Thursday, September 27, 2007

Humanism and the flat world Essay

Humanism and the flattening of the world are both very similar but at the same time very much different. They both had major impacts on civilization and the indivduals. Both the good and bad consequences from each concept are pointed towards one group or another such as the indivdual or the government. There was not only good consequences for the indivdual there were also bad consequences in both instances.

The concept of humanism changed the way people thought of not only themselves but of others too. Humanism made people think for themselves and not just do what the Church tells them to do. Humanism made individuals special and unique and not just one face in a crowd of thousands. Humanism was simply a revolution. A revolution that made a huge impact. Without humanism the Middle Ages might have gone on for much longer than it did. In both instances of humanism and the flattening of the world were brought on by recent discoveries of the time. In the instance of humanism, different texts from ancient Greece and Rome were discovered that showed a whole new view on life and the way the government treated individuals.

The flattening of the world brought on a whole different kind of change. Instead of making people more individualized it put the whole world population into one huge group. Instead of an American you are a citizen of the world. The reason for this is that in a flattening world it does not matter where you're from, it matters how good of an education you have. This was a revolution that happened in a relatively short time. Twenty years ago no one thought we would outsource jobs half way across the world. In this new world an individual has the power to collaborate on a much wider and even perhaps an international scale. All this person needs is a good Internet connection and the know how.

Both of these concepts changed the way people thought of themselves and the world around them. Both were revolutions that was new for the time. No one in the renaissance period of time ever thought for themselves until the humanists came along. Everyone was too worried of what the church was going to think. It only takes one person to change the minds of thousands in a very short period of time. Other people saw that they were not going to be struck down by God if they didn't think what the Church tells them to think. The difference between the two concepts is that it seems that the people in the humanism revolution were moving forward and thinking for themselves but in the flat world revolution people are somewhat retrogressing before the time of humanists. People are losing there identities. Being an American meant more twenty years ago than it does now. Now people are just citizens of the world. Now we are just buyers and sellers in the world. Both concepts have good and bad consequences. When it comes to humanism most the bad consequences were centered towards the Church. The Church could not control the masses anymore with the threat of the going to hell for every sin you commit. The individual could be great. They could achieve more than just being religious and go heaven. They had more to work for. Before humanism the main goal for someone was to just get to heaven. When it comes to the flattening of the world it is the other way around. Most of the good consequences were gained by the government and the big guys. The government can get their goods so much cheaper in a flat world. Yes there were some good consequence for the individual. The individual could connect to the world from their own home. But in turn they lost there identity as an American or any other person in which their country has embraced the flat world.



Not done yet but oh well

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