COMMUNICATION AND GLOBALIZATION

REACTION

As what I saw in this video was a interview about the idea of a "global ethic" and community
between Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, and the interviewer.
Gordon Brown discussed the ever growing possibility of a global community in which people
all help one another. Although idealistic, Brown acknowledged the stumbling blocks to this
vision- namely isolationism/protectionism that arises out of bad economic times or simply too
much nationalism. This global community is possible and necessary because of the world's
increasing interconnection through media and communication and the problems that we all
share. To create a proper global ethic and community, however, Brown says we need to fix our
global institutions and perhaps make more so we can tackle problems like climate change
without failures like the Kyoto protocol. Overall, the video was very interesting- particularly
when it discussed the balance between global identity and national identity.
1St Reaction

- speaks of how we all have interconnected interests: although in developing countries we

have a specific self-interest (to promote democracy), it also is part of our greater value system
2nd Reaction
- can governments ever really do something truly altruistic? Or do they always have an
alternate purpose or benefit it mind that prods them to do seemingly altrustic things?
3rd Reaction
Perhaps, but very difficult. By making some one mad, you risk the wellbeing of your entire
country. But at the same time, world leaders need to let their views be known because the
issues are so imperative and literally affect every person in every nation.
 Summary

This explains that if we stop focusing specifically on national interest and make large decision
based more on the benefit of the entire world rather than just your specific county/nation,
then global issues would begin to lessen significantly. When many people hear the term
‘Global Citizenship’ they believe the speaker is referring to the idea the people are no longer
classified based on the country of which they come from, but they are now put into a larger
category that includes the entire globe. Mr. Brown did not use this term to describe such an
idea, but instead to express that we need to suppress the patriotism and come up with ideas
that not only improve your country (which is used in national interest), but the rest of the
world. An example of Global Interest being put to work is with the new agreement made
between the United States, China, Japan, and India dealing with the scientific evidence that
will be used to track the climate changes the world is going through and to come up with plans
in order to deal with it. One of the other issues Mr. Brown spoke about was that the global
institutions constructed many years ago such as the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank,
World Trade Organization, and Marshall Plan are no longer valid. When they were
formed/designed, they were based on the needs of the world at the time, but the world has in
a sense expanded and its issues have changed, leaving this institute no longer up to date. Mr.
Brown believes that these important institutions need to be rethought and reformed in order
to positively affect the ‘new’ world. Personally I agree, there is a time for change, and I believe
that is now. A matter of fact there probably isn’t a better time, the world has gone through so
many ground breaking changes, whether it’s the new science and technology advancements,
or the new creativity sweeping the globe and changing every aspect of our lives as we know it,
things must change. As a majority of my past TED talks have said, we all need to come
together as a world, as a human race, and take each step to improvement together. The
decisions of every single country in this world effect the rest one way or another, so why dont
we just be easier on ourselves and make them together?