(Broad generalisation alert) Anyone who's spent any amount of time interacting with others online is likely to have come up with a pseudonym that might allow them perhaps to express themselves a little more freely than if posting or commenting under their own name. That pseudonym sometimes even comes with its own avatar, so that an image is also associated with the name used. Like many others, I have done the same thing and often tend to leave my own digital trails under the guise of globalism.
This has not stopped at the odd comment on someone else's blog or forum, but has also become an identity that I have nurtured to try and encapsulate a few of my ideas and my outlook on life. It has infused, for example, the pictures I take (Globalism Pictures) and the films I make or issue (Globalism Films).
Having also crafted a website to act as a portal to me online, it seemed logical to include a little more about globalism there too, to act as some kind of an explanation. The first half of that text can be found below. For the rest of it, please visit the recently launched http://www.patesonline.net and dig around there. Feel free to come back here and post your comments when you're done too.
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Unlike globalisation, the economic process that views the planet as one giant market to be dominated and exploited, globalism (as defined here) can offer an alternative and positive outlook on worldwide human culture as a single entity.
Globalism is connected. The internet enables the peoples, cultures, networks and systems of the world to connect with each other like never before in human history. It provokes endless opportunity for the exchange of ideas, solving of problems and forging of new bonds. Furthermore, it acts as a repository for all human knowledge, a realisation of H.G. Wells' vision of a world brain. While this undoubtedly brings its own set of troubles, our interconnectivity offers an unprecedented platform for resolving problems. Globalism exists because the internet exists.
Globalism is diverse. Our world is the sum of its parts - a bewilderingly vast collection of peoples, cultures, races, faces, customs, languages, ideas and beliefs. Globalism openly embraces that diversity, recognises that different approaches can have equal validity to cherished wisdoms, and believes that there is no 'us and them', only an 'us'. Furthermore, it understands that as our fragile planet comes under increasingly greater threat from ourselves, it becomes ever more important to act in harmony with nature rather than against it. This helps to protect the world's natural diversity and shows we realise how connected we are with our environment.
Globalism is peaceful. Throughout human history, violence has been the dominant response for the resolution of conflict. Conflict itself is a natural response to an absence of harmony and can sometimes be necessary, yet violence can never provide a sustainable solution and is only ever likely to beget more violence. Globalism advocates for peaceful solutions to problems, embraces principles of non-violence and encourages the spread of these ideals. The road to peace is longer and harder than the road to war, but it is ultimately more fruitful for all.
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