The World is Flat
Jasmine Wilson
11/21/10
World History Block: 2
The World is Flat
According to Thomas L. Friedman, the United States continually goes through a cycle containing eight steps. Step five through seven include moving from abundance to complacency, complacency to apathy, and apathy to dependence. In his novel, The World is Flat, there are many examples leading the reader to believe that the United States is somewhere between steps five and seven. The three examples are the United States’ Olympic Basketball team, our economy after World War II, and “a quiet crisis”.
The United States’ Olympic basketball team dominated the basketball division of the Olympics for a while. Then their opponents started to improve and the winning streak for the Americans was ruined. Because of this, America sent pro basketball players. Soon enough, they were challenged as well. “Because the world keeps learning, the diffusion of knowledge happens faster; coaches in other countries now download American coaching methods off the Internet and watch NBA games in their own living rooms on satellite TV.” Our ancestors, if you will, for the American basketball team were superior to all others but became a little bit too overconfident and eventually began to lose.
America’s economy was perhaps the strongest economy after World War II. America had no serious competition for forty years. “That gave us a huge head of steam but also a huge sense of entitlement and complacency-not to mention a certain tendency in recent years to extol consumption over hard work, investment, and long-term thinking.” Then when 9/11 occurred it seemed as though it was a perfect time to address all of America’s faults and to construct plans to fix them. Although the president was not worried about fixing our faults, he was just worried about bringing in more money from American shoppers.
“A quiet crisis” as explained by Shirley Ann Jackson, is another example of Friedman’s eight step American cycle. “And this crisis involves the steady erosion of America’s scientific and engineering base, which has always been the source of American innovation and our rising standard of living.” Ann Jackson explains that the United States is not, in any way, in a crisis. It is just that over time, the number of people in the science and technology field will most likely get smaller. Because of this, in about fifteen to twenty years America will be in shock. The constant development of computers and IPods will decrease in number and the United States will become less technology advanced.
In conclusion, America will someday reach step eight. When this happens, America will be in shock and the cycle will begin again. Thomas Friedman does a great job of using examples of these steps in American history. There are already many examples in American history that include our country being dominated by other countries. This cycle will most likely continue as long as America stands as a country.
11/21/10
World History Block: 2
The World is Flat
“A quiet crisis” as explained by Shirley Ann Jackson, is another example of Friedman’s eight step American cycle. “And this crisis involves the steady erosion of America’s scientific and engineering base, which has always been the source of American innovation and our rising standard of living.” Ann Jackson explains that the United States is not, in any way, in a crisis. It is just that over time, the number of people in the science and technology field will most likely get smaller. Because of this, in about fifteen to twenty years America will be in shock. The constant development of computers and IPods will decrease in number and the United States will become less technology advanced.