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American Culture = Global Culture?
Since arriving here I've been quite sensitive to what is "Scottish
culture" and what is "American culture" and, most interestingly, what is
"Scottish culture as a result of American cultural influence."
On the second day I was here, I walked downtown to get some Scottish
culture. I passed several McDonalds`, Burger Kings, Snappy Tomato Pizza,
and other various fast food establishments. While walking around in the
"Bon Accord Centre" that not-so-fondly reminded me of American
super-malls, I saw the "Cookie Jar" and thought, "aw, a neat little
Scottish cookie place". Thus it was written on the back of the bag my
cookie came in: "made from special American-style recipes". Ugh.
The one that really bothers me is the Nike logo. It's everywhere.
High-schoolers wear it, college students wear it. What ever happened to
making shoes? Now their logo is on hats, jackets, pants, shirts,
underwear, socks, you name it. And usually it's just the swoosh, not even
the company name. It's engrained in our minds so deeply that we don't
need anything but a simple swoosh logo to remind us that Nike and its
various conglomerates own the young person's mind (and the underpaid
sweat-shop worker's life) when it comes to fashion and shoes. You can't
even get away from it in Scotland.
But then, there are some things to consider. There are good computers
here, and they have the "funny" British keyboard layout, but the best
computers are American made with the American keyboard layout. The best
fast food is American, and the best normal restaurants know they can't
survive if they don't serve at least *some* American-style food. The
quality camera film is from America. A lot of the "good" products come
from America.
Air traffic controllers around the world, with few exceptions, use the
American standards of flight communications and equipment. Instruction
manuals always have an english translation, and not necessarily other
"popular" languages. American movies run rampant here, while British made
movies barely survive their own market.
Hmmm.
Is the American way turning into the "global way"? That is, are people
starting to decide that the American way of doing things is the right way?
One thing we've discussed a few times in my "International Ethics" course
here is that, while the American way may not necessarily be the "best" way
(and there are plenty of examples and evidence to support this),
developing countries are following its model and developed countries are
refining themselves to its "standards".
The corresponding observation noted in my "Environment Resource
Management" class is that, if all developing and developed countries
eventually reach the level of resource consumption in the U.S., we're all
going to hell in a handbasket faster than you can say "Just Do It". There
are good things to be said about certain parts of the "American Way", but
if America is setting the standards for global development, the resulting
global community is going to be horrendous.
To make it worse, the Nike swoosh will be our logo.
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