It will take more than a disease to keep us from watching a trending Korean drama
Lockdowns, quarantine, masks, hand sanitizer, Zoom, social distancing. Words that became commonplace in our daily vocabulary since February of 2020. The era before the pandemic feels like another world now, and many believe that we will never return to that. But life goes on, a bit different than it was before, but it goes on. We have simply adapted ourselves to overcome the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brought upon us, from the finite details of covering our noses and mouths when going out to restricting travel from certain countries. Starting in a capital city in China, the virus now more commonly known as COVID-19, easily swept across the globe until it became a pandemic and by mid 2020 the entire world had placed restrictions and regulations in attempt to slow the spread of the virus and lower death rates. Within these restrictions, borders closed, trade slowed, and countries began to fight. This caused a break in the ongoing trend of globalization. With closed off borders and countries feuding, how was the world supposed to continue interacting? Some argue that the pandemic will bring an end to globalization, however I believe that it will not end, instead the pandemic shown us that it is not only economic trends that define globalization, because globalization goes beyond economic trends, it is about the spreading of cultures and interactions between people.
While some argue that it was the pandemic that led to a decline in trade between countries, according to Zachary Karabell trade was already in decline prior to the pandemic. He states in his article in the Wall Street Journal, “Even before the virus, there were indications of both a pause and a modest pullback in globalization. Last year, global trade contracted a smidgen, by less than 1%, but at $19 trillion, it was still higher than any year before the record-setting 2018.” This means that it was not only the pandemic that slowed down trade between countries, instead countries had already predetermined to shift to self-sufficiency rather than relying on others. During the Trump administration, the idea of self-sufficiency was of great importance to the Republican party even before the beginning of the pandemic. However, this was only seen more prominently when these ideas were forced to be imposed upon the greater majority when the virus disrupted trade. Those who argue that the pandemic is ending globalization often point to the lack of economic exchange however while it might be easy to think that it was the pandemic that was ending trade it was already in decline. One thing Karabell does not consider, however, is that the globalization does not solely rely on trade and economic relationships between countries.
While countries may have turned more towards self-sufficiency and a decrease in trade, this does not mean an end to globalization, much less one brought on by the pandemic. Globalization does not solely rely on economics and the trade of goods and services. And while the pandemic did cause a rift in some countries’ relationships, an effort to mend to those relationships is steadily increasing. Globalization is about the interaction and spreading of cultures across borders. Not everything in this world is about money, especially not globalization. Over the past few years through the help pf technology, globalization has not stopped declining. Unlike 50 something years ago people were not able to communicate and interact from a distance as they are able to now. With the invention of Netflix, FaceTime, VR, people are able to experience various things from around the world without having to leave their homes. As technology continues to advance, globalization will continue to grow, as things will be increasingly more accessible. It is through technology that globalization has been able to grow but it is because of people that it truly has. People have become more curious, have grown interests in others and their cultures. This explains the growing popularity of the South Korean entertainment industry, namely K-Pop and Korean dramas. Most recently, Netflix released a new Korean drama that was an instant hit by the name of Squid Game. Despite differences in culture that were depicted in the drama, people all over the world seemed to really enjoy the show. This shows how it is not business relationships that define globalization, it is about people and how we interact with one another and one another’s culture even from far away. The pandemic allowed for many new forms of interaction to be introduced in order for our daily lives to proceed as semi-normal as possible that also allowed for us to continue spreading our ideas and sharing our cultures even when borders were closed and travel was not allowed.
Zoom became the world’s next Google in terms of popularity when the pandemic hit. Schools went virtual, many jobs turned to work from home, business trips became online meetings, leading millions of people across the globe to turn to Zoom to resume their daily lives without standing or sitting mere feet from their coworkers and classmates. While many study abroad trips were cancelled primarily due to travel restrictions, universities and other educational institutions still found a way to proceed with their programs even from a distance. Along with Zoom many companies and schools had to get creative on how they would maintain interactions between people while being far away. Zoom is just one of the many ways that we as global citizens were able to adapt and find new ways to overcome challenges and prevent globalization from coming to an end. Our persistence to maintain in contact and resume our lives demonstrates the importance we placed upon the need for globalization. In our day and age, it is technology that keeps us connected with one another especially when we are far away.
Globalization gives us many benefits that we otherwise would not have known of if we’d never experienced them, such as trade, alliances, the sharing of cultures; it is clear even after so long of wearing our masks and social distancing that it will take a lot more than a viral disease to take such pleasures and benefits away from us. Globalization goes beyond economic trends and capitalism, in its core, globalization is about the spreading of cultures and ideas across the globe regardless of distance. Despite challenges that the pandemic brought, we were able to find new ways to remain connected through the help of technology. We should be grateful for living in the era that we are in now where we can communicate with friends, family, and coworkers who are thousands of miles away and also experience tid bits of other’s cultures while living in our own country. After well over a year of a pandemic-world it is clear to see the world may never return to the way it was, but that does mean the world will end, nor will globalization.
