Globalization

A very good question. Although I do think that the we probably have very different understanding of the concept of the concept of dominance of western culture and globalization. The spread of the western culture is almost inevitable. We could see this trend in the ideology of "white supremacy". Even in China, we have a lot of commercials promoting the "white", such as in cosmetics commercials. Also, as our professor has once mentioned about the soft power of US. They have been successful in trying to affect the world with their own values. In the process of globalization, we would certainly need to look at different cultures. But I am not sure if these understandings of different cultures would make huge difference in the process of globalization.

I agree with the point made above about how much power the mass media has in our world today and shape our ideas of culture. It is important to note that the media consciously shapes the way we perceive our nation, who belongs to it and who doesn’t. It creates an ‘us’ and ‘them’ group while including and excluding the other. For example, nowadays we see many discourses that depict Canadian nation’s humanitarian work and generosity for letting in many immigrants and Syrian refugees which emphasizes the Western democratic ideal of tolerance, freedom and diversity that is mentioned by Sen. This also implicitly suggest that the ‘them’ are the immigrants and the ones that are in need mainly people from non-western countries. This idea is implicitly suggested in the media over and over again shaping the citizen’s idea about who are seen as the superior and ideal. However, despite the fact that Canada is depicted as very generous and tolerant to multiculturalism it is interesting to see that the amount of refugees that Canada has let in the country does not even compare to the amount that other Middle Eastern, European or African countries have let in. Also the fact that most immigrants that are let in Canada are mostly middle or upper class citizens from outside the country for the nation's economic growth and own interest. By looking at Canada as one of the western democratic countries which, are said to promote and benefit from maintaining the idea of freedom and tolerance, we start to question whether their values are actually put in practice and whether they are that distinct from Asian countries.

Canada as a country that is known for its multiculturalism is a great example for how the message media can be framed and shaped. Multiculturalism masked the continuity of white privilege and muted the deeply entrenched conflicts of race. If white people are accused of racist, they can just shield themselves with their "tolerance" and start point to how much worse immigrants are. The inferiority in the cultures of racial others and the need for their reformulation is assumed by the framework.