Globalization in Crisis
Today, many economists and social scientists have expressed the opinion that too much emphasis has been given to the whole concept of “globalization”during recent years. These intellectuals point to the fact that in one way or another, globalization has existed since ancient times, beginning with the Persian Empires and the Hellenistic Empires, and later on the various Roman Empires. Their position could be said is an accurate one within an economic or even an administrative context, but it is not quite accurate within a socio-cultural or anthropological context. The recent version of “globalization”which was initiated by the United States after WWII, not only aimed at controlling most of the world economically and administratively, it went much further and was much more “satanic”.
The following verses have been taken from the poetic work “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931), a modern poet who greatly influenced the generation of the 60s in the West. He helped this generation in its existential efforts to understand better the meaning of life and the meaning of human relations beyond the established social roles and morality.
Having taught children and young people for the last 35 years,especially children and young people with learning disabilities and behavioral problems,I want to touch on and discuss briefly a recent phenomenon,especially in developed societies,the question of teenage addiction to “chat sites”and “chat rooms” on the Internet.They spend incredible hours every day,chatting(written form) in front of a computer screen with strangers, distorting the basic social functions of interpersonal relationships,as well as the dialectic process in human evolution.This is once again,a perfect tool of “globalization”, promoting a “virtual reality” content in the minds and souls of young people.
For the last 20 to 30 years, the American public as well as people around the world, have been bombarded by the American Mass Media (A.M.M.) about how democratic American culture and American politics are, and about how it is the sacred duty of every American citizen to protect the democratic ideals of their “Constitution”. That it is their natural god-given “right” to export these American humanistic ideals to the rest of the world, even if this is accomplished by the power of force and economic domination. The A.M.M. with its formidable global network and propaganda means ranging from financial newspapers to internet services, and from television news programs to big budget Hollywood movies and T.V. shows, has been able to convince, mostly Americans, that there is no ideological or political contradiction between a democratic nation – state and a military empire which disposes hundreds of military bases around the world, most of them located on independent foreign soil. I believe the same type of political dilemma and ideological contradiction have existed in the leftist political movements whose leadership promoted the idea of social revolution in order to acquire political hegemony. In both instances, the ideological contradictions are so enormous that the societies affected have had to accept a life of “virtual reality” in almost every aspect of their existence, with dire consequences to their long term welfare, their social cohesion and balance.