Globalization> the positives and negatives

One night in a global ApartmentAs soon as I leave my apartment in Buenos Aires I’m bombarded by the ever-present existence of the golden arches. Walk another block and a burger king advertisement of a 4x4 hamburger, four patties and four pieces of cheese, stares down upon me like big brother. Walk yet another block and gigantic Gatorade bottles beacon costumers towards kiosks, while next-door Staples enchants people into buying office supplies. What I have simply described is the everyday journey that I embark upon to get to the NYU study abroad site, but the overwhelming theme of this walk is the presence of globalization. Companies like McDonalds and Burger King have slowly but surely built enterprises in the country of Argentina. McDonalds has even changed its style a little bit by including McCafe’s in each of their restaurants, which now numbers in the thousands throughout Argentina. These fast food chains are symbols of the intense globalization of companies that are slowly taking over the world. For me the Staples, the Wal-marts, the burger kings and other global products represent a future of humanity in which nothing but chains rule the world and our minds. Just a block away from the McDonalds on my street corner is a restaurant that serves up ridiculously delicious burgers at half the price. Two doors down from the Staples is a quaint store that sells the same office products but in a localized and non-overbearing manner. Yet as the economy continues to spiral out of control these local stores that enable local economies to sustain and survive will slowly be wiped off the face of the earth, replaced with gigantic enterprises that bombard customers with advertisements, playing on their subconscious thoughts. As I walk down avenida Santa Fe, Buenos Aires answer to New York’s Broadway Avenue, I feel like I’m lost in the land of everywhere but nowhere. Similar to the suburban sprawl that exits through out North America’s landscape, this avenue has no essence or unique feel. Whatever it was that once defined this place has been transformed into a global, commercialized maze. It doesn’t have a feel or a mojo, it’s like a mall that stretches on for miles and miles, forcing you to continuously purchase as you fall deeper and deeper into the clutches of consumerism. This aspect of globalization tears at my soul, and forces me to think differently about the nature of my own country and the affects it has on the rest of the world.But there is a more positive side to Globalization that it is embodied in the globalization of people and ideas. I was sitting in a friend’s house listening to electronic music from Europe, drinking beer from the United States and relaxing with people from Argentina, Guatemala, Norway and Peru. A hundred years ago such an experience would never have been possible unless your were a member of the aristocracy and even so it would be highly unlikely. Each of us chose different songs to play on you tube, expressing our unique musical tastes, anything from Manu Chao to Thievery Corporation, to Red Hot Chiller Peppers and beyond. Every person in the room was born in a different country and had grown up under the influence of different cultures, yet somehow we had all managed to make it into one apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina to celebrate life on a Saturday night. The morning of that night I had woken up disgusted by the presence of globalization and the havoc it is reaping on the world, but by nightfall my perspective had undergone a transformation, I was able to see how globalization can have a positive impact on our lives.