It's a small world, after all!

Have you ever just stopped and considered how connected you are to the people around you?

http://www.sstte.org/6/post/2013/10/session-2-what-is-globalization.html

My mother always told me, "Be careful what you say, you never know who's listening." What she should have ended that statement with was, "because you never know who's related!" I have made the mistake of having a, let's say, strong opinion about someone and voicing said opinion only to realize someone in my audience was a relative of that person. Awkward.

The world is a very small place and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. The 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon is ridiculous.

Globalization is what makes the world such a small place. When countries interact, pieces of the cultures are spread and become intertwined. Throughout my lifetime, I have seen globalization through the internet, the expansion of imported goods/outsourcing, and my own travels abroad.

The internet has helped make the world a more compact society. Whether its Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you can connect with people from anywhere in the world. How insane is it to know that your video of your dog doing some stupid trick could get a like from someone in Australia? With search engines like Google, information is literally at your fingertips. The possibilities of things you can research is endless.

I have also noticed the expansion of Globalization in the increased imports we buy from other countries. It has become a hot button issue how much we buy from other countries. With the economy being as bad as it has been for the last few years, companies have had to find ways to cut costs. Those ways included outsourcing jobs to countries with cheaper labor and finding companies to buy products from at a cheaper price. 

My own travels have led to my exposure to Globalization. I have been able to see other cultures first hand. I have had to interact with new people, new languages, and new climates. The video World Without Walls, talks about  "McDomination" which I have to say I have participated in. I ate at a McDonalds in New Delhi and Madrid. I hate to admit it because what is the point in traveling if you are going to eat at a McDonalds. Sometimes, though, you just need a taste of home. Because of Globalization, I got to indulge in comforts of home.

I don't see why there are even opponents of Globalization. I think it is a wonderful tool! What's funny is how people want to act like it's a new thing. Like the Globalization 101 article says, Globalization has been around for thousands of years, since the silk and spice trade routes in Asia during the Middle Ages. It is far from being a new idea. 

We are completely different, but ya'll are the same.

I took this from my first study abroad trip. The students there created this Welcome sign from petals of flowers.

You do say ya'll, right?

Popular media has told me that if you are Irish, you are typically red headed, live on a rural mountainside, wear green bulky sweaters, and have seen at least one leprechaun in your life.

That is the issue with popular media. People more often than not subject entire heterogeneous groups of people into a homogenous stereotype. I find that we, as Americans, have difficulty with seeing anything past ourselves. If it doesn't affect us, we tend to just ignore it. We like to group an entire country into one type of culture. It seems legit because those countries are so foreign to us and we usually only have a limited amount of background to judge it by. But, let's look at it from another perspective.

Agree or disagree-- All Americans drink sweet tea. All Americans say "ya'll." All Americans drive two door pickup trucks.

I'm sure you are shaking your head right now, thinking, "No. All Americans do not do such things. We are different."

Even in our little state of Arkansas we share different regions that have their own cultures. There are even five very distinct regions of Arkansas: southwest, southeast, northwest, northeast, and central. So, if Arkansas can host five very different cultures, don''t you think Ireland or anywhere else for that matter could have that many or more?

As described in the Curiosity Group's article, the majority of Americans are in the Parochial stage where they think "my way is the only way." It goes along with the saying, "Ignorance is bliss." Sure, ignorance can be bliss until you lose your company thousands of dollars because you have greatly offended your client because of a cultural faux-paus.

Or, as described in the Interculturalism Matters article, we only know the tip of the cultural iceberg. We can list what language that country uses, the food they eat, and any major festivals they celebrate. But what does they really tell you? Knowing those facts alone, could you survive in any country of the world? It is critical to know more. You need to know what they believe in, how they live out their day to day lives, and what pushes them to act the way they act.