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This blog is for Watauga High School students taking the Scientific and Technical Visualization class. We are reading and discussing Thomas Friendman's book "The World is Flat". Watauga High School is not responsible for the content of any student entry or any links that might be added by students.
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In this chapter, Freidman changes from talking about economic impacts of flattening, to the cultural impacts. He talks about how after the Berlin wall fell, American culture seemed ready to take over the world, but flattening has turned out to preserve other cultures remarkably well. He says this is because of uploading, which he has discussed before, but not in this context. With uploading, a person can share anything he/she wants with the world. This cultural discussion finally gave some new ideas to the book.
Friedman starts talking about the different ways globalization and flattening have changed the American culture, along with other countries culture. He talked about how in china they are starting to create their own television programs that are generated from Chinese culture ideas, instead of western influences. He also mentioned that Google has become even more powerful now that it is available in 116 different languages, making it easier to use for everyone. Freidman talked about how just like Americans, the Chinese are wanting their voice to be heard around the world, and they are doing it be the same way we are, pod casting. Something I found really shocking is that most Chinese have never been exposed to the ipod, unlike America were about 8 out of ten students have an ipod. I like what he said at the end of this chapter "if these trends continue, it is inevitable that globalization will finally become, well global- both culturally and commercially- a process no longer driven from America and Europe but from all four corners of the flat world."
The new thinking that he talks about in this chapter is cultural impacts. He talks about how when the berlin wall fell it changed the world and American culture almost took over other societies, but flattening allowed other cultures to survive. He also mentioned how China prevented outside influence by creating TV shows centered around their own culture and lacking western influence.
Some countries keep their citizens from being influenced by foreign cultures (China). Many places have opened to new ideas and mixed cultures (America, Europe in general). Some countries go out of their way to box out new cultures by creating their own entertainment (China). Other countries embrace the entertainment of other cultures (America, Europe to a certain extent).
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