Globalization

"Accordingly, globalization is not only something that will concern and threaten us in the future, but something that is taking place in the present and to which we must first open our eyes" - Ulrich Beck

            This quote truly speaks to the topic of globalization, but only in the sense that it will carry negative impacts.  On the other side, Robert Reich stated “Globalization and free trade do spur economic growth, and they lead to lower prices on many goods.” In either case, globalization is undoubtedly a world issue that must be addressed.

            In my opinion, I support the idea of globalization, though it does have its effects on the rest of the world. For example, if we look at a major company such as Walmart, we see a company that ships and receives products internationally due to globalization. However, by this it is allowing them to purchase products that are cheaper by outsourcing the purchased products from countries such as china and Thailand. This is possible because of poor wages and work conditions which allows for cheap labour.

            “Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people.” (Globalization 101 “online”).

            In conclusion, I still support the idea off globalization, and although it has its negative impacts, one must simply see it how it is, evolution. The world is and will continue to move forward at a rapid pace, instead of being yet another generation that complains about change, let us be a part of that change in a positive way.

     

C.A.R.E Model

The C.A.R.E model (Compassion, Action, Responsibility, Equality) is a shinning beacon of hope for society, and our world as a whole. In 2011, our world was faced with a numerous amount of conflicts and issues.

Compassion: "Show caring by being attentive to people's various needs, and by treating everyone with kindness, concern, and generosity, regardless of outcomes." (Take Action - pg. 66) Through this element, people can take interest and become compassionate about an issue.

Action: "Take initiative to act." (Take Action - pg. 66) This proves very helpful because people in dire need can be helped and change can be created through those who are compassionate and are willing to take action and create change!

Responsibility: "Be trustworthy and reliable; be accountable for all your actions and only make commitments that you can and will honour." (Take Action - pg. 66) Having integrity and taking responsibility for your actions can be extremely rewarding and very beneficial. Recognizing the need for responsibility is not only a step toward becoming a global citizen, it is a step in recognizing one's true self.

Equality: "Strive for fairness...Treat all people with honour, courtesy, dignity, civility, and esteem." (Take Action - pg. 66) Equality is still a very big problem in today's society, not just North America, but around the world. Inequality is very prevalent, even in our own schools. Acknowledging inequality and striving for equality is what becoming a global citizen is all about; treating everyone as equals both in your community, your nation, and our world!


In conclusion, if we all act to follow this model, we will set our generation, and all generations to come on the right path.

My Inspiration

            My inspiration is a man named Roi Klein. Roi Klein was born march 16^th, 1975 in Raanana, Israel. He studied industrial engineering and management at Ariel University, and joined the IDF under the paratrooper’s brigade and later moved on to Golani’s Egoz Reconnaissance. In 2006, Klein unit was deployed into Southern Lebanon during the 2^nd Lebanon war. A grenade was thrown over a wall towards Klien and his unit, and Klien immediately ordered his unit to run as he jumped on the grenade and hugged it in to absorb the blast.

            Klien inspires me not because he killed himself, or because he died fighting, but because within a split second, Klien decided that instead of running away and risking the possibility of several casualties, that he would sacrifice he own life to save others. Giving the ultimate sacrifice without any desire for recognition and putting the importance of his life aside to protect his fellow soldiers is something the world can make note of. Klien left a wife and two sons behind, and will be forever remembered in the State of Israel as a national hero, and as my inspiration.

Canada's Concern - The next 50 years

In my own belief, I feel that within the next 50 years, the biggest milestone that Canada is going to face will be its own environment. As Canadians, we pride ourselves in having one of the world’s wealthiest, safest, and environmentally developed nations. However, I personally feel that we will let this get to our heads, and as we have already begun doing, we will become reckless with our resources, and our environment will suffer.

            For instance, the basic green house gas effects caused by our vehicles aren’t being seen at the moment, but if we push this issue aside, it will undoubtedly show its face within the next 50 years.

            I am aware that this won’t give you the “chills”, or do anything to make you want to act upon it. But, I implore you, all of you, Canadians, change your lifestyle, make yourselves more aware about our environment and do anything you can, small as it might be it will make a big difference in the end. So spread this message to your friends and family, so that we may reach out to the generations to come, after all, they are our legacy.

           

Gender Inequality

Gender inequality, a disturbing truth, but also a mind blowing milestone that reminds us how far we still must come as humans.  Goal #3 of the Millennium development goals states “Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels no later the 2015.” Well, as motivational as that probably sounded upon release, now it’s simply embarrassing now.

                In my opinion, we’ve actually moved further from reaching this goal then we we’re back then. With the impacts TV, shows, music, movies, commercials, magazines, and other media outlets have, our world is being brainwashed too believe warped perceptions of how we should look feel and act. This directly impacts gender inequality in the sense that many of the media outlets, intentionally or not, objectify women.

                A great example of this is Axe body wash. In the commercials for Axe body wash, it is shown that upon applying the substance, you (male) will be mobbed by gorgeous women, and will get any women he wants. This not only convinces the minority of males (retards) that this body wash will in fact “attract” women, but that they will fling to them like “objects”.  

                In regards to our own society (Canada), Canada is the world’s leader in the prevention of gender discrimination, and was one of the first nations to sign and ratify the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. However, there is still discrepancies within the job force, in regards to hiring and positions given to women. In conclusion, I hope that we can come together as a society, and look past the obvious ignorance on the media and STOP THE DISCRIMINATION!!

To act, or not to act

In our society, and in our world, there are acts of violence and inhumanity constantly taking place. But the real issue is do we really care. I know, that from my experience attending a school enriched with opportunity to excel academically, athletically, and morally, that I sometimes turn a blind eye to these issues. This is for a number of reasons, the very fact that my parents sacrificed what they wanted so that I could have a better life, made me believe that all I needed to worry about was getting myself to a place I could be proud of. Now I'm not saying that all I cared about was myself, but if this were a year ago, and I saw someone getting beat up, odds are I wouldn't have intervened unless it was a close friend involved. 

            The same goes for the world, for example, when you’re sitting on the couch channel flopping and an advertisement for world vision comes on, one of two things happen. You either immediately change the channel because you’ve found yourself bored of this station and you couldn’t care less about this advertisement. Or, you continue to watch the commercial, not because you feel bad for these kids, but because you want to satisfy your conscience. In the past, I tended to watch these commercials, and if it comes across in the proper way, I’ll feel sadness for about a minute, until the main show comes back on, at which time I could forget about other people’s problems and continue to focus on satisfying myself.

            All of those feelings changed about half way through this course. The more I was exposed to the reality of our world, and the constant struggle we humans face every day, commercials like these make me feel embarrassed. I can’t stand the idea that I’m sitting on that couch with all the privileges I can dream of, and the people in these commercials can’t realistically achieve one of them. This has changed the way I feel about standing up for what‘s good and true, and it will continue to be my fuel for the years to come.     

European Elections- Austerity rejected

In both France and Greece, elections were recently held. The French socialist party proved vitorious in their elections, though in Greece, there was no majority, which now requires another elction to be held. The leader of the French party, is Francois Hollande, who stated that he "know's what the people want". This is a powerful statement to make, and one that carries a lot of weight with it. Shifting back to Greece now, after seeing how things turned out with these elections, the population has woken up to the seriousness of their situation. The people of Greece now realize how critical it is for them to escape this debt crisis, and that is not the only pressing issue. The debt crisis is followed by unemployment and recessions, which is good motivator for people to starting acting in the the interest of change. As hard as it is to balance austerity, it is something that needs to be taken care of in the very near future, for the sake of Greece, and the world.

What I've learned about myself in this course

Throughout the duration of this course I've learnt many things about our society, and the world as a whole. However, I have also learned more about myself throught these clases. I have learnt that it is possible for one to change their thoughts and beliefs simply by looking through someone else's eyes, no matter how long they have held true to their opninions.

AIDS & Disease

The World Health Organization estimated that there is 33.6 million worlwide living with HIV/AIDS, and with a new 2.7 million cases of HIV infections per year, this is surely classified as world issue. I don't know about you guys, but this figure makes me sick personally. The world has been well aware of this cause for some time now, but not as much as we hoped has changed. However, there is something we can do to help. We a large milestone is the "lack of education", we can help defeat this barrier by informing those living in the poverty of weaker nations about the importance of safe intercourse. By doing something as simple this, one can start themselves, and those around them on the right path towards a longer, and healthier future.

Racism

Racism is, and in my opinion, always will be an ongoing issue in our society. It is is grossly overlooked amoung our society, and considering it magnitude, it is quite shocking that it is not taken more seriously. Racism is the gateway to many acts of violence and inhumanity, and is the root cause for many of the conlficts in the world today. Racism extends from something as small as joking about someones skin tone, to commiting hate crimes engaing in acts of violence against a certain gruop/type of people. Stereotyping is a large contributor to the issue of racism, and this will never end due to all the factors creating this issue. So what can we do ? Well, even if the odds of ending racism entirely are low, there are still things we can do to prevent it from happening as often. Even if you do something as small as pointing out the ingnorance of someone's statement, or the illegitimacy of someone's comment, it well help show people that participating in acts of racism are not acceptable. We can do this ! don't give up hope.

"Evil" Quote Response

"All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." This quote is implying that the world still has, and always will have a chance to stay peaceful, but only under the circumstances that we do not turn a blind eye to what is wrong. We can still do some good in this life, but only if we make that choice to stand up for what we believe in, and to come face to face with what may be our deepest fears, in the hopes that we are acting for the greater good of humanity.

Violence In Society

Violence in society is is caused by many factors. Some of the main factors are as follows:

- Money
- Drugs
- Religion
- Power
- Respect
- Polictics
- Historical claims
- Domestic Issues

And the list goes on.

I think that violence in society, more importantly, these specific reasons, are caused by the overwhelming desire for power. I say this, because in all aspects of of life, humans are always trying to push themselves for a higher pedistal for themselves, their peers, and society as a whole. Some people choose to gain this power by working hard and aiming for a moral success, whereas people who are not as motivated and a bit more lazy, look for the easiest route. This can lead to violent acts such as robbery, assault, grand theft auto, etc.

Violence is a tool for those who are weak. Now, just to clarify, when I say it is a tool for those who are weak, I am specifically addressing those who do it for the sole pupose of personal gain, whether it's a finacial or domestic. Moving on, I would like to add one large ause to violence in society, the media. The media plays a giant role in this uprising, in the sense that the population of the world, takes great interest in movies, tv shows, etc, and can be greatly influenced by what the specific shows pprtray as acceptable. For example, I followed the Sopranos series "religiously", and found myself using swear words a good 20 more then usual, along with sudden impulses of anger towards a certain subjects that I didn't have before.

In conclusion, I personally feel that violence in society is in direct correlation with the factors that I listed in the paragraphs above.

My Summer

For my summer, I went to Israel for one month. This trip was amazing, as I got to visit the country that I love, and see that family that I missed. I have a connection with Israel that I can't explain, I experienced it the minute I landed and it hasn't left me since. When I returned from Israel the first time, I felt as though I needed to serve the country in anyway that I could, so I have choosen the military, which I will serve in upon graduation from H.S.C. My activities in Israel connect to an aspect of world issues, because Israel is currently in the middle of a conflict with it's palestinian neighbours. This issue has been going on since 1948 when Israel gained it's independence. All surrounding nations have had a conflict with Israel at some point since 1948, which makes it quite astounding that The state still exists.