Again, thanks to Zach for letting me borrow The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile. The author, Arundhati Roy, is an Indian feminist-activist. She is an incredibly precise social prophet in our time.
Speaking on the privitization of the world, she comments...
Globalization means standardization. The very rich and the very poor must want the same things, but only the rich can have them.
And on America...
You...get the feeling that here is a country with an economy that thrives on insecurity, on fear, on threats, on protecting what you have–your washing machines, your dishwashers, your vaccuum cleaners–from the invasion of killer tomatoes or evil women in saris or whatever other kind of alien. It's a culture under siege. Every person who gets ahead gets ahead by stepping on his brother, or sister, or mother, or friend. It's such a sad, lonely, terrible price to pay for creature comforts. I think people here could be much happier if they could let their shoulders drop and say, "I don't really need this. I don't really have to get ahead. I don't really have to win the baseball match. I don't really have to come first in class. I don't really have to be the highest earner in my little town." There are so many happinesses that come from just loving and companionship and even losing.
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