PART 4: New Media, Culture Imperialsm and the Lessons from Greater Asian Countries

Globalization is threatening survival itself, by robbing millions of their right to life and by creating a political climate in which negative identities thrive. Human rights have a task of focusing on the right of the human species to survive in peace with the rest of each other and the rest of the earth family. Without our collective will and our courageous intentions we must cure not the symptoms of insecurity but the root cause.

China should therefore learn that with open space for new media as Africa has done has benefited her in having a close link with social life both in a material and spiritual sense. Its collective nature, its mercy sidedness and its progressive stages of being looked for by the world as a business partner or hub to the extent of silent economic war between the trading/destinations continents. The above have been made so possible in Africa through the giving of free space for the new media.

READ ALSO: China and the New Media restrictions

 In Singapore, evidences of Americanisation, one form of cultural imperialism, can be observed from our lifestyle, coffee choices (Starbucks decaf latte vs. Kopi-O siu dai), and even our choice of words- where did you learn to use English profanities? Until the age of mass electronic communications, most cultural forms were local or national.

Cultural indoctrination was carried out mainly through educational institutions. Considering the fact that most media products we consume are exports of America, the lifestyle and ideas broadcasted are basically American-based. The Singapore government had introduced censorship schemes to movies and shows to ensure that the young and easily impressionable do not pick up what the Singapore culture considers as the ‘wrong’ behavior or thought.

READ ALSO: Singapore Scholars Critisize US Focus

CONT...... PART 5:  New Media and Agribusiness Imperialism