Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 18:29:48 -0400 From: lanigan <•••@••.•••> Subject: Re: rn: GLOBALIZATION of what? I'm a little concerned about some peripheral aspects of the current discussion. I believe that lazy language contributes to sloppy thinking & may have led us to accusing 'globalization' & 'capitalism' of crimes they have not committed. Careful answering of the subject question might help. If I'm not mistaken, 'globalization' only means to make (something) global. Knowing what that 'something' is becomes crucial. It seems to me that what we are concerned with here is the globalization of GREED & EXPLOITATION. And again, 'capitalism' itself is not the problem; the problem is exploitation & greed! Another idea that pops up from time to time, the notion that we can win if we just get enough people on 'our side', I think misses the mark again. NOBODY WINS UNLESS WE ALL WIN! There is actually only one side. The problem is there are too many conflicting ideas about the nature of our one side. But since we are all fallible, none of us can ever be sure that our most deeply-held convictions are the best for us all. Some of us are going to have to change our stances (unless we want to do to 'them' what they have been doing to 'us'). And I don't see how we can ever persuade anyone to change their stance if we are insisting on an unchangeable position ourselves. What we need is honest dialogue between parties committed to finding win/win solutions, willing to be flexible & to hear each other out. Of course, I could be wrong, but this is what my heart is telling me at the moment. Rex Barger, Hamilton, Ontario NOTE from Jan: These are thoughtful and useful remarks. Thank you, Rex Barger. I don't think that your thought are necessarily opposed to those expressed by Carolyn Ballard in the introduction to yesterday's RN posting. I'm not sure where it is now, but Richard K. Moore, the other coordinator of this list, has defined capitalism somewhere; I think the definition centers around something that amounts to GREED: the accumulation of wealth for its own sake, using wealth not to make the world more livable but to accumulate more wealth. That is essentially what capitalists do. all the best, Jan
