Globalization in “The World is Flat” by Friedman
The world becomes flat due to the globalization in Thomas Friedman’s view. He wrote a book The World is Flat to share this opinion with the general public. The author believes that globalization equals flattening and thinks that the cooperation of various companies from different countries and their change to multinational organizations is making the world beneficially small and tight. Friedman is sure that such tendencies are positive. He encourages people to travel and to receive new information, as up-to-date knowledge is the thing everybody needs (Yale University).
However, as it turns out, Friedman’s ideas are not that unmistakable. The world becomes flatter, as huge organizations extend and cooperate, uniting countries (Shiva para. 4). Still, they are uniting only some particular countries while others are left behind and considered to be not good enough. They divide the countries to those that “can do” and “can’t do”, create rules that not all of them can follow, etc. Except for that, he does not pay any attention to diversity, discussing everything from the same point of view. He considers the American lifestyle to be the most appropriate one for all people, and “unfreedom” spreads because it is not undertaken.
While listening to Friedman, one can conclude that his words are reasonable to some degree, but it works only for those who are “of the same kind”. Friedman shares the ideas that can be typical for people who live in developed countries and big cities, who can afford constant traveling and do not care about some basic needs because they already have everything they require (Taibbi para. 14). For Friedman, the world is limited to several countries that are the leaders in various industries while others are neglected. He does not discuss poverty and diseases spread in India or Africa and speaks for those people knowing nothing about them.
Work Cited
Shiva, Vandana. The Polarised World of Globalisation. 2005. Web.
Taibbi, Matt. Someone Take Away Thomas Friedman’s Computer Before He Types Another Sentence. 2009. Web.
Yale University. “The World is Flat.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. 2009. Web.