a beautiful mind... an addendum

more on corporate globalization and the "call center" industry in india:

"the call center industry is based on lies and racism. the people who call in are being misled into believing that they are talking to some white american sitting in america. the [indian] people who work in those call centers are told that they're not good enough for the market, that u.s. customers will complain if they find out their service is being provided by an indian. so indians must take on false identities, pretend to be americans, learn a 'correct' accent. it leads to psychosis.
one way of looking at this is to say, 'these people at least have jobs.' you could say that about prostitution or child labor or anything - 'at least they're being paid for it.' the premise is that either these workers don't have jobs or they have jobs in which they have to humiliate themselves. but is that the only choice? that's the question.
we hear all this talk about integrating the world economically, but there is an argument to be made for not integrating the world economically. because what is corporate globalization? it isn't as if the entire world is intermeshed with each other. it's not like india and thailand or india and korea or india and turkey are connected. it's more like america is the hub of this huge cultural and economic airline system. it's the nodal point... if america goes down, then everybody goes down. if tomorrow the u.s. decides that it wants these call center jobs back, then overnight this billion-dollar industry will collapse in india. it's important for countries to develop a certain degree of self-sufficiency."

i'm done reading the book, so that is all. but i urge you, if you've found any of this edifying, to ready more of her work. she's written countless essays, most of which are published for sale, that deal with important issues that face the world today. i personally am looking to get my hands on any and all of her writings.