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If you turn on a TV in Haiti, you may have the impression that you are in the United States. American music, movies and styles are the fashion in my country. Many young people don’t even listen to Haitian music nor watch Haitian movies anymore. However, they know a lot about Jay-Z and Beyoncé, 50 Cent, Will Smith, Brad Pitt and a lot of American artists. From these examples, it is clear that Haitian culture is threatened to be replaced by American culture. This problem is getting worse and worse as time goes on. This is not only a problem in Haiti; many other countries are dealing with the “Americanization” of their culture too. If nothing is done to stop this worldwide trend, we will have American music and movies everywhere and we will find American food everywhere.

https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/whats-the-problem-with-globalization/

American music and movies are becoming more popular around the world and are influencing other countries’ cultures because of globalization. In fact, many countries show less and less interest in their own music and movies to embrace American ones. For example, in Haiti, in the 1980s, Haitian movies and music were the fashion in this island nation. But now, with a very cheap Internet connection, Haitians have access to American music, movies and TV series. Consequently, they show less interest in their own music styles, such as “Konpa” and “Racine” and their movies. What is more worrying, they have developed such a passion for this foreign style that they tend to reject their own style and lose their identity. This is very disconcerting, because it is jeopardizing Haitian theater and art which was previously very valuable. Another example can be also seen in France. According to the text “Globalization and Culture” by Nancy E. Dollahite and Julie Haun (2012), the French Government conservatively is putting some restrictions on the number of foreign movies in their media and theater. We can infer that those foreign movies are mostly American movies because they are the fashion in the world. Without this restriction, the attractive American media will dump their products in the entertainment market of many other countries and will put those nations’ industries success in jeopardy. That’s why adequate measures should be taken to stop this American “flood” and to conserve the rich diversity of music and movies in the world.

American culture is also affecting other nations in their eating habits. In many countries, we can easily find American restaurant and food. Jessica Williams and Pamela Vittorio in the text “The Language of Twenty-First Century Business” (2016) reported that McDonalds have more than 31,000 restaurants worldwide. This new way of eating as American is not quite healthy and beneficial for the rest of the world. Hasting M., Thiel S. and Thomas D in the text “The Deadly Noodle” (2003) accused American food as “junk food” that are making the world fat. They also denounced them to dump in Europe, Asia and some developing countries market and consequently increase the rate of obesity. In fact, these imported from the US are full of calories and are not healthy. The health of a population cannot be compromised. That’s why, one needs to control what is entering through the shoreline of their country and not allow any low quality edible food to affect their people.

Some people might contend that “Americanization” is culturally beneficial for many countries and should be fostered. They base their thinking on the premise that “Americanization” is helping to improve communication between nations. In fact, English is a “Langua Franca”- it is the language that people from different country use to communicate to each other. Let’s not be too simplistic and shortsighted. Let’s take also into account the dangerous shortcoming inherent to it. Jessica Williams and Pamela Vittorio in the text “The Language of Twenty-First Century Business” (2016) wrote that there are nearly 1 billion non-native English speakers. This means a large percentage of people in the world speak English as a second language. Instead of focusing on their own language and share it with other nation, they fall in the trap of globalization and take English as the only worthy language to learn. For example, in Haiti, if a person speaks only Haitian creole, he won’t probably be fully respected and will feel very oppressed. Speaking only our maternal language is now a big shame. All of this is the result of globalization. For the sake of pleasing the rest of the world, we are snubbing, oppressing, despising or rejecting our own poor citizen that can’t afford an English class. A nation cannot be built like that. We should stop this external influence and do everything we can to use more and value more our first language and fight for the dignity of our nation.

American are detrimentally influencing other nations’ culture in this globalized world. First, their music and movies, as the fashion, are threatening and jeopardizing other nations’ entertainment industries. Second, some of their products such as processed and junk foods are dumping in other nations and affecting the health of their citizens. This needs to be stopped. New regulations should put restriction on American products on each nation’s market. Otherwise, their people will dangerously tend to live like Americans, lose their identity and put their success in jeopardy.