Globalization: Political Cartoons and Op-Eds
The Dead End of The Silk Road
Imagine a place where you could buy anything from; from heroin to hitmen, this place would have it all. Now imagine that it's a website, and it's called The Silk Road, and yes, it actually exists or well used to exist, from February 2011 to October 2013. Ironically, this website gave off the feeling of safety, that is why this website became so popular, so fast.
We see globalization wherever we are, it is inevitable. One of those ways are through the internet. The internet has became so sophisticated that people are allowed to make billions of dollars illegal products like drugs, hitmen, weapons, pornographic content, people, etc.
As a result of globalization, Americans have created horrific websites that degrade the human experience, such as The Silk Road.
Think of The Silk Road as a kind of illegal Amazon. Speaking of Amazon, let's do a little compare and contrast.
Amazon is used every single day by millions of people. They sold about $51 billion worth of items in 2013. That is 42.5 times as much money The Silk Road did in one year.
Roughly 550 people made a living off of The Silk Road. Amazon has created over 2,363.5 times the amount of jobs The Silk Road had.
On the other hand, Amazon has been up for about 20 years, and The Silk Road, only two and half. That is a long time for Amazon to gain customers, and in 2013, Amazon made 510,000 times more money than they did the first year of its' existence.
If The Silk Road stayed on the growth path Amazon is currently on, it would be making around $153,000,000,000,000 in 20 years.
The main point of all the numbers is to show how important the Silk Road was, similar to how Amazon is now.
Much like Amazon, The Silk Road had a huge influence on the human population, and it was all through the internet.
The Silk Road was the first "all online" form of shopping, and is a fantastic example on how globalization has helped and destroyed this world. Globalization is a means in which the sole purpose is to make the world interconnected, and The Silk Road was globalization's best friend.
What has our world come to, that we spend more money on drugs than we do clothes and books? Pretty despicable, right? This website was called, “The most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today." (Laing).
Thanks to the efforts of the department of justice The Silk Road is now closed as of October 2, 2013.
Nonetheless, websites similar to The Silk Road will never cease to exist, and The Silk Road will continue to simply be the starting point in which globalization took our world to the next level.
A whole load of money and jobs were made because of The Silk Road, and it was also very secure.
That's pretty amazing when you think about it. What's even more amazing is that The Silk Road only needed a few little things to keep it safe.
First you need bitcoins, bitcoins is an online currency, and has unbelievably frequent value changes. The bitcoin was a key factor for this website because bitcoins were untraceable, unlike a credit card. This just goes to show how much our internet has changed and developed, for good and bad.
Second you need Tor, Tor is like Spider-Mans mask. It hides his personal identity from everyone. He has this mask on so no one will know who he is and let his secret life effect his personal life. Tor is a server that is next to impossible to track you through. It connects to hundreds of different servers and is impossible to find the computer it originates at.
By using simply bitcoins and Tor, The Silk Road was able to exist and create a lasting impact on our world.
This is yet another example on how globalization has simplified the process in which buying and selling products is easier than ever.
Globalization also played a key role in the success of the Silk Road. Along with the revolution of the internet, transportation of goods has become so easy and fast that anyone can get virtually anything within a couple days.
Why doesn't The Silk Road still exist? Well even though this website took careful measure in securing the website, it was never truly secure. Nothing is, nowadays.
Globalization has made the world interconnected, but because of that, privacy has become a thing of the past. In a way, that can be a good thing. Now we won't have to worry about secret drug deals going on online, yet we can also never feel safe.
Globalization has blown down the privacy walls between everyone, and it's up to you to decide if that's a good or a bad thing.
The Silk Road is just one example of how globalization has brought our world together, but is it for better or for worse?
Imagine a place where you could buy anything from; from heroin to hitmen, this place would have it all. Now imagine that it's a website, and it's called The Silk Road, and yes, it actually exists or well used to exist, from February 2011 to October 2013. Ironically, this website gave off the feeling of safety, that is why this website became so popular, so fast.
We see globalization wherever we are, it is inevitable. One of those ways are through the internet. The internet has became so sophisticated that people are allowed to make billions of dollars illegal products like drugs, hitmen, weapons, pornographic content, people, etc.
As a result of globalization, Americans have created horrific websites that degrade the human experience, such as The Silk Road.
Think of The Silk Road as a kind of illegal Amazon. Speaking of Amazon, let's do a little compare and contrast.
Amazon is used every single day by millions of people. They sold about $51 billion worth of items in 2013. That is 42.5 times as much money The Silk Road did in one year.
Roughly 550 people made a living off of The Silk Road. Amazon has created over 2,363.5 times the amount of jobs The Silk Road had.
On the other hand, Amazon has been up for about 20 years, and The Silk Road, only two and half. That is a long time for Amazon to gain customers, and in 2013, Amazon made 510,000 times more money than they did the first year of its' existence.
If The Silk Road stayed on the growth path Amazon is currently on, it would be making around $153,000,000,000,000 in 20 years.
The main point of all the numbers is to show how important the Silk Road was, similar to how Amazon is now.
Much like Amazon, The Silk Road had a huge influence on the human population, and it was all through the internet.
The Silk Road was the first "all online" form of shopping, and is a fantastic example on how globalization has helped and destroyed this world. Globalization is a means in which the sole purpose is to make the world interconnected, and The Silk Road was globalization's best friend.
What has our world come to, that we spend more money on drugs than we do clothes and books? Pretty despicable, right? This website was called, “The most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today." (Laing).
Thanks to the efforts of the department of justice The Silk Road is now closed as of October 2, 2013.
Nonetheless, websites similar to The Silk Road will never cease to exist, and The Silk Road will continue to simply be the starting point in which globalization took our world to the next level.
A whole load of money and jobs were made because of The Silk Road, and it was also very secure.
That's pretty amazing when you think about it. What's even more amazing is that The Silk Road only needed a few little things to keep it safe.
First you need bitcoins, bitcoins is an online currency, and has unbelievably frequent value changes. The bitcoin was a key factor for this website because bitcoins were untraceable, unlike a credit card. This just goes to show how much our internet has changed and developed, for good and bad.
Second you need Tor, Tor is like Spider-Mans mask. It hides his personal identity from everyone. He has this mask on so no one will know who he is and let his secret life effect his personal life. Tor is a server that is next to impossible to track you through. It connects to hundreds of different servers and is impossible to find the computer it originates at.
By using simply bitcoins and Tor, The Silk Road was able to exist and create a lasting impact on our world.
This is yet another example on how globalization has simplified the process in which buying and selling products is easier than ever.
Globalization also played a key role in the success of the Silk Road. Along with the revolution of the internet, transportation of goods has become so easy and fast that anyone can get virtually anything within a couple days.
Why doesn't The Silk Road still exist? Well even though this website took careful measure in securing the website, it was never truly secure. Nothing is, nowadays.
Globalization has made the world interconnected, but because of that, privacy has become a thing of the past. In a way, that can be a good thing. Now we won't have to worry about secret drug deals going on online, yet we can also never feel safe.
Globalization has blown down the privacy walls between everyone, and it's up to you to decide if that's a good or a bad thing.
The Silk Road is just one example of how globalization has brought our world together, but is it for better or for worse?
Creative Historians
For this project we had to memorize the countries of Africa. After we did that we picked a country that we wanted to research, I chose Gambia. Then we were off researching!
Of the literary elements we studied (plot, round characters, historical integration, show don't tell)…
1. Which does your story do the best? The best literary element that was incorporated into my story was 'Show don't Tell'. A section that shows that is my excerpt.
“Hey honey, I need you to go to your room.” The little boy slowly goes up, but then he hears the sound of gunshots outside. He turns immediately. The pretty women runs up the stairs and picks up the little boy. His face is in shock. They hide in a room up stairs. There is a bed, it could be the little boys room, because there are drawings on the walls. The pretty women is in a skirt that almost touches the floor. The little boy clasped the skirt in his shaking hands when she set him down and puts him under the bed. “Baby, I need you to stay here and whatever you do don’t open this door.” She gets up and walks out the door. In the empty room minutes drag on like hours. The little boy is suddenly overcome with adrenaline-turned-confidence and slowly and quietly makes his way out of the room. Standing at the top of the stairs peeking out from under a blanket. Two dark men dressed in dark clothes hold giant guns. Right when he is peeking out from under his blanket, he hears a loud gunshot and sees the pretty women fall to the ground next to the man with the tie, red oozing out of both their foreheads. The little boy sits in the corner...devastated… all alone, looking at his parents. The blood…. It is everywhere…. one of the last things his mom said to him flow out of his mouth, “I love you, Yahya.”
This shows 'Show Don't Tell' because I explain what they are doing and what he sees I don't them
Of the literary elements we studied (plot, round characters, historical integration, show don't tell)…
1. Which does your story do the best? The best literary element that was incorporated into my story was 'Show don't Tell'. A section that shows that is my excerpt.
“Hey honey, I need you to go to your room.” The little boy slowly goes up, but then he hears the sound of gunshots outside. He turns immediately. The pretty women runs up the stairs and picks up the little boy. His face is in shock. They hide in a room up stairs. There is a bed, it could be the little boys room, because there are drawings on the walls. The pretty women is in a skirt that almost touches the floor. The little boy clasped the skirt in his shaking hands when she set him down and puts him under the bed. “Baby, I need you to stay here and whatever you do don’t open this door.” She gets up and walks out the door. In the empty room minutes drag on like hours. The little boy is suddenly overcome with adrenaline-turned-confidence and slowly and quietly makes his way out of the room. Standing at the top of the stairs peeking out from under a blanket. Two dark men dressed in dark clothes hold giant guns. Right when he is peeking out from under his blanket, he hears a loud gunshot and sees the pretty women fall to the ground next to the man with the tie, red oozing out of both their foreheads. The little boy sits in the corner...devastated… all alone, looking at his parents. The blood…. It is everywhere…. one of the last things his mom said to him flow out of his mouth, “I love you, Yahya.”
This shows 'Show Don't Tell' because I explain what they are doing and what he sees I don't them