Thursday, August 25, 2011
Friedman: Pie in the sky view of Globalization?
(From Political Warrior, 2008)
The author of The World is Flat, which many of you read last summer, was making remarks that responding to climate change will make America "stronger, more innovative, [and] more energy secure." He was greeted by protesters and a shamrock-colored whipped cream pie.
The Providence Journal (by way of Huffington Post.com reports):
Not everyone agrees with Friedman's vision that innovation is the path to climate and energy salvation. Just seconds into his speech, he was interrupted by two environmental activists, who stormed the stage shortly after Friedman stepped up to the microphone, tossing two paper plates loaded with shamrock-colored whipped cream at him.
Friedman ducked, and was left with only minor streams of the sugary green goo on his black pants and turtleneck.
He stood in bewilderment and mild disgust as the young man and woman bolted from the stage and out the side door, throwing a handful of fliers into the air to relay the message they apparently were not going to deliver personally.
"Thomas Friedman deserves a pie in the face...," the flier said, "because of his sickeningly cheery applaud for free market capitalism's conquest of the planet, for telling the world that the free market and techno fixes can save us from climate change. From carbon trading to biofuels, these distractions are dangerous in and of themselves, while encouraging inaction with respect to the true problems at hand..."
Here's story of Friedman pied:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/24/thomas-friedman-pie-in-th_n_98367.html
For the weekend's reading, first Benjamin Barber's Jihad vs. McWorld. This comparative government classic essay, by the title itself has a less optimistic view of globalization than Friedman. We will have a quiz on this reading and Ch. 1 in Hauss on Tuesday.
Jihad vs. McWorld
Second, as America looks out at the rest of the globe today, what big challenges does it see. Read and blog any others you see facing US.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/upfront/features/index.asp?article=f011810_challenges
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1 comment:
High-in-the-sky hippies throwing pies whilst offering no constructive solutions to the world's problems... amusing, but not surprising. Somebody should tell them that humans are greedy animalistic beings who have exploited the environment well before the creation of capitalism. Aborigines in Australia hunted many large mammals to existence, as did hunter-gatherers around the world. The natives on Easter Island reduced their population from around 15,000 to 3,000 tops through deforestation (and this is before the Europeans arrive). See, humans are animals, and we are driven by animal instincts. Some people think that animals all live in piece and harmony with nature and the life cycle and whatnot. Those people are naive. Every single species of animal is driven by the instincts to better itself at the expense of all else. When the Grey Squirrel was introduced into Britain, did it make harmony with the native Red Squirrel and other species? No, it has hounded them out by outcompeting them. All animals are at constant war with all other animals in a competition for resources and when given the opportunity, they will take more than the need without hesitation. Humans are no different. We are just better. Evolution granted us with brains capable of conceiving tools that can do what other animals do, except more effective. Just as the Grey Squirrel has pushed the Red Squirrel to the brink in the British Isles thanks to it's superior digestive abilities and immune system, humans have pushed other species to the brink of extinction thanks to our large brains. Unfortunately, these brains are not large enough for many of us to realize what we are doing in the long term. After all, we are animals, and animals are only concerned with surviving until procreation time.
Free trade is new to this world. It gained some support back in the late 1800s before being aborted by WWI, and it took a backseat until the late 70s and 80s. Environmental exploitation is not new to this world. To blame free market capitalism for the exploitation of the environment is silly. If all the consumers in the world - or a majority - or even a significant minority, wanted to protect the environment, corporations would be forced to listen to them. If voters supported environmental regulations over the desire for cheap goods and energy, the government and corporations would have to listen to them. There is no single person to blame for the upcoming environmental catastrophe. It is the fault of the human species as a whole.
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