Letters

THERE’S GLOBALIZATION . . .

Dean Kuipers’
“Hitting the
Streets” [February 1–7] exemplifies everything that is wrong with mainstream
alterna-whining about globalization. In brief, he hangs overcondensed harangues
about the WTO and IMF on the news peg of the WEF (an entirely different organization,
Dean!) coming to NYC. Then he says, “The 2,500 corporate, political, religious
and academic leaders who will attend the [WEF] sessions represent, to the anti-globalization
crowd, everything that is wrong with mainstream thinking on almost any topic.”

How so? All the anti-globalization people I know feel pretty okay about the
“mainstream thinking” of Jeremy Rifkin, Jeffrey Sachs, Vandana Shiva and Mohammed
Yunus (to name just a few of the highly critical thinkers — and, more important,
doers — I heard at the WEF either this year or last).

In fact, these people are invited specifically to represent a concrete, action-oriented
alternative to headlong globalization. Generalizing about the players doesn’t
further the dialogue in any direction. If the WEF fails, it is not because there
aren’t people within it trying to wake up the fat cats, people in direct sympathy
with the puppet-hoisters and paint-flingers. They just know they get better
airtime on the inside.

—Deborah K. Holmes
New York City

It’s time to take back the word globalization, which currently connotes
unchecked development, capitalist imperialism and labor exploitation. These
are merely the bad aspects of globalization, and certainly don’t define the
word or what it stands for. Globalization encompasses all aspects of world integration
and cooperation, good or bad. If you call yourself anti-globalist, you would
be against UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, and global treaties that protect the environment and children.

Let’s also stop the inaccurate use of the label “anti-globalist.” It is counterproductive
and does not describe what such falsely labeled protesters stand for. They are
not anti-globalists, but intelligent citizens for responsible globalization.

—Amy Howlett
Los Angeles

In “Why I’m
Not a Protester” [February 1–7], Judith Lewis writes, “I don’t sincerely
believe that wise, responsible people cast their votes for a leader whose family
fortune depends on the oil business.”

I have two points:

1) Liberals often forget that government is the ultimate big business. It
is a business that follows no economic rules, that won’t go under no matter
how badly it’s managed or how much it spends money on projects that accomplish
nothing. (On that note, I have difficulty respecting anyone who is a career
politician from a family of career politicians.)

2) Until someone proves that the oil industry has had the plans for a 100-mpg
engine and has been hiding them, let’s place the blame for how much oil we use
where it belongs — at our own feet.

—Joseph Wood
Thousand Oaks

I must say I got a kick out of reading Judith Lewis’ “Why I’m Not a Protester,”
where she says she can’t believe Republicans can be wise or thoughtful. This
after admitting that she herself didn’t think to learn where the protest site
was and wasn’t wise enough to dress for D.C. winter weather. And here I’d thought
that irony had gone out of style.

—Kevin Gowen
Eugene, Oregon

. . . AND THERE’S
GLOBALIZATION

Re: Brendan Bernhard’s “DISH
and Dat” [Box Populi, February 1–7]. I also watched Charlie Rose’s interview
with Jean-Marie Messier. As a stockholder in Vivendi, I believe that globalization
of the electronic media is the (nouvelle) wave of the future. The very
real problem described by Bernhard is that of customer service or, more accurately,
lack thereof. This is rampant, from the clerk at Staples who carries on a private
phone conversation during your entire transaction, to the clerks at Tower Records
who are too busy chatting with each other to ring up your purchase.

P.S.: Messier is actually better looking than Robin Williams and hasn’t, so
far, starred in any saccha rine melodramas.

—Rozanne Winkler
Sherman Oaks

I was all set to mutter, “Just what we need, another column devoted to elevating
mediocre media product to ‘culture’ status,” when Brendan Bernhard went real
on me! His observations on the crass business of mass-merger mass marketing
are honest and much more important than any critique of any TV show.

—M.A. Krupnick
Los Angeles

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