The perils of globalization

Colin Hannifin
Columnist

The modern world is amazing, and we are more connected than ever.

In the past several days, I’ve watched a video that was produced in Japan, seen a live broadcast from India, and talked to people in Europe. Just a few decades ago, this would be unimaginable.

This is the magic of modernization, the gift of globalization — but this is old hat to us these days. We don’t marvel at these things. We expect them. We are very familiar with the benefits of globalization, but we too easily forget its perils, which are just as numerous and extreme. As future leaders and participants in the global environment, we have to be acutely aware of the benefits as well as the pitfalls.

The most obvious pitfall is the one we’ve all been especially wary of for the past 10 years: terrorism. As the world becomes more interconnected, those with extreme views have more places to voice their opinions and the ability to gain more followers.

There have been reports lately

stating that we live in what is likely to be the most peaceful time in history, but those who would be terrorists now have increased access to resources. But we’re incredibly aware of terrorism and have taken tremendous steps against terrorism since the events 10 years ago.

A less obvious but perhaps just as dangerous hazard of globalization is something that has become highlighted in recent weeks: the concept of contagion. The increased connectedness means that when one domino falls, it affects not just a city or nation, but the world. The best example is the American housing bubble which, when it popped, tumbled not only the American economy, but the global economy.

More recently, concerns of Greece’s ability to pay off its debt have led to the general slowing of the European economy, and many once-robust economies of Europe have fallen thanks to the initial Greece debt crisis (see Portugal, Spain and Italy). It’s only a matter of time before the financial turmoil jumps the pond and American banks start taking a hit. All of this stems from Greece’s economic troubles. Greece does not have nearly as robust an economy as our own, yet it could be dragging the world-wide economy down with it.

It’s easy to turn a blind eye to all of this. It’s easy to read entertaining blog posts, look at funny pictures and ignore the terrorism or the contagion. It’s something we as college students have the option to do, but it’s the wrong thing to do.

We can’t ignore the increasing complexity of politics or economics, and we can’t just leave them for someone else to figure out. We’re the next generation of professionals and parents. We may have a future president in our midst or, in

the likelihood that we don’t, we probably have some who are going to vote on a future president. This should be all the impetus we need to be involved and to pay attention.

One day, this world will be ours.

Perhaps the biggest pitfall, personally, and one that we all have to be wary of, is the increased acceptance of apathy and avoidance. Turning on and tuning out is seen as acceptable, we expect instant gratification and we are so used to getting what we want or need in a matter of seconds. Globalization, with the Internet as its biggest bearer, has transformed us as individuals and as a people.

And it’s not all for the better.