Globalism is Bigger than Ever
In the last year I’ve done a bit of traveling. I’ve went to Korea, Taipei, and Mexico. While the concept of globalism has been attacked relentlessly by politicians and cowardly conservatives, I have to tell you that it’s bigger than ever and it’s not going away.
When you land in a new place, the first thing you do is turn off Airplane Mode. When this happens, your phone will quickly reconfigure its network settings to connect to local cell towers. Modern cellular networks are based on internationally defined standards, with phone modems that are designed to work everywhere.
The Internet itself is a global communications network, allowing us to communicate on an individual basis without borders. Of course, it is often misused to spread hatred even though we could better understand people.
When at the airport, you can reach your hotel through easy, ubiquitous mapping. Through Google Maps, you know exactly where to get public transit and when it’s coming. A growing number make it easy to use your phone for payment.
Payment itself is getting so much easier. Visa is accepted pretty much anywhere. With a simple tap your card will automatically convert the currency and use your credit. The past few times, there hasn’t even been a need to tell them ahead of time. The credit card processors have improved their fraud detection enough that everything has been seamless.
Today, your phone can translate a foreign language to English just by typing it in. Apps can do real-time conversational translation, which helps in a pinch. Menus and signage can be translated easily with your phone’s camera. It even works for screenshots.
Travel is becoming cheaper over time, or at least the information on cheap travel is becoming more accessible. In some places like Cancun, increasing tourism has been an intentional goal. In other places, tourism is increasing perhaps too much. Perhaps travel is too cheap and too accessible?
Capitalism bridges gaps, connecting people together through goods and services. I get to go to a Mexican theme park and a Korean baseball game. These things give us opportunities around shared interests, creating a culture that spans borders.
Not everyone plays Pokémon, but anyone plays Pokémon. In Incheon I managed to see a wide variety of players who showed up there to catch and play. I even traded with several people. The language barrier was present, but we found a common language around this shared interest.
In doing this, we realize that we’re not really that different from one another. People have a lot in common when we have an opportunity to learn from one another. Even our food culture ends up quite universal. In Seoul I had a bulgogi sandwich, which is fundamentally not different from a hamburger. Sure, there’s surface-level differences, but Korean food isn’t some alien substance that is incomprehensible and exotic.
But just because globalism is better than ever doesn’t mean the world is more peaceful or more liberal. Just as people are the same everywhere, conservatives and incels are present everywhere. There is a worldwide conservative backlash to the liberal trends of the last few decades and that’s something that needs to be overcome.
Take a look at Yoon Suk Yeol, who was elected as the South Korean president on a conservative message. Then he tried to declare martial law and he was forcibly removed. Despite the global culture of Seoul, despite the tourism, despite the great people and great food, it isn’t a fountain of liberal democracy.
I don’t think tourism is bad, and I don’t think it is some magic solution to tolerance. Maybe people can harbor animosity towards a group while making an exception for a handful of individuals. Maybe tourists are not good ambassadors to represent a country. Maybe we need more tourist attractions to fit the demand.
Sure, economic problems might curtail trends in some places temporarily. But as more service jobs present people with more money, these trends for globalism and tourism will continue.
