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The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman
"What else but sensationalism could you expect from an American Journalist" My friend commented when I told him I was on a most sensational book by New York Times' Thomas Friedman. I thank my friend and my kids favorite 4th Grade teacher Michael Citrino to have recommended "The World is Flat" which has introduced me to a rapidly flattening world, of which I am a part, oblivious of the changes around me.
In this book Mr. Friedman as an investigative journalist starts telling the history from the 11/9fall of the Berlin Wall, and walks his reader through today. To keep pace with the rapid scientific development in the 20th century, and to afford production, we desperately needed to control costs. Its simplest way, but impossible to achieve in the post world war era, was to have a world based market. It was after the fall of the Berlin wall that India moved towards capitalism and China followed suit and then the newly liberated Russian states. Accompanying the fall of the socialist economic system came the information highway spanning the world, crossing the oceans & deserts connecting practically anybody with every body. These change have changed the way the world lives because more than 70% of world lives on this side of the world.
With the latest IT connectivity an essentially untapped, technically educated cheap, labor resource of East has become accessible to the west, without binds of visas and travel needs, through outsourcing. When we talk of outsourcing it is not only data management, accounting or medical transcription but live call customer care centers & help lines for computer companies, telecom giants, Airlines booking and baggage claims to after hour emergency radiological reporting of MRI and CT scans just to name a few. As I look at things the new millennium America reaches farther out on the globe, than the British East India Company of the last century, without looking ugly.
Mr. Friedman effectively also establishes that Americans looking at outsourcing negatively are wrong. People used to live under socialism, make excellent honey bees at work and it is the Americans who need to improve their adaptability to the new job requirements, of the better connected world, if they wish to continue being the queen bees. If they continue to be the innovators they can capitalize on the newly created high salaried jobs and the overall living standard is bound to improve, rather than deteriorate in USA, as publicized by some.
This outsourcing is not only about financial benefits but is affecting a canvas much bigger. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Ireland, Hungary, Mexico and India along many others have gotten together as partners of the world IT industry. Now they have to balance positive material gains of peace to results of negative emotional outbursts. Can one believe that the outsourced U.S. business to India played a part in averting the 2002 India Pakistan war? Obviously in the flat world if a political leader tries to sell the need of nuclear or military deterrence to his nation, he is calling a lame bluff.
In this great book Mr. Friedman tells us about so many visible flatteners of the world that one has to believe. These days a country's financial viability is calculated if it is a Mc Donald country or not. Interestingly while UN is failing to improve and protect the world ecology, McDonalds has succeeded in pushing its suppliers the world over to change to eco-friendly food production and recycling policies. How Wall Mart is educating and sharing technology with its suppliers, again the world over and innovatively cutting cost and stream lining its delivery and distribution networks using "IT" is a different theme. UPS silently becoming "the friendly neighborhood courier" is another eye opener. Now it is UPS men who fix Toshiba laptops helping Toshiba improve its customer relations fixing an undependable after sales service system . How UPS has helped trouble shoot the distribution network for Ford's fixing its dealer relations is mind boggling. Now it not only handles Ford's distribution but also advises on Ford on production line priorities. UPS backs up every shopkeeper of Amazon and e-bay. E-bay and Amazon.coms in their turn have allowed the common world citizen (not only a US citizen) to fulfill the dream of trying luck at business without forsaking a stable job. Through e-marketing small entrepreneurs can develop personal outlets with a world wide customer base. The investment requirement is minimal, at which even in the third world no body can imagine to start any business.
The story of Steve Jobs is of extreme perseverance commanding extreme success. He has rewritten history regaining the position of CEO of his brainchild "Apple" creating media giants like Pixar en-route. How Rolls Royce Rolls has survived, not stopping being the car maker for the filthy rich but becoming an intelligent engine provider for the aviation industry, helping airlines and travelers save millions of dollars and work hours describes the will to play big game encashing the goodwill attached to it. Jordanian Ghandoor's readiness to accept the challenge of developing an Arab World courier and changing it into "Aramex" growing big enough to threaten the long established leaders in courier industry proves that the flat world is not only to benefit the first world rich but anyone who has the guts to tackle issues upfront.
Jet Blue and South West Airlines innovative CEO has substituted outsourcing with home sourcing empowering American housewives improving national productivity rather than banking on foreign workforce. Financing Bengali housewives Prof Younus has challenged modern capitalistic banking with his micro credit banking. Against the norms, working without lot of paperwork or collaterals this professor of economics is turning around millions of dollars, in small loans, with a 98% recovery rate from people who have no credit history but are credit worthy.
The development story of Mr. Friedman's own Dell Inspiron laptop as it could possibly involve many countries and multiple suppliers from each country providing each part is foretells a romantic future. In the world of Dell its only quality that matters and each anonymous chip and bit is as good as long its packed in a Dell. One can hope that all members of the human race, as long as they are packed in the same packing by one standard retailer, be one day accepted similarly, which of the flat world is a logical outcome. We shouldn't be rejected because of our sex, race or religion. If we can fit under the lid of God's quality seal we should be accepted as quality.
Thomas's description of the un-flat world, where he uses a not so remote village in the Indian south, is poetic. He carries his reader on a passionate journey "these children at four and five don't know what it is to have a drink of clean water...used to drinking filthy gutter water, if they are lucky to have a gutter nearby", "India is shining okay for glossy magazines but if you go just outside Bangalore...female infanticide and crime are rising", "middle and upper classes are rising but the seven hundred million who are left behind...the only thing that shines for them is the sun, and it is hot and unbearable and too many of them die of heat stroke." "The only "mouse" these kids have ever encountered is not the one that sits next to the computer but the real thing."
Thomas is an ardent believer in the freedom offered by the democratic capitalism of America and is intrigued by the way it is being accepted all over the world. Rightly worried he describes how the flat world is not only benefitting by teaming cheap labor with better income opportunities but the communication highway is also freely available and being used by the negative forces. It is scary to know with what ease fanatics in the flat world can not only open bank accounts, transfer funds internationally, enter flying schools but if they wish to, even rent 747 aircrafts.
Talking about this un-flattening effect I feel Mr. Friedman falters. He mentions the abuse of internet & media to spread rumors of Jews not going to work at WTC on 9/11 but misses to mention the unflattering effects of fabricated video clips displayed by CNN of Arab's celebrating the 9/11's disaster. Jews absence from WTC is being investigated by FBI but CNN has accepted running old reels of some Arab festivity. Probably Tom is just as human as any of us and his religious affiliations need to be given room. Discussing the plight of Muslims be it in India or Palestine to me he seems shortsighted stuck with many misconceptions. To him Muslim's irrational behaviors stems from the lost dominance they enjoyed over earth centuries ago, which again according to him, they consider their divine right. As a Muslim I would reiterate that we do believe that the best social & financial setup for the world is Islam but one very different from that being practiced by most of Muslim rulers and preached by most religious pundits of the day. The Holy Quran tells us that unjust and incompetent rulers will be replaced with able and fair rulers and we appreciate that for one reason or another Muslim leadership of today are not quality material and have justly been replaced by God's will.
Tom considers the humiliation of being stripped at the check points as a stimulant force behind the suicide bombings by Palestinian youth and refuses to register the effects of Israeli tanks following and bombing hideouts of kids hurling stones at them. Pitching in I would share what few days back a Palestinian colleague at a medical meet told me. His dad experienced severe Angina few days back and when they tried to rush him to the hospital there were some 3 checkpoints where after standing in the lines for over two hours the old man instructed his children to drive him home where he could die in the arms of his sister. Incidences like this, not infrequent in Palestine, justify more extreme expression of frustration rather than any personal humiliation.
Mr. Friedman considers India an example of democracy where all have equal rights, job & business opportunities but he is unaware that Indian minorities bowed to forceful alienation of Goa, Hyderabad, Junagarh etc in addition to Kashmir soon after deaths of Gandhi and Jinnah. Mr. Friedman considers Indian minorities and women empowered and liberated but his best evidence is having viewed an Ex-Bollywood queen thrashing a prayer leader of Delhi on TV. He probably doesn't know that Muslims make more than 33%of Indian population but only 2-3 Muslims get to the legislative council. The offices given to Muslims, Sikhs & Christians, in my opinion, are ceremonial and nothing more than eye wash.
My friends ask me how do I compare The World is Flat to my other recently read favorite " Three cups of tea" by Greg Mortenson. Both are about the flat world but are very different. Friedman talks about the flat world but Greg is making the world flat. He is providing education to kids, especially girls, declared doomed by the mountain gods in the most distant& difficult to access northern areas of Pakistan. Greg not only arranges finances and constructs schools but actually has helped construct bridges over impossible to cross mountainous ravines to take schools to disconnected areas of the Himalayas. To me Greg Mortenson is a history creator without a hint of racism but Friedman is a story teller who writes with passion, investigates with zeal but fails to mask his prejudices. I think Thomas Friedman should understand that something "on" CNN or Fox or printed in The New York times, has a very short life while a history book is expected to live at least as long as history.
Then I asked this question to myself "Do I like the flat world?" Definitely, most certainly, but I am not too sure if Thomas's flat world is here to last. The passion with which Greg is flattening the world, has roots. The flattening described by Tom is being built out of necessity. Bill & Malissa Gates foundation's fight against Malaria and attempts to make the World more live able are positive phenomenon but I wish we saw more of these connecting the rich and poor. I feel the capitalistic west is reaching out to the un-resourceful east to cut costs only and everybody in east, awed by the benefits of material gains is competing to get whatever size of pie they can get. Once this stops happening i.e. when East becomes mindful of its old values and the west gets to appreciates valueless ness of material gains, which probably is beginning to happen, then what?
"It takes to be an exceptionally good journalist to keep your sensory system on high alert for 600+ pages" was my reply to my friend and I am sure readers of this review will agree with me and definitely so if they get hold of "The world is flat" which will not let go of them till they finish it.
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I WAS CLUELESS this is happening and am appreciative of the heads up
Perhaps that Mr. Friedman sees the big picture so well and is eloquent in explaining it, that I am enjoying this book!Perhaps because I WAS CLUELESS this is happening and am appreciative of the heads up and plan to use the knowledge in this book!Whatever the reason, I give Thomas L. Friedman 5 STARS for this book. Time well spent!
