Globalization is about the interaction and integration of cultures. The interaction part of this is pretty cool; it’s what allows people to have such diverse opinions, and is what makes the Internet such an interesting place. However, it’s this integration part that scares me.
By integrating all of the cultures of the globe into one, a boring culture of sameness arises, and nothing makes people more the same than the hivemind known as the Internet. For greater understanding of why this is a bad thing, check out my other article on the importance of perspective——really, I could have just made this article another example in that one, but oh well.
One of the reasons people in the West nowadays idolize Japan——or other exotic, often Asian places, but Japan is the best example——is because Japan has a culture very distinct from many other parts of the world. This was because of their isolationism, which lasted however long the Tokugawa Shogunate lasted (300 years? 400 years?). I like anime because it’s different, because Western stuff is garbage. Because of the existence of other cultures, other methods of film making and storytelling have been allowed to grow in relative independence from Hollywood. Of course, anime itself was inspired by early Hollywood cartoons, but the way it developed overtime was a result of Japanese culture being different from the West.
I should reemphasize my initial claim: I’m against integration of cultures, but I’m all for their interaction. I have some good reasons for this stance.
If cultures exist isolated from each other entirely for many years, society will grow stagnant. This can be good for a small, thriving society, but in our current world that stagnation is certainly a negative thing. New cultural contact keeps society moving in different ways, allowing for greater opportunities for different people to occur. Opportunities to sell new products, adopt new philosophies, and accept different viewpoints are but some of the ways cultural interaction can benefit society.
There is also the concern of violence or intolerance growing between cultures. It is far too easy for different groups of people whose cultures are radically different to come into conflict with one another. See any instance of contact between Europeans and the nations of the Americas, Africa, or Asia to see how the complete lack of cultural understanding can lead to mutual animosity. Interaction between cultures is a major source of progress and overall good for the world, instances of cultural destruction the likes of which occurred in parts of the New World when Europeans defeated the natives is a terrible thing. Much of the knowledge of the Aztecs were lost, for instance, because the Spanish conquistadors burnt their Empire to the ground. Now, I recall hearing about how Aztec books were found written underneath Spanish writings. Imagine how much more of that knowledge we would have had if only the Aztecs and the Spanish could have interacted peacefully.
There does come the issue of morality however, the idea of moral relativism versus moral absolutism. For example, the Aztecs were sacrificing people like crazy. Some Asiatic and Native American tribal communities were cannibals. Do we assert that these ideas are universally bad (moral absolutism), or accept these cultural differences between our peoples (moral relativism)? Put like that, it leads to the question of whether we should act according to our own moral compasses or respect others.
In the current day west, our society is in a strange spot. On the one hand our major political and cultural figures demand absolute tolerance for others, but on the other hand we are expected to outcast those who break with societal norms or commit some taboo. This endless web of extreme tolerance and extreme intolerance is defining factor of the modern Internet user, and it’s part of the reason the people of the Internet become so uninteresting.
Wow I got off topic with this one. My main point was supposed to be that if we allow cultures to merge——as they are doing now via the Internet——the world will become filled with boring, uninteresting people who all think the same way, do the same things, and can be manipulated by the same methods. Thus, these people who are products of this same-ish, boring culture, would become uninteresting people (hence the title).
But it’s late now, so I go to sleep. Been meaning to write this one for a month so I forgot what it was supposed to initially be about, can you blame me? It does have the ramble tag, however, so I’m allowed to make no sense if I want to.
I finally fixed <hr> tags on my website (the long lines separating posts), and now I’ve finally fixed the stupid spacing issue (for the most part). Website is almost as good as before + being a bit prettier (except code tags wrap instead of scroll when they’re longer than the flexbox, but it’s good enough).
Goodnight, and remember kids: don’t be a globalist unless you want to make the world a more boring place.
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