I wonder if back in the old days (as in really, really old days) people were imprisoned for saying that the earth is a spheroid planet. Well, for those who actually said that the world is flat, they were right in saying it.
I'm not saying that the earth is literally flat.
Thing is, when I thought of this, I hadn't read The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman.
The world seems to be flat because information and gossip travel at a very fast pace. What happens in one corner of the world can be found out at the other corner within a matter of seconds. That would be characteristic of a flat planet, not a spheroid one. And some of us night owls will even defy time zones just to get more information or meet more friends - a flat planet would ignore time zones too.
Our world map is flat too, despite the fact that its edges are curvy and all.
Now, try to picture this : if a ship were to sail on a flat planet, what'd happen at the edge ? Will it topple over ?
Well, let's be thankful that not a single ship will ever topple over. But at the rate things are going, we are bound to topple over. Civilisation is bound to topple over and give way to inhumanity. No nation is ever complete without its share of political woes, crime, economic instability and social issues. We've seen bad things around the world. We've seen worse things in Malaysia.
I, like many others, have been affected by all these things and even if I hope against all hope, if our leaders - I'm talking about every single world leader - if our leaders don't make the change, pronto, and still continue with their woeful ways, then we'll all topple over, as we would on a flat plane !
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2 comments:
Ray Tapajna, editor and artist at Tapart News and Art that Talks challenges Thomas Friedman's concept from the perspective of the streets of USA.
He challenges Friedman's so called "flatteners" supposedly reflecting times in history that stage the coming of globalization and free trade.
See http://tapsearch.com/flatworld/
We may receive information faster than ever but much of it is faulty. When anything is centralized it merges the bad with the good- like the internet. It keeps adding and adding information with out any real quality check off. When things were slower and de-centralized, human dynamics worked out the flaws in a dividing manner.
See also http://www.tapsearch.com/globalization
Well, note : I took it on a more liberal stand than Friedman himself. I did not even mention that the information was good or bad. What "information" we receive is entirely up to our choice, and up to what the media show. Ultimately, I'm talking about the speed and pace at which we are falling apart.
By the way, that link you gave me - it isn't working.
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