I don’t believe the world is flat

As I had just got it two weeks ago, I haven’t finished this 600-page book, but what I've read has already given me a great impact and a general opinion of Mr. Friedman’s “Flattening Theory”.

The subtitle of this book is kind of interesting, which is “A brief history of the twenty-first century”. History is usually about things happened long time ago, and each incident is consisted of a clear cause and consequence. However, I've never thought about history of the 21st century which has only just started. It’s also quite impossible to figure out the process of every incident, for they have barely started. So probably this subtitle is nothing more than a catchy ad. It does tell us something, that is, the world is becoming flat in this century.

Columbus reported to his king and queen that the world was round, and Mr. Friedman told us that the world was flat. Isn’t that amazing? Our ancestors thought the world was flat according to their sights and the strong belief——seeing is believing. Columbus proved the world was round by traveling in his sailing vessels, although he considered America as India by mistake. This process shows the development of human. But how did Mr. Friedman find out the world was flat again? In my opinion, “flat” here just means “global”, which is a term known for many years, and what Mr. Friedman did was merely translating “globalization” into “flattening”. This is probably the true reason why this book sells so well and enjoys such great honour. It’s said that a well-sell book is simply made up of something known to all and widely agreed with. I’m not saying that this book is not worth reading, although I truly think it’s overrated. For people who know the global economy and politics well or want to learn about it seriously, this book is not the right choice. But for a middle-school student like me or people who just want to get a general view of globalization, this proves to be a very interesting ,amazing, and well-rounded book.

Globalization is like a big wave sweeping all of us and every part of the world. It’s so mighty that even the most powerful country can’t fight against it. It’s so wide that the most remote place can’t be unrelated to it. I have known about the outsourcing in India long before, but still astonished when I learned how much it had changed the business around the world. The author came to this conclusion mainly by what he saw and heard in India, especially Bangalore. Tax returns of Americans are done in India by Indian accountants. Indian journalists are collecting raw materials for western press like Reuters. Even CAT scans are read by Indian doctors instead of American ones. Because the two countries are in different time zones, Indian doctors work while the American doctors are sleeping, and the American doctors can get what they want right in the morning. Those Indian assistants work in the same way. The famous call centers are what the author mentioned most. Those Indian call center operators have work to at night when it’s the daytime in America, but this is more a benefit than a problem, for the operators who are mostly youngsters can continue their studying during the daytime, which will leads them to a brighter future. There are currently about 245,000 Indians answering phones from all over the world, dealing with problems from how to install a new software to restaurant reservations, or dialing out to solicit people for credit cards or cell phone bargains. This job which is considered low-prestige and low-wage in America is extraordinarily popular in Indian. Roughly only six percent of the applicants can be hired. And those fortunate few must go through severe training on their accents depending on which parts of the world they will talk to. Some learn accent of London, and some maybe learn southern American accent. I’m astounded at how “close” America and India is, and no wonder someone says Bangalore is the suburb of Boston. Seemingly, the world is flat.

I was even more astounded when I continued with this book and found the author said Dalian had become the outsourcing center of Japan, just like Bangalore of English-speaking countries. I’m not sure about the situation in Dalian now, but I don’t think it appropriate for any Chinese big cities to become an outsourcing center. I felt some people in China would like to learn the pattern of Bangalore, to become a so-called Silicon Valley. I disagree for the simple reason that the Indian speak English while the Chinese don’t and there’s no reason for us to abandon Chinese. I doubt if Bangalore can be called a Silicon Valley, although lots people say so. It’s nothing but an outsourcing center, doing low-end jobs for those who earn large sums of money. The difference between Silicon Valley in Bangalore and those Chinese factories making toys and textiles for America is beyond me. People certainly won’t consider it as the Silicon Valley in California.

The author also mentioned his visiting to the mayor of Dalian. The mayor said, “First we will have our young people employed by the foreigners, and then we will start our own companies. It’s like building a building. Today, the U.S., you are the designers, the architects, and the developing countries are the bricklayers for the buildings. But one day I hope we will be the architects.” I’m not sure when we become the architects who will be the bricklayers, the architects today? That is just impossible. They will probably become our boss. I mean if we just follow those who are more superior and imitate them, we will always fall behind them, because everyone is striving to go forward. What gives us force to compete against them are originality and reform. I’m sure China has its own advantages and won’t be distracted by the short term profit or manipulated by some countries under the camouflage of globalization. We should be more confident rather than anxious.

Personally, I don’t believe the world is flat, neither do I believe the world will be flat. I don’t know if Mr. Friedman noticed the over-crowded trains in India on which people’s bodies are actually outside of the compartments, or the restriction of tap water in some cities in India. I think it must be hard for an American journalist to understand the poverty in developing countries when he has already been attracted by the new Silicon Valley. I think everything is more or less contradictory, so is the world, and that is the reason why things develop. If the world really becomes flat, it will be stagnant, just like dead water.

I’ll continue reading this book, for I hope to find something new and prove that I am wrong. Usually I’m an optimistic person, but this book is too optimistic for me.