WS+Dongwoo

The beauty of globalization is that it can free people from the tyranny of geography. Just because someone was born in France does not mean they can only aspire to speak French, eat French food, read French books, and so on. That we are increasingly free to choose our cultural experiences enriches our lives immeasurably. We could not always enjoy the best the world has to offer.

=> **The merit of globalization is to make people overcome the difficulty of distance; someone with French identity doesn't mean they always desire to speak in French, have French food, gain information or knowledge from French books, and so on. The fact that people get more and more freedom to choose their own cultural experiences could improve the people's lives a lot.**

Fears about an Americanized uniformity are overblown. For a start, many “American” products are not as all-American as they seem; MTV in Asia promotes Thai pop stars and plays rock music sung in Mandarin. Nor are American products all-conquering. Coke accounts for less than two of the 64 fluid ounces that the typical person drinks a day. France imported a mere $620 million in food from the United States in 2000, while exporting to America three times that. Worldwide, pizzas are more popular than burgers and Chinese restaurants sprout up everywhere.


 * => According to this article, what people are afraid of is the possibility for everyone to live in Americanized lifestyle. However, because of several examples, it is true the idea they have might be exaggerated.**

In some ways, America is an outlier, not a global leader. Baseball and American football have not travelled well; most prefer soccer. Most of the world has adopted the (French) metric system; America persists with antiquated British Imperial measurements. Most developed countries have become intensely secular, but many Americans burn with fundamentalist fervor – like Muslims in the Middle East.


 * => Usually people believe America be a global leader; however, the author stated that America is just an outlier, through some cases of odd American behaviors.**

Cross border cultural exchange increases diversity within societies – but at the expense of making them more alike. People everywhere have more choice, but they often choose similar things. That worries cultural pessimists, even though the right to choose to be the same is an essential part of freedom.


 * => Cultural exchange through crossing border improve diversity in a society. However, it is possible to cause a lot of cost to do it similar to make a new culture. In other words, people might think themselves to be able to avail more cultural benefits but the content should not be brand new, but similar; this possible situation might make cultural pessimists worry.**