The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are nothing more than the growing pains of globalization. As globalization marches onward, we have a handful of religious lunatics and renegade nations who refuse to join in the global fold. With the religious fanatics, the clerics teach their followers that the religious traditions of the past must be preserved at all costs. If those traditions are not preserved, the clerics will be out of a job. These clerics justify their teachings under the guise of worshipping their God. In the case of renegade nations, if the status quo is not preserved, the dictators who run those nations will be out of a job. The dictators of these same nations justify their teachings in the name of national strength. In essence, globalization cannot move forward until the bad apples in the barrel are dealt with. President George Bush has enough vision to deal with the the clerics and the dictators. At least, he's trying.... He's not sticking his head in the sand and preaching a "cut and run" strategy like the pointy heads who see only the local view.
Humankind has reached the point in its history in which it must come together under a single guiding principle. If this does not occur, the raging animosities among nations will at some point escalate into another world war and culminate in a nuclear holocaust which will probably wipe most humans off the face of the earth with the resulting disunity, starvation, disease and pervasive radioactivity. While the U.N. has tried to serve as this single guiding principle, it has not been taken seriously in most cases. Many nations see globalization as nothing more than a pipe dream and consequently the U.N. as a stooge to this dream. Those who do take it seriously must constantly battle the non-believers. Many nations use the U.N. as nothing more than a forum for the own agendas. They could care less about the nations and peoples of the world coming under a single umbrella. Until the leaders of the world's nations take globalization seriously, this attitude is anathema to globalization.
Democracy--as practiced in the US and western European nations--will serve as a model for globalization. America has been referred to a melting pot. Despite some hiccups here and there, our nation has assimilated different cultures, religions, languages and races from throughout the world into a prosperous, peace-loving nation. True globalization will occur when all the nations of the world throw out their religious lunatics and dictators and allow the citizens of those nations to recognize their sameness with the other citizens of planet earth. At some level within the human spirit there is a universal frequency at which all men recognize one another’s sameness. Yet there is also that part of human reason which manages to find perceived differences which many men will use to set themselves apart from their fellow man. This is the essential human trait that prevents assimilation into the global fold. Globalization will not occur until humankind recognizes his sameness with his fellow human beings. As long as differences are emphasized--religious, idealogical, philosophical, political or otherwise-- globalization cannot occur.
True globalization will only occur when all the nations of the world have become melting pots.
I sure hope this never happens. All one big happy family. I don't think so. Never happen.
Posted by: Jimmy K. | October 19, 2006 at 10:01 PM