To be a productive and engaged global citizen means much more to me than what it did before I took this class. Before, I would answer this question by saying donating money to charities and community service. Those are still all true but I have opened up to so many more ideas. To be a productive and engaged citizen to me now means to participate in community events such as the Bloomington farmers market and to buy locally. By buying locally you are not only helping yourself out by getting fresher and healthier foods but by also putting money back into your community - an investment, really. It also means to be globally aware of the problems you could be contributing to by buying from huge corporations. The example demonstrated in class was Nike; people would buy their shoes that cost them much less to make because of there not being any labor laws in some countries where there factories are set up. This makes people's life in harsh countries worse because they are dependent on the factory that they work for and leaves hardly any room for confrontation.
Musical practices influences society in so many different ways. Music is a way of communication, a way of coming together, and is an interpretation of society as a whole. In Indonesia, for example, punk music was popular to some which lead them to not participate in the drug wars and to conform into something that wasn't the norm. It was an escape from the real world. When music is participatory, people get involved and come together. Last night when attending the Runcible spoon the playing of the Irish music had not only gotten the performers together, but also the class and everyone attending the restaurant. Music influences everything it touches.
We can learn much about a society based on their music. For example, with Indonesia, by assessing their punk music interests we can conclude that they are very confrontational, or perhaps dysfunctional in some way. We hear of this being true when we saw the movie and everyone living there had very harsh living and working conditions. Another example was after the terrorists attacks on 9/11. There was an uproar of country music stars such as Toby Keith making statements such as, "we'll put a boot in their ass" in songs. One could conclude from our popular music back then that the country may be going through some crisis involving a war. Music is a great way of unraveling clues about society and really digging deeper.
To be a global citizen means to be aware of what you're doing in your everyday life and how it effects everyone else globally. For example, many of the places we eat or shop at don't pump back the money into the community. Very little goes to the workers and the rest of the profit goes to the corporate which is then dispersed among very high paid professionals. In fact, a lot of the stuff we buy doesn't even stay in this country; it's dispersed among many other countries who most likely have zero labor laws in order for big companies to come in and make profit easily. Being a global citizen is essential in keeping the community a nice place to be.
Some ways that a global citizen can be manifest locally is from buying in your community. By eating out at a local restaurant, going to the farmers market, or anything that involves buying locally is a great way of investing in your community. The money stays in the community and therefore circulates within, rather than being exported to some high paid professionals or even a different country.
The responsibilities of being a global citizen is mainly recognizing what you're doing and how you can help others. Being a global citizen requires many of your self interests to fade while letting public interests take over - in a way. The major responsibility is to just be aware of what you're doing and by taking this class I think that's one thing I've really learned. You really have to prioritize what is important to you though. Many of the decisions we make will affect our community so by prioritizing we can at least contribute a little bit. By setting an example other people can contribute, including our children, and so on and so forth. By taking this class I have opened up my mind to many new things and am now aware of the things I'm doing. I can't say I will never have Chipotle again or any franchise restaurant, but I will definitely limit the amount. This class has taken me to a higher level of thinking and I am so much more aware of everything I do now so I guess you could say I'm somewhat of a global citizen now.
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