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Aug 17, 2006
"I find that because of modern technological evolution and our global economy, and as a result of the great increase in population, our world has greatly changed: it has become much smaller. However, our perceptions have not evolved at the same pace; we continue to cling to old national demarcations and the old feelings of 'us' and 'them'." --Dalai Lama
How Soccer Explains The World
Female soccer fans in Iran set aside the 'hijab' to celebrate the national team's victory halfway across the globe. Brazilian managers swindle American corporations abroad and exploit their own players at home. Undisciplined soccer stars from Nigeria are sold to Ukrainian teams and forced to adapt to chess-like coaching strategies in the dead of winter. Globalization never seems so vivid as when seen through the eyes of a soccer fan. In 'How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization', Franklin Foer notes that soccer is "further along in the globalization game than any other economy on the planet." As such, soccer offers insight into, among other things, why multinational corporations fail to alleviate poverty; how religious fundamentalism can be undermined; and how nationalism can emerge in a more enlightened form.
BE THE CHANGE
Ethan Zahn went to Africa, as a contestant on the TV show 'Survivor'. He has now started 'Grassroot Soccer' to mobilize the soccer community in helping to fight AIDS. More ...
