SnapChat Going Global

The picture above was taken from businessinsider.com

Snapchat started out in September of 2011 as a new and fun way to communicate with your friends via pictures and short messages. Since it's release, Snapchat has exploded in popularity and even reached number one rated app on the iTunes app store in March of 2015. Snapchat is a good representation of Globalization because it helps to spread ideas and cultures to people all over the world. With news stories from multiple different channels, such as Vice, CNN, The History Channel and ESPN; and a multitude of featured public stories that cover anything from a music festival in Italy to the Pope's visit to America, Snapchat has become a part of our culture. The picture above displays how in many of these first world countries, snapchat has become the top 3 most popular app.

The Global Film

The image above is the movie poster for Terminator: Genisys. In this new global economy, exports are a big part of determining the success level of an economy. Now determining what America's largest export is, is difficult but most sources seem to believe it is agricultural products. However, surprisingly the second largest American export is entertainment, including film, tv, and music. The impact of American films and the global economy can be found in the box office and locations where the movies were made. Most films that are successful will make their money back in the domestic box office. Terminator: Genisys is seen as a failure of a movie because it made back only 58% of its production value. It was panned by critics, yet the studio was, for a while, planning to make a sequel. This is because while the movie only made 89 million dollars in the US, it made 350 million dollars in the global box-office. Early in Hollywood's history, if a movie did not do well in the United States there was no chance that a sequel would be made. However, now movies can do well in the foreign box office and earn a sequel. Transformers: Age of Extinction is another movie that did not do well in the US, making only 245 million dollars, while it destroyed in the foreign box office, making 858 million dollars. The majority of this money is coming from Chinese audiences and Paramount has said they are aiming to film more of the upcoming series in China to bring in more of the Chinese audience.

The image above shows, Syrian and Iraqi refugees caught in-between the two protective fences that lay between Greece and Macedonia. These migrants have illegally crossed the border seeking a place to settle down and escape the deadly conflicts happening in their own home countries. Due to the massive amount of refugees flooding across the border of Macedonia, the Macedonian government is restricting the entry of asylum seekers to match the number of those leaving the country, letting in only migrants from Syria and Iraq. About seven thousand refugees are stranded in the northern part of Greece's boarder, and had to be pushed back by riot police because of the number of refugees trying to get across the razor sharp fences. The build up of migrants is due to a number of European countries, deciding to slow the amount of refugees passing into their country. Amnesty International has been very critical of European countries for failing to accommodate the stranded refugees. The leader of the European council plans on visiting these areas highly populated refugees to figure out a plan. He intends on calling a meeting with the European countries, with the hopes of relieving the pressure of the nations, that have been dealing with the refugee crisis.

I feel that the refugee crisis directly relates to globalization because of the migrants leaving their home countries in search of a new nation to call their own. Because of this, many countries have to struggle to face the millions of poor refugees trying to gain access into their country. I believe that has a huge effect on a nations security and their economy. 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/01/world/social-issues-world/eu-gropes-ease-refugee-crisis-austria-says-enough-balkan-route-closes/#.Vx_psmOrtAa

This past fall, the Seton Hill Baseball team teamed up with a Seton Hill student to donate some of the old Baseball Jerseys to a community in the Dominican Republic. I think this is a perfect example of globalizations because it shows how connected we are to other countries and how one person can help so many. The Dominican Republic is known for their baseball players and they’re coming up stories. Some of the biggest names in the MLB like Jose Bautista, Starlin Castro, Andrian Beltre, Robinson Cano all come from the Dominican Republic. I think it is important that we continue to help out the Dominican Republic and other small countries because they are a main contributor to Major League Baseball.  I think it is important that universities and other community groups have programs like this because these less privileged countries don’t have the same opportunities to play baseball or have new uniforms like we do. 

Globalization in the NBA

The game of basketball is second in world wide popularity and the National Basketball Association (NBA) continues to play a major role in making its global growth a reality. The NBA started to expand globally during the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 when the United States dominated by winning every game by at least 44 points.They started an internationalization project with the intent to connect non american sports markets. The team was comprised of some of the best basketball players in the world all of whom played in the NBA. This gave the NBA some international recognition.The NBA now has 14 international offices and broadcasts to over 118 countries.  The NBA has also helped China design, market, and operate basketball arenas. There are also over 100 foreign born players from 40 different countries playing in the NBA currently. About 25 percent of the players in the NBA are foreign. Not only are the players of the teams foreign, but some of their owners are too. The Sacramento Kings,Brooklyn Nets, and the Miami Heat are all owned by people outside of the United States. These leaders get their countries more involved and influence them. The NBA has proven that it is the worlds fastest diversifying professional league. 

The NBA has simplified their branding so that anyone can identify with it. They do an outstanding job with exporting fan excitement and energy for the sport abroad through technology. They say that only one percent of their fans actually see the games in person. The NBA is also working to put teams in Europe and are having pre season games in Manila and Istanbul. Their preseason games are often in countries that are not exposed to the NBA so that they can expand their market and fan base in new areas. 

SPS 392 Topics In Global Affairs: Image of Globalization

The image is from Daily Mail, an online UK newspaper. The image shows the travel routes of around 15,000 airplanes as they depart, fly and land at their destinations. A satellite called Proba-V picked up the signals from the airplanes and created this travel map. The Proba-V satellite will be used in the future to better detect the airplanes and increase the safety of passengers so that no flight like Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is able to disappear anymore. I believe that this is an image of globalization because of the high technological improvements and the movement of people for travel. In 2014, the total worldwide airport passenger number was over 6.7 billion in 2,200 airports in 160 countries (Airports Council International, 2015). Technology played a major role in the development of airplane travel. Without all of the technology in airplanes, airports, and air travel control centers, traveling around the world on airplanes would not be possible. I think it always crazy that technology is able to safely move around so many airplanes in the world daily and remain the safest possible travel option. Additionally, globalization helps people travel around the world easier and quicker. Fifty years ago, the preferable way of travel to distant destinations was by ship, which took at least a few days or even weeks. Today, with airplanes, we are able to be in almost all destinations in the world in 24 hours. Through this easier way of travel, people are more willing travel around the world, experience new cultures and see the most amazing places on earth.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3072343/The-world-s-planes-single-image-Stunning-satellite-map-shows-15-000-aircraft-travel-planet.html. The picture was published on May 07, 2015.

Airports Council International. (2015). ACI releases 2014 World Airport Traffic Report. [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.aci.aero/News/Releases/Most-Recent/2015/08/31/ACI-releases-2014-World-Airport-Traffic-Report-Airports-in-advanced-economies-rebound-in-2014--global-passenger-traffic-up-by-over-5-air-cargo-volumes-rise-after-three-years-of-stagnation-

                  Las Vegas, Sin City. One of the most popular tourist traps in the United States, Sin City is renowned for its gambling, attractions, beautiful desert, and... well alcoholic rampages. Now one may be temped to ask, how does the Sin capital of the world show globalization? Simple, everybody likes to have a little sin in their lives, and it shows here. Walking through Vegas you will see every ethnicity of individual imaginable, restaurants and bars which offer cuisine from all over the world, and architecture that is inspired by numerous cultures. The main reason for this is its tourism. It may not be well known but there's a lot of tourist destinations that take one outside of the city to the beautiful Mojave Desert. And since there aren't many places like the Mojave it attracts an interesting bunch of people. In my personal travels there, I spoke with people from basically every Asian country I could think of, people from all over Europe, and a solid amount of individuals from South America as well. As I mentioned earlier, you can walk past a usual all-American burger joint, then the next second pass Tai food, middle-eastern food, Mexican grilles, anything you can think of. Not only is it food from different cultures that presents itself, its also religion. Yes, Vegas is the sin city, but religion survives down there. In addition to the occasional Christian or Catholic church, there is also a mosque which inhabits the suburbs of Vegas. Without globalization, I doubt a Muslim religious structure could have ever made its way to the heart of the Mojave. Usually when we think of globalization, we associate it mainly with business. But in Vegas, the globalization that occurs there is more of the cultural type. Take the image for example, Vegas is in the middle of an American waste-land yet in the strip lies a replica of the Eifel Tower. If that doesn't show cultural diffusion between places across the globe from one another, nothing does.

Ugandan Lacrosse Team Grows the Game

The “Creator’s Game”, otherwise known as lacrosse, was developed by the Native Americans in the northeastern part of the US in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and in Canada in Ontario and Quebec.  It has been said that it was created as early at 1100 AD and has made a large growth in the sport in the past century as it is now a large collegiate sport in the NCAA and has a successful professional league.  The game’s purpose was originally created as a tribute to the religious figure called the creator and was basically preparing for war.  The game made its way to the Olympics in the early 1900s and had teams from Canada, US, and Great Britain. The game has grown recently across the United states all the way to California and the western parts of Canada.  Europe has also had a few nations such as England, Germany, and the Netherlands to name a few. 

            The growth of the game can be attributed to successful lacrosse players moving through the high school, collegiate, and sometimes professional levels to then go on and use their knowledge to teach men and women throughout the world.  When I thought of globalization and lacrosse the Ugandan Lacrosse team came to mind as they just recently competed on the global scale in the FIL World Lacrosse Championships.  The men from Uganda travelled more than 8,500 miles to get to Colorado to play various teams throughout the world in 2014.  This was such a big deal because the majority of these men came from poverty and the Joseph Kony-led army terrorizing their communities.  The coaches of this team include collegiate stars such as Andrew Boston (Delaware), Tom Schreiber (Princeton), and Tanner Scales (Virginia).  These men went through University coming from wealthy families to teach the men of Uganda the sport of lacrosse.

            Globalization is a main theme of this image as the idea of lacrosse is spread socially throughout the world.  From a game that originated in northeastern US spread all the way to Africa and made its appearance on the world stage through the dedication of successful lacrosse players in the US and Canada.  The Ugandan lacrosse team debut will be remembered forever by the lacrosse world.