Appiah And Foer Analysis

962 Words4 Pages
Globalization is defined as growth to a global or worldwide scale (Princeton.edu, 2009). Throughout history, there have been attempts to make cultures, religions and lifestyles a global happening. Most of these attempts have failed miserably, while others have grown, spread and prospered like wild kudzu. With globalization, risks become inherent. Dressing the global stage can be troublesome, especially when encountering cultures unlike one’s own. Some cultures do not identify with a certain ideology, so it is necessary to establish a culture specific “brand” in order to suit the people of whom one is seeking to reach. Appiah and Foer both discuss globalization, yet both speak of it in a different light. Appiah is a native of Ghana,…show more content…
He is the son to two prominent “Yuppie” parents who sought to teach their son a different set of values than that of what traditional parents would have pursued. Foer compares globalization to soccer. His reference is based on personal experience with the game he played as a child. Globalization, in many minds, was supposed to end the era of the small town “Mom and Pop” shops. To the contrary, many of the businesses are still thriving. It is this comparison that Foer makes in his statement, “I kept noticing the ways that globalization had failed to diminish the game’s local culture, local blood feuds, and even local corruption. In fact, I began to suspect that globalization had actually increased the power of these local entities-and not always in such a good way” (Foer, 408). Whereas soccer is a far cry from selling coffee and donuts, it still tends to define that globalization, of some products, has failed. The mass marketing, on a global scale, of certain products still does not yield the same results as an already established business with a supportive clientele…show more content…
The globalization of religions is not a relatively new concept. From the creation of man, religion has played an important role in the many cultures that we recognize today, albeit some of these cultures have not been in existence but for a few thousand years. Christianity was born over two-thousand years ago with the birth of Christ. Since then, the world has grown to know of Christianity and many works of Jesus. Was this coincidence? No, it was through forced globalization. The main method of this projection was through the Crusades which began in 1095 (History.com, 2009). The Crusades were meant to spread Christianity by force and were actually quite effective even when considering the defeat of the Christians by Muslim forces in Jerusalem. Christianity has flourished for the past thousand years and has taken hold in every continent in some form or fashion. In order to sell Christianity, it was important that many of the locals find some form of acceptance or way to identify with the new religion. Such a representation can be found the Celtic Cross. The Celts had many gods, but they had one deity above the rest, Morrigan. Morrigan was the sun god and had a symbol that resembled a circle. On a Celtic Cross, there is a circle that touches all four posts of the cross. This is how Christianity found its way into a culture that had resisted the power of Rome for hundreds of years (History.com, 2009). Christianity
Open Document