about technology today being a source of all the globalization, but even without the technology we were interacting and becoming reliant upon others even hundreds of years ago. The thing that surprised me a bit was the comparison of America to that of an empire. I never really thought of it that way but I suppose that it does make a lot of sense. It is not so much of a colonial empire, I mean obviously we are not taking over other countries and populating them, rather we sort of influence their economy and politics, a lot of times in a negative way. I thought it was funny that in terms of American global economy and the cultural face of America they used McDonalds as the example. I am not sure if that was just the easiest thing to express it in but I for one think it is not great that the face of our country is a fast food chain. The picture above the military bases in the early 21^st century and you cannot help but question the placement of some of the military bases. For example countries like Greenland, Iceland, and New Zealand, what exactly to we have to worry about from those countries? Or is there another reason for them being there? I mean I don’t know but it is something I found strange. Unsurprisingly however was the fact that globalization helped create the greatest spurt of economic growth in history. It makes sense that if everyone is trading with each other then they must all be getting something out of it, rather than taking over places for the good of one country we began to trade and benefit everyone.