Paper5

Sharing Is Caring
The difference between globalization and American universalism is clear. From what I have been told globalization means that different nations of the world interact and share popular needs and wants with each other. American Universalism means that other nations of the world use America as a role model and follow what America’s people do. Most of us have heard of a Roman Catholic, eaten Spaghetti, watched Pokémon, listened to the blues, and played or watched a sport. The nations definitely share religion, food, media, music, fashion and sports in common. This only matches one definition, and that is globalization.
Religion plays a big role in the world as well as America. According to adherents.com 33 percent of the world’s people claim themselves to be Christian. In America, 81 percent of adults claim to be Christian. Out of the 81 percent 24.5 percent are Roman Catholic (religioustolerance.org). The oldest religion practiced in the world is Catholicism, founded by Jesus and spread by twelve apostles (Wikipedia.com). Before America was even founded other established countries had already been practicing the catholic religion. Therefore, the catholic religion had to be shared with America at some point in time in order to have any knowledge of the religion.
A human being has many needs in order to survive, and food is just one of them. In America, we indulge ourselves with foods other than those that are strictly made in America. If one were to visit New York City he or she could visit Little Italy or China Town to receive their favorite Italian or Chinese foods. At Little Italy, Italian restaurants line the streets, as well as Italian markets that sell Italian ham, several types of olive oil, pastas etcetera. Like little Italy, China town’s streets are lined up with Chinese restaurants, and markets that sell Chinese food (travelwithyourkids.com). Although the environment of little Italy and China town might feel as though one is actually in those countries, they are not the only place you can get Italian or Chinese food. Olive Garden and Johnny Carino’s are popular restaurants that sell Italian food in America. Bamboo Garden and Panda express are just two restaurants that sell Chinese food in America as well. Finding food other than a hamburger, fries, apple pie or chicken strips are not hard to find. Like American’s crave foreign food it is not hard for other nations to find food from America. According to Wikipedia.com, McDonald’s is the fastest growing fast food chain in the world. Chinadaily.com, estimates that, a new Kentucky Fried Chicken opens every other day in China. So if American food is what the foreign people want, all they have to do is stop by and pick up what they are craving. These examples explain that American’s do not only demand American food, foreign food is demanded as well. Likewise in other countries, the food originated in America is demanded there, as well as the food originated in their country.
Television is a form of media that is used all over the world. Clubpokemon states that Pokémon, a game that originated in Japan by Satoshi Tajiri was very popular. Japan was the only country to have any knowledge of it for two years. It was introduced to America in September, 1998. Over one million copies of the game were sold by the end of the month. In 1999 alone, four billion dollars worth of Pokémon merchandise was sold worldwide. Pokémon merchandise is still being sold across the world in many languages today. According to getreadytowiggle.com, The Wiggles’ is popular entertainment to children and adults in America. The Wiggles’ entertain their audience with stories, dances, and education songs. However, the show did not originate in America, it originated in Australia in 1982. On January 28, 2002, the Wiggles’ aired on the Disney Channel and ever since then they have been very popular, not only in Australia but America too. These are just two examples of foreign television shows introduced to America that rapidly became popular across the nation.
Like television, music is another form of media that is very popular throughout the world, and it has been around for years. However, music did not originate from America. According to Wikipedia.com in the seventeenth century immigrants from Britain, Spain, France, migrated to America with new styles of music and instruments. African slaves also brought musical traditions. Most popular music can trace back to the nineteenth century when the Africans introduced the blues and gospel music which became very popular throughout the nation. Africans formed the basis for popular music. Elvis Presley better known as The King is a legend in the music industry. According to fiftiesweb.com, Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records discovered that he found a white guy who had the sound and feel of the black R&B artists he had been recording and that was specifically what he was looking for. Even today The King’s music is still listened to and his CD’s and memorabilia are sold all over the world. Without the Africans introducing blues, Elvis who is now a legend could have possibly been nothing.
Andrea Lumpkin, the author of Physical Education, Exercise Science, and Sport Education, introduces how sports evolved. It All started in Greece, the Greeks examined a child at birth, if they were healthy and strong they were spared if they were weak and sick they would die. By the age of eighteen boys were sent to military service to train. Men age twenty and above were sent to a gymnasium. They practiced athletics to keep their physical shape to be warriors in case they were needed. In time the gymnasium became more like a resort instead of a place to exercise. In the fifth century the warrior-athletes were expected to perfect their skills for warfare, they used religious festivals to demonstrate their athletic skills to the Greek Gods. In 776 B.C. the Olympic Games began. To be eligible for Olympic Games the athlete had to be Greek, and train for ten months. The Olympic Games became national on March 24, 1896. The Olympic Gaming events were held in Athens, Greece. Every four years the Olympics are held in a different city around the world. Still to this day the world’s best amateur athletes match skill and endurance in a national contest, where nations compete against each other to prove who is better at the Olympic Games. We can say thanks to the Greeks for this accomplishment.
America is indeed the role model of the world, however if other nations had not shared customs and cultures with us we would be clueless to the nations around us. It is easy to see that we have developed our nation by what we learned from foreigners who were willing to share, and we have helped them by what we have shared with them as well. Sharing is caring and the view among the nations of the world would be meaningless without it.