Reflection #1

Thursday's discussion of Foer's How Soccer Explains the World provided a great deal to react to, and it inspired me to consider countless other perspectives that I hadn't personally uncovered through my own reading of the text. I think the debate I found the most interesting was our question of whether or not America has become a synonym for globalization. I think I most closely agree with Aubrey, who suggested that America is the "globalizer" of the world. The United States, as a capitalist nation, pursues any opportunity which allows us to increase profits for our companies, such as those mentioned by Foer on the last page of the book (Nike, McDonald's, American TV shows). However, we are also willing to make a personal profit if buying from a foreign producer equates to saving money that would have been spent buying a domestic good. What is almost as American as apple pie, or purportedly anti-soccer sentiment, is saving money, or creating money out of nothing, or completing a personal rags-to-riches story.

America, in my opinion, also has a very unique form of nationalism. During our discussion on Thursday, some of us mentioned Foer’s admiration for European countries’ nationalism, which inspired these citizens to fiercely root for their nations’ respective soccer teams. As we stated, America does not have a national team that demands the same obsessive worship. Instead, we have baseball, football, and basketball teams located in major cities or regions of the country, which encourage Americans to “fight” amongst themselves and revere historical rivalries (i.e. Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees).  Does the organization of American athletics, most notably our lack of a collective national team, mean that the United States is more nationalistic than European nations, or less? Are we so proud that we refuse to share a sport with other countries, or do we lack enough devotion to support a national team? This is the question I have been considering since Thursday’s class, and one that I cannot decide upon myself.