If I was to sum up this quote in one word it would actually be quite simple: Globalization. FDR is stating that in today’s age all nations of the world are dependent on one another. He also alludes to a sort of international community. This is a very interesting concept. Picture a small village in Europe before the industrial or agricultural revolutions. This village would be completely autonomous meaning that it would be able to survive without importing or exporting any resources. The village probably wouldn’t have even had the technology or means to trade with other villages. FDR is saying that the world has become that village. The concept of inter-dependence has grown to a global scale. Instead of a grocer and cobbler relying on one another for food and shoes respectively, Canada and Mexico rely on each other for raw minerals and produce respectively. The other part to this quote is the notion that humans won’t be able to achieve peace unless we band together. This is true but ultimately unrealistic for today’s time anyway. Humans have a natural tendency to want to belong. This leads people to things such as religion, and nationalism. Because of these human tendencies I can’t foresee the completion of “an international community” anytime soon.
Globalization plays a huge role in today’s age. Developed nations such as Canada and the US are outsourcing businesses to other countries where the labour can be done for less money. Not only is this creating a dependence on that country but it is taking away jobs from Canadian or American citizens. In this world each country must specialize in certain industries or it risks massive unemployment. For example, Canada has an abundance of lumber. Because of this geographical advantage Canada is a huge exporter of lumber to other nations that perhaps don’t have the volume of trees Canada has. The lumber industry is a specialization of the Canadian economy that relies upon the strengths of the country and its geography and employs thousands of people. I’ll use the analogy of a functioning human body to better illustrate my point. Each organ utilizes certain advantages in its genetic coding to specialize and become the best at carrying out a certain function. This division of labour allows for a highly developed system that plays upon the strengths of all its parts which results in an exceedingly advanced organism. Furthermore, globalization can be seen in everyday life when we send texts, or check Facebook, or write a blog post. The simplicity of communication is leading the way towards a global village. The ability to communicate with people thousands of miles away to exchange ideas and information in seconds is making our world smaller. That village I talked about earlier probably had no idea how big the world was or the other entities that resided within. Communication renders geographical barriers that would have hindered small villages completely irrelevant. No longer are people across an ocean like aliens to us. The greater the association the greater the chance of collaboration, and through collaboration, dependence.
No comments:
Post a Comment