So yeah... still stressed, but my shoulder feels a little better today.
But what I wanted to talk about was started by an article in the Dom Post a couple of days ago.
Am I the only person who got the irony that the first muslim and first Iranian in space was a woman? Considering the way extremists have been behaving, it struck me that there was a certain irony behind that. Not only that she went into space, but that the most positive face of Islam yet was an attractive, wealthy and successful Iranian who lives in America and has managed to find a compromise between Western culture and her own ethnic culture.
That is what Globalisation really is about. A common misconception amongst relativists and conservatives is that Globalisation = Americanisation. It doesn't.
Globalisation isn't about the West taking over the world. It is about cultures and ideas mixing across the globe. The West is as much a "victim" of this - look at how prevalent Hong Kong movie tropes have worked their way into western action movies. Look at how many Kebab stores and sushi stores there are. Look at how we have just embraced the walkman for years - a Japanese concept and product that was developed to deal with a uniquely Japanese problem.
Globalisation is about embracing something from another culture and turing it into to something uniquely your own. I remember watching a Hindu Pepsi ad that by watching it would have convinced you that Pepsi was a purely Indian idea and drink.
The thing about Globalisation is that it is a buzz-word for a natural process - change. Conservatives are naive in thinking that they can ever keep the status-quo. Look at conservative nations like those of the Middle-East who have attempted to keep things the same for centuries, and as such are always on the knife-edge of war.
Look to the African and South-American dictatorships and how precariously balanced they are - how eventually the nation stagnates and suffers.
The only things that last are cultures that embrace the necessity of change. Western "culture" is not as easily defined as relativists would care to admit - because it is in constant flux and change. We have our bouts of conservatism - but the structure of democracy is that nothing remains the same forever. It is a political structure designed to alter to the people's desires.
That is not to say that we live in a perfect society - far from it. But the West's strength lies in the ability to change. Yet even nations like Japan - who have strong conservative traditions - also have strength because they have found a compromise between status-quo and change.
Change is an inevitability that many humans have trouble accepting. I point to the wisdom of Taosim - a philosophy that recognises that change is inevitable. Or Buddhism - another philosophy built on the knowledge that the world is in constant flux. Embrace change, accept it and your life becomes more hopeful.
I'm not sure quite where I want to go with this - I guess I just want to express that we should not be afraid of change...
Love and Huggles
Conan
Currently Reading: The Secret of Zir'An
Currently Playing: Exalted: The Seventh Legion
Mood: Still thinking about things...
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