Questions for Study and Writing - Media and Globalization
1. In the mid-nineteenth century, American author Henry David Thoreau noted that while the telegraph made it possible for Texas and Maine to communicate instantaneously, "it may be that Texas and Maine have nothing to say to each other." What are the implications of this statement? How do you think they relate to globalization and terrorism today?
2. In her article "The Empire of the Senseless," (see link below) Katherine Ainger writes that "the creation of a single global commercial media model is the ultimate aim of the World Trade Organization, The International Monetary Fund and The World Bank." Yet two paragraphs down, she writes "this is not a monolithic system of control." Read Angier's article, and then look up the word "reification" in the dictionary. What issues are raised by reification in the discussion of topics like globalization and terrorism? Referring to Ainger's article and several others from this web site, write an essay about the role of reification in the current conflict between the United States and Islamic terrorists. <http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue333/keynote.htm>
