Saturday, April 17, 2010
Zakaria vs. Marx
Marx talks about how our society is turning into a communist country. I feel as though Zakaria has a more positive look on our country and the world as a whole. He shows how after the destruction of the Soviet Union, we have rapidly became capitalists. The financial force seemed to push things along also. There was “free movement of capital” as he said on page 23. I feel as though Marx is telling us that we basically have no more freedom in our country and this makes these two groups of society. I agree with both of their arguments/ statements. I think that we are turning into a total government controlled country, which I personally do not agree with. On the other hand, like Zakaria shows in his book, we are not as bad off as we think we are. America is not sinking to the other countries, but rather the other countries are just rising up. He called at least this past decade; unusually calm and that we are worried too much. He is not saying that another catastrophe won’t happen again soon, but up to today, it has been very much under control. I never thought of that before and it makes you think. Do we get too scared from media telling us about every incident that happens around the world? We used to not hear about everything, but it was still happening. I think it’s the showing of these incidents that make us more worried.
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I do agree that after reading a little of Zakaria that he does make the Untied States sound better then Marx. I also think that the media is making things much worse then they are. We dont need to know all of these incidents that are making us worry. I think that the media should just concentrate on what we really do need to know. Growing up in the past 10 years i have noticed that everyone is so much scared then before. The media isnt helping that cause.
ReplyDeleteZakaria looks at America as a whole, and takes the rise of other countries as a whole. The individual level is where people I believe should be worried about. Can our economy grow fast enough to keep up with population growth? Stats say we will grow only .5 percent in 2040? If we grow too slow will we have a problem like Japan where the baby boomers will be old and be short on workers and need to pay more taxes? Will we be like China and have a regulation on how many children we can have? What I am referring too is the GDP per capital, the amount that the average American is making per year. As other economies grow and keep their products cheaper they are able to sell more products to more people. They are also taking over American markets. For example (which Obama brought up during his campaign) America was the first country to create the automobile in a production line by Henry Ford. It quickly sold and other countries picked up on it, but over time the innovation shifted. When we go to get a car, we look for reliable cars, which are no longer American, they are Toyota or a Honda, or a luxury car, BMW or Mercedes. When we buy these cars we don't help the U.S economy we help the Japanese Economy. The less we sell the less jobs that are available, and a rising population increases the problem. I agree with the fact we may not have to worry on a national level of power, but would say we have to worry on an individual level.
ReplyDeleteDerek definitely raises a good point: the individual level. America is doing pretty well admittedly after everything we've been through these past few years, but I also agree that with the economy moving steadily downhill and population growth is precicted to slow down, we're going to be in a rather large hole. Zakaria does glorify the US a little bit, and I know that the US has such a great reputation amongst other countries- why else would everyone immigrate here? But they come here, take our work, and now we're down jobs as well. It seems to be a cycle that we can't help but be a part of. As Derek mentioned, everything we do isn't helping ourselves. We might be buying ourselves luxury cars but they don't come from the US so the US doesn't prosper. If we continue to do this with more than just cars (which we already do almost daily with clothing, food, etc) we're pushing ourselves in the wrong direction. But it's a pattern we can't afford to be out of, sadly. We as a country can still be on top, but we as a smaller community (even individually) need to mantain that.
ReplyDeleteAs Derek said, the US was the first country to make a production like for automobiles, and the innovation shifted, Zakaria is right on the idea that on a national level, we are doin ok, but on the indivdual level, if im going to buy a car, and the best car is not american made, but say a honda, why shouldnt i buy the Honda? Isnt that capitalism in its purest form?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Derek and Steph, we are only hurting ourselves when we buy things made in other countries, and if it doesn't stop we are digging our country into a hole that will be hard to get out of. Zakaria does favor the US more than Marx does. And I also think that the media does scare people because they tell us every little thing that happens, and sometimes they make it sound worse than it really is.
ReplyDeleteWe have to purchase products from another country because we as Americans are cheap. We want the best quality for the lowest price possible and we are able to do that now because we are a capitalist country. If the only way to get our country back on top is to purchase domestic products then we need to be willing to pay a higher price for mediocre quality products. If this is our aim then we are heading down the road to communism where the government dictates our purchasing power. So really, what kind of government do we want? I agree that we get scared from the media but that’s because the media tends to blow things out of proportion, but we need the media to show us what’s happening around us or else we might as well be in a bubble. As Zakaria says “if we are to understand the times we are living in, we must first accurately describe them.” Knowledge is the cure for ignorance. The media may scare us but ultimately we control ourselves.
ReplyDeleteLydia poses a really good point. The media does say and show a lot of worrying things on an almost daily basis, but they are rarely in our country (ie, earthquakes and such) so we can focus solely on us and continue to improve ourselves. We can watch the news for knowledge, maybe even entertainment depending on the story, but we can focus ultimately on the problems the news says about OUR country and OUR communities and control those.
ReplyDeleteOn the note about the media question, Zakaria states that on page 9 that "every bomb is BREAKING NEWS." Then he goes on to talk about the millions who died in other events all over the world that didn't get the creditability for how important they really were. The media is telling us everything that is going on. The 3 deaths caused by an IED seems ten times more scary then the real conflicts that go unnoticed in remote parts of the world. I would ave to say that we feed into the media and become so absorbed in what they say we scare ourselves. Even everyday occurrences are blown out of proportion like Lydia said. "Every weather disturbance is the storm of the century" It seems like each rain storm we had these past months were predicted to be greater then the one before it. They were all very heavy rain storms that needed precautions to be taken, but the media made them seem like the next one coming would drop double the amount of rain. They all dealt about the same amount of damage, all the areas that flood normally in heavy rains flooded. I say its time for the media to dumb down the "super awesome eye catching news on steroids" and deliver us the news we want to hear as it is happening and not twist it into something that almost seems entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI think if what Zakaria says is true that other countries are rising up. Isn't this good? I always hear people complaining about the US being to involved in other countries. Also wouldn't this give us cause not to be so scared about the news. This should alleviate some fear if other countries are gaining power as equals to the US if we all join together, this could be good. It could lead to more than just a global economy.
ReplyDeleteI too like the statement about other countries "rising up" and yes I do see the downfall of America being too involved with other countries, however I think in order to have a successfully "running" country we must be invovled. We cannot simply isolate ourselfs and expect everything to work well from there. Whether or not we WANT to accept it, the news (bad and all) keeps us informed and if we did not have that access we would be complaining abou that too. My point is, we can not go to extreames. We need to be involved in other countries, and we have to be informed about global news. Power, money, and economies fluctuate-thats the way it works. Our job is to make the most out of the flucations without overthrowing a balance of power or pissing someone off to a large extent.
ReplyDeleteZakaria makes a comment that the only thing we are ahead in is the military, That concerns me because I believe we are becoming a Goverment run country. I also can not help feel that we are so worried about the people in other counties that we let Americans starve and we bring people from other countries and give them money, health ins, and housing. Thats why are economy is bad and everywhere else is doing better we are taking care of their poor people. are media covers deaths and horriable pictures in other countries which tears at the heart strings of Americans. It gives us the impression of "these poor countries" and they are all falling on hard times. In actualality they are gaining capitalism whle we are loosing it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Zakaria makes the United States sound better than Marx does. Zakaria makes the argument that Americans are much better off than they believe.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found interesting was that he is writing about "the rise of the rest". From this I gather that America is at its peak and can do nothing else but decline. However, Zakaria seems to be saying that America isn't changing. He is contradicting himself when he states that change is natural; America isn't changing, but everything else is. This is impossible because America relies on other nations.
In regards to his argument that we are becoming a country extremely controlled by government, I somewhat agree. I think that we are very unaware of how closely monitored we are, yet at the same time we are better off than most countries.
The question is "Do we get too scared from media telling us about every incident that happens around the world?" What scares us, if anything, are the fabricated and half-truths that we witness through the media. News is given to us with an obvious bias in our nation's favor, so in reality, the media and the government pick and choose what they want us to know, both to scare us and to keep us at bay.
Elizabeth Anderson
I agree with Elizabeth about the "fabricated and half-truths" the media gives us. We do not know what really half of what goes on, good or bad. We only know what the media knows and what the media deems as important.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything that is being said. I do think that our country is worrying too much about things because of what is being shown on the news. Nowadays everything, major or minor, is shown on the news. I also agree with the statement that the government is starting to control more and more. With the health care plan passing that just shows that the government is going to start controlling more and more. Overtime the government will begin controlling almost every aspect of our lives and we will be looked at as a somewhat communist nation.
ReplyDelete