*The Debatewise Blog
Globalization and Culture
Disty Winata continues our guest blogger week with her views of the impact of globalisation on Canada.“Hey, don’t you think the world is great? Now, we literally have access to everywhere to do anything!” shouted a friend of mine in Indonesia. There, I realized -- if there were no globalization, amazing things that our generation has witnessed would not have possibly existed.
An advantage of globalization is a rapid growth of relationships and ties amongst nations. Multilateral connections are always a topic that my friends and I never get bored of. Those links have given me something that I thought I would never be able to obtain; I get to experience my grade 11 and 12 in Canada. It is interesting to find out that according to 2006 Globalization Index, Canada is one of most globalized countries while Indonesia ranked one of the least globalized nations. Despite of the juxtaposition, I have seen that globalization benefits both Canada and Indonesia into a degree of development.
As a foreign student, I am the victim of globalization (though it may be indirect) and I am happy of it. I am captivated by how multicultural Canada is. Many immigrants seek Canada as a land of opportunities in terms of cross-cultural contacts, which has become an advent of what is called as global citizenship. In the other hand, Indonesia, a country that is already rich in culture, still opens up its door for other cultures to come in. While languages may be a barrier, music, food, fashion and fads are always something that vanish the cultural boundaries. Globalization allows different cultures into different nations, which will give people more choices to choose what they believe in, what they call a lifestyle. We all feel the effects of globalization, while many think that it causes culture assimilation (or even worse, obliteration), but in fact, many of us still hold the traditions and embrace the diversity at the same time. Not only that, globalization also brings out peace and a bigger scope of understanding.
Disty Winata