The Global Community Myth

With the Internet usurping television as the supposed global village medium, and the term itself having evolved into a more positive influence, the planet and its six billion people are no closer to a global village life than they were during McLuhans perceived downfall of the print age with the advent of television and, indeed, in eras prior. The key part of McLuhans redefined theory is, of course, village. Technology allows a rubber tapper in central peninsula Malaysia to talk, interact and exchange cultures with a New York Wall Street stockbroker in real time, any time. The essence of this relationship implies a global phenomenon but what many forget is that Internet penetration around the world is still only 16.6 percent. Therefore, even the global aspect falls short in this case. Yet, take that 16.6 percent as a whole and analyze the impact from within that group and still we find that the concept of a global village is a myth. We understand village as a community of people living close to each other, the global village premise being that the Internet allows for artificial proximity. However, in real village life, everyone knows each other. For sure, the 900 estimated million people representing the 16.6 per cent who populate the wired earth are far from enjoying facial recognition of one another. More pertinently, and this is where the global village theory truly falls down, everyone in an authentic village knows each other. They know almost everything about their fellow villagers and they use this knowledge to avoid conflict. They are aware of others idiosyncrasies, cultures and ways of life. They understand each other and are rarely ignorant of each others foibles.