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In the Article “The World is Flat” we see the evolution of the idea of Globalization in the world. The article tells us that the idea of a flat world in globalization became increasingly popular and gained momentum in it’s following after the fall of the Berlin Wall. With its rising, the idea of the world becoming flat and taken over by American culture grew in popularity with the idea, known as Americanization. It was the dominant idea that cultures across the world, no matter how strong and grounded they might be, would eventually succumb to the American way of life. A bold statement, yet easily justifiable; American forms of entertainment, restaurants, companies, and other aspects of the American way of life became almost instantly globalized. America seemed to be the first nation to really take advantage of this so called flat world that was suddenly starting to evolve. Although many saw this “American takeover” very negatively due to the fact that it would trample over other cultures, which was not the fact. The article suggests that diversity was the key outcome, primarily due to the technology of uploading. The world is like a pizza, each country free to flavor their pizza with their own unique topping; but it is still a pizza none the less. Although Americanization is still a very powerful force in the world, “Globalization lf the Local” seems to take precedence over all. Globalization of the Local is the idea that all that is local in your community, no matter how small; can be globalized through modern technology. The article gives us a few examples of some people in China making short little videos that go viral and get thousands and thousands of views from all over the world. Thomas L. Friedman seems to have it all figured out, although nothing is certain; his “Flat World” theory and writings on “Americanization” and “Globalization of the Local” were well informed with credible information to back up his claims. “A strategy to straddle the planet” is a well written article that suggests that China taking over the “World Globalization”. The article begins with the begins with the purchase $10bn of power generation equipment from the state-owned Shanghai Electric; which is the largest transaction between India and China, and the “largest order in the history of the power sector,” Countries that used to trade primarily with the United States are shifting more towards China and the deals that they have to offer. That is the reason why India no longer purchased their power generation equipment from the US, because in all, China offered a much lower price, sixty percent lower than the United States. The whole article is cold and reminding, China is on the uprising looking to take the throne and be the face of globalization. However, countries such as India, Australia, Africa, Brazil, and others, are starting to see the push of China, and their increasing power. Towards the end of the article we see that after a dispute that China had with Japan, Japan no longer received their regular shipments of “rare earths” that China provided. China gave the world a subtle yet strong reminder that political cooperation with China is highly encouraged. The article “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work” tells us that American companies are not as generous toward making domestic jobs as they once were. Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher, the author of the article, use the “iPhone” as a way of communicating his main points to the reader. He writes about how the Chinese work force is unmatched, “The speed and flexibility is breathtaking”. The Speed and flexibility would have to be incredible; because according to the Washington Post, there has been over eighty five million iPhone's sold in the U.S. America is losing jobs to China and other foreign countries, because it is just so much more efficient in both time and money to operate manual labor elsewhere. The Article gives us an example, the day before the iPhone was scheduled to make its big debut, and Steve Jobs wanted all of the screens to be changed so that they were scratch proof. Steve Job’s wish was China’s command, it was done overnight. Only in a country like China could something of that scale be done in a time that it was done. This achievement was only made possible by China’s working facilities, “The facility has 230,000 employees, many working six days a week, often spending up to 12 hours a day at the plant.” The article goes on to explain that workers there make less than seventeen dollars a day, and that on any given day, Apple can find some three thousand people in China to do overnight work. It is no hidden reason why so much of what we buy in America today is not “American Made”. It is sick to think that we are losing millions of jobs in America to China and other countries, but easy to see why big companies in America are so readily to employ elsewhere. In the Article “Jihad vs. McWorld”, Benjamin R. Barber gives us two main theories that he believes are dominating our world today: Jihad and McWorld. He claims that both entities operate with equal forces, however in opposite directions. Benjamin tells us that both Jihad and McWorld can be found in different countries at the same time; If there is one thing that Mr. Barber makes clear in the beginning of his article, it is that neither force holds a bright future for a self-governing people. There are four imperatives that make up “McWorld”, or the globalization of politics: Market, Recourse, Information Technology, and Ecological. In short, the goal of the market imperative is international peace and stability. Common markets require a common language throughout the world, as well as a common currency. Having the world more “Flat” and making the world across the map more similar. Recourse imperative is the idea that a nation’s autocracy is solely based off of their economic independence. In other words, a nation sustaining itself from within; which we know now to be almost impossible. America trades with numerous countries gathering supplies essential to the American way of life. The Information Technology imperative is a great example of a “Flat World”. It is saying that technology, all that it incubuses, must be flat across the board. Everyone anywhere must be able to have access to everyone anywhere. Ecological imperative is basically the effect that globalization has on the environment. The article is saying that we all know the recent effects of globalization on the environment, that it has utterly destroyed it. Jihad, is the idea of different groups war with globalism and the traditional nation-state. One cannot describe a “Jihad” group by defining one particular attribute. The article does well by defining different types: they are cultures, not countries; parts, not wholes; sects, not religions”. Jihad seeks to have identity in culture and nations, not to flatten the world and have common aspects in every culture, language, and nation as whole. The “Who Are We” article written by Samuel Huntington focuses on “the Creed”. The American Creed is a set of fundamental principles that we all as Americans should agree upon. Samuel Huntington stated that the Creed is “the cement in the structure of this great Nation”. So he obviously believes in this Creed that he has proposed to us. The Creed is not what is used to be, due to America’s much more diverse nature, the Creed has come to mean more than Race, Ethnicity, Culture, and Politics. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the American Creed grew to consist of Liberty, Equality, Individualism, Representative Government, and Private Property. We can see that throughout years and years of technology blossoming, the world, America in it, has become increasingly flat. It is interesting to see all of these articles tie into each other with common threads of the “Flat World” theory. America has definitely progressed and the question, “Who Are We” is getting easier to answer. A nation that once did not view immigrants as favorable, is now a nation of immigrants. In “America is not a Christian Nation”, Michael Lind opens up by posing the question to the readers, the question being: is America a Christian Nation?, Then going on to answering it from arguably the one man in America who is qualified to do so, the President of the United States. Obama clearly views the United States as a Nation diverse in its religions, not taking preference or identifying itself with any particular religion. Michael Lind is definitely a liberal, as evidence of this article, using an opportunity to bash John McCain, and proudly proclaiming that Obama was eloquent and correct in all the points that he had made. Regardless of his political affiliation and any biases that may have been put in his article, he states the facts correctly. America is certainly not a Christian Nation, only Michael Lind takes it a step further proclaiming that America was never a Christian Nation. He did so by adding a quote by George Washington and stating that any arguments we may have “for a Christian Nation”, were simply just victories that “Christian Nationalists” won at points in our early history. Carl Pearlston wrote a good article called, “Is America a Christian Nation”. Then in a sub title he added, “The answer is both yes and no, depending on what one means by the phrase.” This article was informed and had no bias preference toward either side. If you look at the early leaders, and presidents of America, it is hard to say that America was not founded on Christian values. We believe that the argument does not lie within the depths of the Nation, but in the now. By that we mean, is America a Christian Nation today. If we are to argue that it never was, we would have to sit here and call great leaders liars, because facts are facts, what was said by men cannot be taken away just because one disagrees. The biggest argument against this nation being a Christian nation seems to lie within the constitution, specifically the first amendment. As of now, no, we do not believe that we are still a Christian Nation, however one cannot say that this nation was not founded upon Christian Principles.

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