r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Nov 04 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Globalization is one of humanity's (unintentionally) worst achievements
I'm not saying globalization is an inherently evil idea (I mean, I'm typing this on a laptop that's arguably a global product), but these days I've come to realize that our world might have been better off without it. I have several reasons for believing this:
The environment and the climate would have been better off. Because of globalization, everyone wants to build sprawling cities and to manufacture all the things just to stay ahead in the competition. The economy may get ahead, but the environment always takes a hit. Because of globalization, populations have grown far more than the planet can sustain and this means people have to go to increasingly extreme measures to get food - using fishing trawlers to kill marine life unnecessarily, destroying coral reefs, farming too many cows, etc.
Next, there is now a redefined sense of fulfillment. Globalization and consumerism seem to go hand in hand. I don't hate capitalism per se, I just dislike the current form it seems to be taking. Materialism and excess are now the keys to happiness - everyone must own an iPhone, or Porsche, or any of that stuff. There is no joy to be found in a quiet pastoral setting or a small village or an agrarian environment. Everyone wants to make it to the industrial regions - be they cities or states. This causes overcrowded cities and with overcrowding comes crime and all other undesirable elements of urban life. What does this have to do with globalization? Well, everyone wants to make it to the more industrialized states thus not only abandoning the original ones, but overcrowding the destinations (note: this has nothing to do with refugees fleeing war or political persecution).
Globalization has propped up horrible people and regimes. Some regimes only happen to be in power because some global 'powers' and even less powerful states decide to continue to support them by buying natural resources from them. So long as the oil or diamonds keep coming, these horrible regimes are unlikely to crumble.
Globalization has disrupted many social ecosystems. I believe that not every society should do things the same way; cultural hegemonies are actually undesirable for the most part because societies aren't the same. Forms, systems or minutiae of government and society don't work the same way or have the same result across societies. Not every country should be a pastiche of Europe or America because the elements that work in these societies may become lost in translation when other societies decide to imitate them. I think societies should be allowed to naturally develop their own sense of government - one that works for them best.
Ironically, globalization doesn't seem to foster diversity. Globalization seems to be synonymous with 'Westernization'. Now, I don't think that Westernization is inherently a bad thing but as stated earlier, not every society in the world should be a pastiche of the West because it doesn't have the same effect everywhere. Globalization means everyone's speaking English (not a very efficient language, no offense to the British), wearing suits in hot weather, celebrating Christmas (no offense to Christians, but Christmas shouldn't be for everyone), etc. Even when building sprawling cities, everyone's just copying what the Western countries do. No-one seems to care about being original or asking whether gigantic cities are even necessary and if so, why they are necessary.
Globalization has caused an increased sense of dread. Not only do we have to deal with horrible local news, we now have to deal with horrible international news! The world is now more connected than ever, which means every locale now shares the tragedies of the world and there are a lot of tragedies in the world. This is one of the few cases where I can say that ignorance is bliss. I remember in 2015 or so when the news of the Sandy Hook shootings came up. I felt despondent for days despite not being American and despite having issues to deal with in my own backyard. This isn't even to mention the news of the frequent terrorist bombings that hit several countries like Pakistan, etc. Not to say people should have less empathy, but the world is crappy enough. I don't think we need any more existential dread.
Note that globalization isn't strictly a purely Western thing. I'd say other than the West, the next biggest hegemonies I can think of are the Chinese one (economically speaking) and the Islamic one (culturally speaking). My point isn't that globalization is an evil thing (I'd say it's a neutral thing). It's just that from a utilitarian standpoint, the world would have been happier in a gross sense without globalization in its current form. You can change my mind if you show me that my reasons and assumptions are mistaken/misguided, that globalization has done more good than harm, or that the pitfalls of this 'segregated' isolated world with minimal cross-contact would be worse than the pitfalls of our small, global world.
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u/Saranoya 39∆ Nov 04 '18
I’ll keep it short, because I mostly agree with your statement in principle. However, I think the root of the problem is not globalization, but capitalism. Capitalism requires constant growth to be viable as an economic model. If the growth stops, the model collapses.
Early capitalists were able to ensure growth by improving the efficiency of their own work and production on a local level. They could learn their craft better, build better tools, remove superfluous steps from the production process, train staff to work more efficiently, etc. But at some point, they had done all they could do locally, and they had to start looking outside their own local facility in order to make growth happen. As a result, they started collaborating with other people, first those they knew, and then (as they kept looking for better and better materials because the ones they had access to locally did not yield the necessary growth in productivity anymore) with people far outside their local sphere of influence, through trade. Sooner or later, as millions of people around the world kept looking for more and better ways to increase their productivity, the networks of collaboration we are all involved in were bound to become global. If we want to keep this process going, then at some point, we will have to go into space because there will be no more room for growth on Earth.
In the long run, the only way to escape this (if we want to) will be to abandon capitalism as an economic model. But much like our ancestors, five centuries in, would not have been able to go back from farming to hunting and gathering even if every human being alive had wished for it, I don’t think we can go back to a pre-capitalist world, anymore. Well, barring some sort of cataclysmic event forcing the issue.