In this video, Globalization II – Good or Bad?: Crash Course World History #42, the awesome John Green discusses the benefits and disadvantages of globalization in our world today. He talks about increased individualism, the global economy, the disparity between rich and poor, imagining the future, and violence amongst other things. In the video, John Green speaks about many topics we have discussed this term in all of our CAP classes within the globalization framework.

One of the things I found most interesting was his ideas on individualism. He mentioned that when asked to imagine the future, we actually only imagine our own future. He said that in the recent past, humans have begun to increasingly celebrate individualism, especially in the wake of the failure of Marxist collectivism ideas. He also mentions how technology has increased individualism. We are beginning to spend an increasingly large amount of time at our individual screens rather than with our families and friends. The interesting things as that most of the things people do on the Internet are intended to or somewhat fulfill the desire to connect with other people. Obviously I can’t speak for everyone; I know that many people may only use the computer for work, school, etc. I also spend a significant amount of screen time writing for class on word, doing research on the Internet, or just looking up definitions, etc. None of these things make me feel directly connected to other people. However, I spend a ridiculously large amount of time on social media, an unhealthy amount of time. If I look at the most popular social websites, I notice that they are all essentially about taking a glimpse into other peoples lives and then commenting on it. They are all about sharing and reacting to peoples lives, all about sharing human experience. Yet, they are dragging us away from actual human connection. The more time I spend watching YouTube videos, the less time I spend talking to my friends who are literally only a few doors down the hall. Though, in saying this I think that it only holds true if you spend a large amount of time online. If you are able to manage your time well, I do not think that spending some time on YouTube or Facebook is going to have a negative impact on your life.

John Green also spoke about whether or not a global economy will reduce violence. Some people argue that this economic interdependency will prevent war. However, John Green points out that there is still tons of ethnic and nationalistic violence, for example in Rwanda and Yugoslavia. In our Poli Sci class we had a large discussion about when, why, and how violence should or should not be used. However, I think the discussion really boils down to whether or not the end justifies the means? Violence can be used to improve the well being of a large group of people. For example, violence was used in some cases to help get women the vote. It might also be used to sacrifice the lives of some people in order to save a larger number of other people. Or it may just be used purely for the purpose of harm. Globalization really does affect violence in all these situations. Due to globalization more people are aware of violence occurring around the globe and can take action to help end it. Again, this is an issue relating to people connecting with other people.

So, I wonder, does globalization help or hurt people in connecting people to others?