Comparison of the Articles “Just Us Folks” and “The March of the Monoculture”
Introduction
The article the March of the Monoculture addresses the changing economic and social status of the world under globalization. The article highlights that globalization has fostered interaction, which has enhanced the global social-economic status. Beside the benefits attached to this situation, the author feels insecure of the monoculture that is developing. Furthermore, she feels that this situation is affecting safety and secrecy of people in their own niches. On the other hand, Just Us Folks is a tale of the globalized politics and the effects of the American politics on the world. Although people thinks the word ‘folks’ is contextually wrong; however, the author argues that this word present the situation on how politics in America have exposed the country to the whole world. This paper compares and contrasts the two articles with the view of getting similar and contrasting viewpoints addressed by the two articles.
Both the articles talk about a change in the mindset of the people, especially the leaders. Just Us Folks talks of the leaders in America trying to identify with the local people. The political leaders have brought themselves to the ground and identify all people as ‘folks’, equating people from all classes. This is not the case as the author compares the situation to the presidential elections in early 1950s only to find a completely new policy (Jacoby 395). In The March of the Monoculture, the author talks about the change in the economic and social mindset of the people. In the past, the people concentrated on relating with people within their areas and forgot about the global shape. The people have now undergone cultural erosion and mixture of culture is the order of the day due to the need to interact economically and socially across the world.
Both the articles adopt a critical view of the subject matters discussed. In Just Us Folks, Jacoby is critical of the language use in the modern society. While the author accepts that the word ‘folks’ has become a household and acceptable name in all settings, she is critical of the humor created from it. She is not happy by the fact that even the clergy and the religious leaders mistake the word in their holy services. At the same time, Jacoby is specifically critical of the media. The humor applied by the media in the use of language is not good to him at all. She refers to some great leaders in the American language and their language, terming some of them as ‘excellent’ (Jacoby 397).
In The March of the Monoculture, the author is critical of colonialism that started as a globalization issue. Although people do not see the effects of the colonial activities, Norberg-Hodge says that nearly all aspects of life are affected. The erosion of culture in many societies is a standout factor in his criticism of the colonialism. She says that people felt secure in their cultures before attempts to make the world an interactive global village. The cultures are now eroded and only remains can be collected from the affected areas.The foreign masters no longer unite people in the society because of the divisive politics, while claiming to save them from naivety (Norberg-Hodge 635). Norberg-Hodge’s experience among the Ladakh people reveal that the some people lacked access to enough food, yet before colonialism they had plenty to consume. The children are heavily extorted and the work they do override their ages. Pornographic materials and the media erosions can only be termed as neocolonialism.
Differences
The articles Just us Folks and The March of the Monoculture differ since they address two opposing viewpoints. Jacoby addresses a situation where a group of leaders in America is trying to make people happy by coming to their level linguistically, Norberg-Hodge addresses the idea of colonialists polarizing people and lowering their standards (Norberg-Hodge 633). Jacoby says that the leaders are focusing all their attentions on coming to the same level with the people. All the efforts of the leaders in America have focused on uniting people and amassing votes from the people. The political leaders call the people folks because the hunt for political power has taken the people to their lowest levels as they try to influence people. However, Jacoby does not like the way the leaders are misusing the English language in the name of identifying with the people. She observes that some word essentially not used among the people is now becoming household terms.
Norberg-Hodge on the other side looks at a point where the political heirs of the world are extorting the wealth from the people they colonized. The philosophy initially applied was to make the world an interactive village for the people, an idea that the people were ready to embrace, as it would expose them more. However, the reality of the matters is different. The people are enslaving the children and giving them heavy jobs. Showing the children a false impression of riches and luxury, the western powers convince the young people to fall to the hard economic extortion by the foreign powers. The media make some of the young people to disown their own ethnic backgrounds, a fact that worries the author. As the global leaders struggle and convince people to embrace globalization, terror and divisions increase in the society. Places with ethnic mixtures fall victim to the dirty games in the name of interaction (Norberg-Hodge 633).
The scope of address is also a point of difference between “just Us Folks” and “The march of the monoculture.” Jacoby addresses a national issue that she fears has affected the view of the whole world towards America. The media has undertaken publicizing the language used by the leaders in the political activities as if it is the right language for people to use. Jacoby is surprised that nearly all people have started accepting that they are folks because their leaders said so on the media. The people do not consider the abuse made to English. She says that all the Americans are reduced by poverty (Jacoby 397). According to Jacoby, the fact that all the Americans are already overwhelmed by poverty makes it easy for the leaders as they try to get a language that reduces the Americans to their economic standards. She notes that in the end, the people make humor out of statements that are mocking their very existence.
While Jacoby addresses a national issue that has split into the whole world, Norberg-Hodge addresses a global issue. The effects of neocolonialism cannot be stated in any particular area, country, or region. The author states that many people think that colonialism is only in the third world countries. However, the cultural erosion is in all parts of the world. Many people in both the third world countries and the developed economies face the cultural erosion that the author addresses. In some cases, people denounce the very reason they live. For example, in Kosovo the Albanian people lost a sense of their identity for some time after they were introduced to the new technology and the new ways of doing things in the world. The luxurious films on the televisions leading the young people into fantasy lives are all over the world. The tales do not discriminate the areas hence it is a global problem requiring global solutions.
Conclusion
The articles Just Us folks and The March of the Monoculture address a state where the people are corrupted into leaving the right acts to embark on the wrong acts tainting their image before the world. The two articles resemble each other in the sense that both of them address the loss of values in the society. Jacoby addresses the language used by the American leaders, which some of people have taken to be obvious is affecting the image of the country, Norberg-Hodge addresses colonialism in the modern world through social and economic erosion. However, Jacoby addresses a national issue characteristic to the United States of America, while Norberg-Hodge addresses an issue affecting the whole world. Most notably, both the articles present some form of colonialism to the people. Jacoby exposes the American people as being colonized by their own leaders to the state they forget their morals, while Norberg-Hodge addresses an obvious point of modern colonialism in the world today.
Works Cited
Jacoby, Susan. “Just Us Folks.” Reading Our World: Conversations in Context. Ed. Robert P. Yagelski. 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. Pp. 394-399
Norberg-Hodge, Helena. “The march of the monoculture.” Reading Our World: Conversations in Context. Ed. Robert P. Yagelski. 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. Pp. 629-637
