Past Post-Modern Times

“The World is Flat” according to Thomas Friedman in his book “A Brief History of the Twenty first Century” 2005; Farrar New York ISBN 0-374-29288-4 OF. Linn Library call no. HM846.F74 2005. In it Friedman goes over an extensive survey of today’s socio-political system in search of democratic leadership. Analyzes how the United States of America is lagging behind undeveloped nations in her effort for a sustainable development.
Based on a strict view of what is happening in places such as India, China and Latin America. His insight is based on extensive travel and personal interviews with important people in those countries. Just to mention one, the one with Guillermo Ortiz the governor of the Central Bank of Mexico (equivalent to Greenspan in the US) is quite interesting, basically because Ortiz was put in that position by Salinas (Mexico’s President from1988 to 1994) and represent the most active ideology of open markets for big capital and corporations.
Friedman’s analysis is clear relating: Awareness>>Attitude>>Education>>Science>>Technology>> to Prosperity.
By doing this he criticizes some of the baggage of our current situation where meritocracy is substituted by cronyism and short term substitutes long term planning and vision.
As the author opens our eyes to intangible and tangible reasons for the flattening of the earth emphasizes the need for better education as the first step and the awareness that with today’s technology many problems of society could be resolved very easily. There is absolutely no reason why more than one million people are estimated to die of malaria each year. According to the author an energy war is taking place and will be even more acute as China takes more and more of energy resources as she continues with her development. This (flat) world is amoral. Both good and bad organizations have their playing ground flattened –those who work for the advancement of society as well of those who are looking for selfish gains in detriment of all. This is what makes violent organizations so powerful regardless of their lack of acceptance by civilized society in general.
As a native of Mexico chapter 9 “The Virgin of Guadalupe” caught my attention in a special way. Friedman’s argument in this chapter could be summarized with the following idea: in the run for the bottom nobody wins! The “bottom” could be low wages, low standards of living, environmental standards, or any other socio-economic standard. As Mexico was keeping progress at the slowest rate possible in order to compete in the international market place with low wages as a member of NAFTA, China could go even lower! The proximity with the US was no match for the extremely low cost of Chinese production, even taking transportation into account. Most of the book is focused on education. Mentioning the role of parenting and the strength of public education in the US, as well as the positive impact of the influx of foreign born need for success and achievement. He doesn’t propose militarizing education but higher standards, and taking students out of their comfort zone. Students have to learn how to save and sacrifice some immediate pleasures in the present for a return in the future. India’s investment in education is paying off now many years after the strong investment done after their independence from England in the 1940s.