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Tuesday Trends: Globalism Killed the Local Star 3

Filed under sister who?
Written by Annie on 15th Jul -08

hugtheglobe.jpgThe funny thing with trends is that they’re so extreme. I’ve found, in my many years of wisdom, that extremes are almost always wrong, in one way or another. There’s something to be said for walking a road of moderation. Seems like the Bible even says something about that…


So this article from David Sirota wasn’t really a surprise, just a confirmation of what I’ve long suspected: our trend toward “a global economy” has created a backlash, and we are beginning to experience it in our local worlds.

Sirota doesn’t actually discuss globalism, per say; he talks about the homogenization of American culture:

“The nationwide journey has been a blur — and not because I’ve been under-rested and overcaffeinated, but because America’s newly homogenized culture has made everything seem the same.

Indeed, in making anywhere into everywhere, homogenization has swallowed up not only our downtowns, restaurants and radio stations, but even our understanding of American democracy. The essence is that our culture has lost sight of the importance of local.”

Here. My backyard. We all got so excited about the immense possibilities opened up by the internet and other technologies that we decided hometown stuff was just, well, kind of boring.

I can flip on the radio and hear twenty commentaries about the Middle East, the trouble on Wall Street, or the latest presidential campaigning. I can find news about politics in Zimbabwe, Myanmar, and China. I can listen to live radio from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Uruguay. But do I know the name of my aldermen? Have I been to a city meeting lately? What do I know about the people running for county assessor?

Hmm. Time for the trend to swing back the other way. Watch for hyper-interest in all things local, coming soon to your very own backyard.

Image Credit: woodleywonderworks at flickr.

Short Review: “Not Buying It” by Judith Levine Comments Off

Filed under the world
Written by Annie on 27th Mar -08

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The book: Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine, published by Free Press; available as an Amazon Kindle Edition, if you’re so inclined.

The format: A month-by-month review of one couple’s year without purchasing anything more than necessities.
The review: A more accurate description might be a month-by-month foray into the life and mind of a writer totally taken in by anti-Bush, anti-capitalism, anti-republican, anti-war cultural popularisms.

Let’s not blame her. She is, after all, a writer living in New York City and New England. She has simply become what is accepted in her particular subculture. Honestly, when did you last hear of a pro-bush, New York City-based writer actually published?
I don’t critique her in order to defend Bush. Frankly, I’m not a great fan myself, but my aim here is not to dissect the politics of the thing but to review the part politics play in her book. I picked it up because I am interested in people trying to simplify, in a less consumer-oriented life, in the reality of trying to live a little differently than the culture around you.

Levine provides a statistically supported, well-researched critique of consumer culture and is fresh and honest about her place in it. Her personal struggles with buying and not buying, her changes in lifestyle, her experiences in the social sphere as a non-consumer: these are the essays that pique and tingle. She is honest about her less-than-ideal habits, her penchants for newness (to which we can all relate), her failures; she is humble and realistic about her success.

She loses me, however, when she attempts to define the failings of capitalism and the problems with rich (read: non-third-world) countries by applying cliches of the liberal leaning to problems of commerce, economics, and wealth distribution. Stereotypes just don’t do enough. The “bigger” issues, in this case, are not better for Levine.

Perhaps that’s because, on the political spectrum, I am far more Republican than I am Democrat. Maybe I can’t handle the criticism where it touches my party leanings.

Or maybe personal, real experience tells a story better than political musing. Where Levine remembers, and writes thus, the book is interesting no matter what your politics. When she doesn’t, however, which is a lot of the time, she inspires me to take the title advice in real application to the book itself.

More: Levine’s 2006 radio interview with Doug Henwood of Left Business Observor. (Downloadable or listen to streaming audio.)

Levine’s 2006 radio interview with Diane Rehm of the Diane Rehm show. (Listen to a segment or purchase the cd or transcript.)

An interview (text) about Levine’s 2002 book Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex from Salon.com. (There was a good deal of controversy about the book when it was published, which the introductory article summarizes.)

Levine’s blog, her other books, and an excerpt from Not Buying It.

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