2010: The Year of Couch Cosmopolitans
In today’s society, there is no doubt that we live in a global community. Globalization is occurring all around us, and we find ourselves more connected with other parts of the world than ever before. As we become increasingly aware of the great needs of those around us, we try to decide upon our attitude towards globalization, and one attitude that has become more popular is that of a cosmopolitan. Yet, the real issue of dealing with the effects of globalization comes not in questioning our attitude towards a resolution, but in how we will actually implement these ideals and physically go about doing so.
While some professors like Martha C. Nussbaum focus on the point that everyone should be a cosmopolitan in this very idealistic, utopian manner, others like John H. Rosenthal provide deeper insight into the interactions of humanity and present a plan of action where Nussbaum had not. Rosenthal helps us to understand that as cosmopolitans we have “perfect and imperfect duties” that we can utilize simultaneously and not conditionally. He shows us how progress in solving cosmopolitan interests won’t be reached unless people actually perform those duties and utilize all the “thick” connections they have to help improve their “thin” connection with this global community in which we live. (Rosenthal, p.5)
Take, for example, the United States’ reaction towards the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Social interconnectedness made it easier to touch on cosmopolitan sensitivities and raise money and activism from people of all ages across the US nation. Music concerts with all the biggest celebrities were held to raise funds, televised live all over the nation with a text campaign included in commercials to raise even more money. But does that really make you a cosmopolitan, sitting on your comfy couch under your sturdy roof in the safe US texting a few letters to the “Help Haiti Fund”? If we were to truly follow what Nussbaum says to define a cosmopolitan, then yes, the thousands of kids, or should we say parents who actually foot the cell phone bill, who donated money through the text campaign are cosmopolitans and all is well. (Nussbaum, pg. 7) But how did you know what your money helped do for the people of Haiti? How could your act of cosmopolitanism have possibly impacted you in the ways Nussbaum believes cosmopolitan education can? (Nussbaum, pg. 8)You did not have a plan behind your action and therefore had no way of seeing the actual effect of your attempt at making the world a better place.
Now think on a larger scale and you get a majority of the NGO’s and charity organizations that rushed in soon after this disaster to distribute aid. These persons did go one step farther in their cosmopolitan duties than their fellow couch cosmopolitans, but the majority of them can only say that they gave families without food meals, children without shelter a tarp to sleep under, and babies who were sick and dying the medical treatment that they so desperately needed. These were all necessities in terms of human rights and satisfying the basis for being a cosmopolitan, but what happened to the Haitian people when these cosmopolitans left and time went on? The supplies and the workers were gone, yet they found themselves still staring in the face of extreme poverty but with no knowledge of real life application to solve their everyday problems. While the intentions were just, it is this unwarranted optimism that makes Nussbaum’s cosmopolitanism so utopian and idealistic and obscures the actual reality of what it means to be a cosmopolitan in today’s world of globalization. (Himmelfarb, pg. 3)
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