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Jihad vs. McWorld

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  • Jihad vs. McWorld

    Ever read the book "Jihad vs. McWorld" by Benjamin Barber? He's some sort of political-futurist who divides the world into two distinct groups: those who support Jihad (Islamic terrorists, but he focuses a lot more on unrecognized nations such as Abkhazia, Ossetia, Balochistan, Kurdistan, etc.) and McWorld (stands for any international business "chain"). I had to read excerpts from the book and I found some of the claims to be quite ridiculous and paranoid.

    "JIhad and McWorld operate with equal strength in oposite directions, the one driven by parochial hatreds, the other by universalizing markets, the one re-creating ancient subnational and ethnic borders from within, the other making national borders porous from without."

    "It has not been too difficult to contrive a civil religion for Americans...but for Basques and Normans? What need have they for anything but blood and memory? And what of Alsatians, Bavarians, and East Prussians? Kurds, Ossetians, East Timorese, Quebecois, Abkhazians, Catalonians, Tamils, Inkatha Zulus...people trying to seal themselves off not just from others but from modernity? These are frightened tribes running not to but from civic faith in search of something more palpable and electrifying."

    and without further adieu...

    "Even the internet has its neo-Nazi bulletin boards and Turk-trashing Armenian "flamers" (who assail every use of the word turkey, fair and fowl alike, so to speak), so that the abstractions of cyberspace too are infected with a peculiar and rabid cultural territoriality all their own."

    Naturally I put to rest all hype, paranoia, and self-made messiah that Barber puts himself off as. I remember class discussion being laughable. "Yeah, I guess he is right...McWorld is bad." "Who? Why do they need a country?"

    Me: "These people need their own countries because of centuries and centuries of persecution that exists up until this day - especially Abkhaz and Ossetians who experience what is essentially Jim Crow-like discrimination in Georgia."

    Prof: Blank stare.

    Me: "And where does this guy get off comparing Neo-nazis to Armenians? Armenians were victims of genocide by Turks - wouldn't you be pissed if major world powers didn't acknowledge this so that they could continue their own blood wars? That's like saying xxxs shouldn't be mad at Nazis!"

    Prof: Blank stare.

    Me: "This guy presents the classic 'the world is divided into two groups but both are wrong and I can provide the solution!' Western mentality that has so permeated our society as to be a virtual cliche. Pwned!"

    Anyway, if you've heard of this book let me know what you think.
    Last edited by yerazhishda; 08-12-2008, 09:31 PM.

  • #2
    Re: Jihad vs. McWorld

    A brief summary of his "philosophy" - in his own words - can be found here: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199203/barber

    Here's a little excerpt.

    Jiahd vs. McWorld

    Just beyond the horizon of current events lie two possible political futures—both bleak, neither democratic. The first is a retribalization of large swaths of humankind by war and bloodshed: a threatened Lebanonization of national states in which culture is pitted against culture, people against people, tribe against tribe—a Jihad in the name of a hundred narrowly conceived faiths against every kind of interdependence, every kind of artificial social cooperation and civic mutuality. The second is being borne in on us by the onrush of economic and ecological forces that demand integration and uniformity and that mesmerize the world with fast music, fast computers, and fast food—with MTV, Macintosh, and McDonald's, pressing nations into one commercially homogenous global network: one McWorld tied together by technology, ecology, communications, and commerce. The planet is falling precipitantly apart AND coming reluctantly together at the very same moment.

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    • #3
      Re: Jihad vs. McWorld

      I visited his website and from there his blog. His latest entry is of some relevance...

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