Globalization

Anonymous Well, I was sitting there in my Greek kitchen thinking "I should blog, I'm not going to want to do it later,"and waiting for some mantic wisdom, when I looked down at my bowl of cheerios and heard a voice. It said "globalization..." I mean, really, how many ads have I seen for Ikea or Cinnebon? They look the same as they do at home, except in Greek. I walk through the grocery store and I can buy Dove shampoo, venus razors, and V-8. If I wanted to, I could go to McDonald's, Subway or Starbucks. I could almost pretend I was home... almost. I guess there is something comforting about same-ness. It's predictable, familiar. Even the very phenomenon of same-ness is familiar to me, living in the U.S. At home, I know I can go to Starbucks, whether I'm in Seattle or San Francisco, Las Vegas or Lynnwood, and get a coffee that will be almost exactly the same. It's comforting and convenient but... at what cost? Here in Greece, I can walk down the street and buy the same made-in-China items I can at home, and while all those familiar products might be comforting to an American, I can't help but wonder if they look different to a Greek... if, rather than comforting, they might seem... intrusive? Despite the evidence of multi-national corporations and pervasive marketing strategies, here in Greece uniqueness still seems to have a hold. As someone pointed out to me today, you can go to the same café and get a different coffee every day, unique to the barista on duty. It seems ironic that such an individualistic society such as the one I come from should seek to impose such same-ness upon the world around it. Perhaps it is precisely because we are so individualistic that we are forced to look for familiarity in the objects, rather than the people, around us. Many of us have noted how much more personal Greek culture appears to us; how much more focused on building relationships and making and keeping connections. Maybe it wouldn't matter to me so much that my latté be just so, if I enjoyed it in the company of friends. I mean, even my dad... coffee connoisseur... has been willing to drink sub-par coffee at my favorite bakery because it meant he got to sit and chat with me. :)