John Ralston Saul is one of Canada’s leading public intellectuals. He believes the process of globalization has all but fizzled out. This, I think, was reason enough to invite him to the ChinesePod studio for a chat the other day. The result is posted over at Praxis.
Part 1
Part 2
Ken Carroll
Ken,
This is a terrific interview. The bit at the end about novels as a window into a language is a great insight, and something that I agree with wholeheartedly. It wasn’t until I started reading Chinese fiction (and non-fiction, to a point) that I really started feeling some connection with the language.
I’m both a fan and reader of Thomas Friedman and Ken Caroll. I was suprised to hear the attack of Friedman. Here is a guy whos is well travelled to China, India, and the Middle East. the world for that and understand the pros and cons of globalization. I think the Mr. Saul and Friedman may actually share some views, suprise suprise. He warns parents of the importance of education and I’m sure he would support individuals learning Chinese because he clearly understand how important China is and going to be in this century and beyond.
It also my opinion that globalization maybe one of the big factors in limiting the spread of terrorism and radical ideology. The amount that states in the Middle East want to turn back time and shun the changing world is huge. Young people with out jobs and/or options of education will be easily swayed to place the blame of their situation on others.
Watch out for those blood sucking vampires Ken. It just wouldn’t feel the same as “ChinesePod - an AOL Time Warner company”.
Thanks. What an invigorating and stimulating interview. Mr. Saul had an article on the collapse of globalization in Harper’s magazine a couple of years ago (an excerpt from his book I suppose). What a trenchant and clear thinker; I’d love to get him into a room with Noam Chomsky (and not to discuss linguistics!). It was great that he was bold enough to say outright that our current crop of world leaders are pretty shallow and intellectually vapid. Similarly, I loved his take on Thomas Friedman, of whom I’ve always had similar thoughts. I am a bit surprised, though, that Mr. Saul, as former oil man, didn’t mention peak oil’s impending impact on the global economy, which relies heavily on cheap and abundant energy, something we no longer have.
It was certainly interesting. But his comments about how Judaism, Islam and Christianity are essentially the same religions (if I understood him correctly) reduces his credibility with me. I have no doubt that he is familiar with all three, and I cannot imagine how he came to this conclusion. Other than being monotheistic, and sharing some common roots, these are vastly different belief systems.
For those who are interested in the whole Globalization and free-trade debate, Diane Rehm of NPR had a terrific show on Thursday March 29. Its focused on American workers but the subject cannot be talked about without mentioning China.
You can find the podcast here: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/
Impact of Free Trade on American Workers
Diane and her guests talk about growing concern among some economists about the effects of economic globalization on U.S. workers, and what — if anything — to do about it.
Guests
Alan S. Blinder, professor of economics at Princeton University
Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics
Jeff Faux, founding president, distinguished fellow, Economic Policy Institute
For those who are interested in the whole Globalization and free-trade debate, Diane Rehm of NPR had a terrific show on Thursday March 29. Its focused on American workers but the subject cannot be talked about without mentioning China.
You can find the podcast here: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/
Impact of Free Trade on American Workers
Diane and her guests talk about growing concern among some economists about the effects of economic globalization on U.S. workers, and what — if anything — to do about it.
Guests
Alan S. Blinder, professor of economics at Princeton University
Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics
Jeff Faux, founding president, distinguished fellow, Economic Policy Institute
Splendid! Just the sort of public discussion that we need. Maybe we can have an Upper-Intermediate Chinesepod about globalisation. And maybe a few that discuss novels