I bet Obama could use a lot of that these days. It seems like he's hell bent on his Big Stick Policy. Iran. Afghanistan. Name it. He'll use it. Henry Kissinger was right all along, power is indeed a great aphrodisiac. Big Stick Policy? Gunboat diplomacy? Power projection? Whatever you call it, it is still intimidation. The projection of power is just too blatant that it becomes so impossible to miss.
But no, we don't live in a bipolar world anymore. We live in a heterpolar world. Sources of power emanates from different junctions, not just on politics and economics. If global political order is unlikely, it is necessary to examine the economic, cultural and environmental dimensions of a new global order. Should we begin to call in a global cultural order in the new system?
Disneyfication, Coca-colonization, Mcdonaldization and the effervescent presence of consumerism. The fusion of consumerism with the arts, entertainment and sport is widespread. This reminds me so much of the creed of shopaholics. I shop therefore I am.
Is it the ultimate dead end?
Like McDonaldization, disneyfication continuously haunts our dreams. There is a need for us to deconstruct traditional narratives and circumvent ways in understanding the presence of popular culture. Oversimplification is essentially an overkill of everything.
We have no obligation to make history.
We have no obligation to make art.
We have no obligation to make a statement.
To make money is our only obligation.
-Michael Eisner
The real world is becoming more and more like a theme park - like Disneyland. If I were to believe what Michael Eisner says about Disney, I'm bound to run away from everything that starts with letter D. Do scholars tend to read too much on Disney films?
Yes and no.
Yes, movies are meant to entertain us, true. But how do we essentially explain to the young minds their first glimpse of other cultures? It goes to say that these films contribute to their social construction of the world.
The chase doesn't end there. I am beginning to stop myself from subscribing to life in the fast lane. No tough life there but just making sure that when the proverbial hunger pangs hit you, some take out food is available for your convenience. But food is not the only thing that counts here. It is said that in the 1980s and 1990s McDonaldization has extended its reach into more and more regions of society, and those areas are increasingly remote from the heart of the fast-food business.
According to Ritzer, there are five dominant themes within this McDonaldization process: Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Increased Control, and the Replacement of Human by Non-Human Technology. Are these things familiar to you?
People are also becoming increasingly aware of the linkages among different aspects of the natural environment, the human impacts on the natural environment and the need to initiate policies that will sustain significant environmental resources into the future. Providing for the needs of the increasing numbers of people in the world from the same stock of resources is no easy feat.
If Kiko's been singing of you can't talk peace and have a gun, mine would be much simpler.
Indeed, where's Terra Nova when you need it?
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