Analysis Of The Lexus And The Olive Tree By Thomas Friedman

What worldly topic could be vastly improving, slowly degrading, or even repeating the same cycles as it has for the last 3000 years, all while depending on a person’s government and point of view? The answer is globalization. Because of our country 's success in the system, a large amount of Americans believe that American ways of economy should be spread to other places to create better economies else where, but not all places agree this is best for them. Author Thomas Friedman notices this and discusses the angle behind someone who believes this kind of globalization is a bad thing. The text I will analyze is a chapter (The Revolution is U.S.) out of the book The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman. In this chapter, Friedman attempts …show more content…
He leads the chapter off by explaining how gas stations around the world operate, what they cost, and why. However, he obviously exaggerates immensely. He describes the American gas station like every trip is a bad experience, and to top it off, he adds, “And when you drive around the corner, four homeless people try to steal your hubcaps.” We as Americans know that this last statement is not true in most parts of the country, except for the most extreme cases. This hurts his logos appeal because it is known that this is not true. Again, he does the same thing when describing a gas station in a communist country. The author claims gas there is half the price of American gas, “but there is none, because the four guys working there have sold it all on the black market for $5 a gallon.” He continues, stating that four guys work there, but only one is ever there because “the other three are working at second jobs in the underground economy and only come around once a week to collect their paychecks.” This repeats in hurting his logos appeal. However, he switches to a more informative approach in the next paragraph. Friedman explains that Europeans and Japanese believe that the government should operate over markets and this approach vastly differs from America’s. This starts to explain why someone would be against American values. He adds on that “Because the Japanese, Western Europeans, and communists are uncomfortable with a …show more content…
To start off, his original point was to prove that many developing countries see a hypothetical recruiting poster every time they “look out into the globalization system.” However, there is no trace of this in the experience given. Reading in between the lines, a good analysis of what happened is as follows. An American company is opening a store in the city of Jerusalem. Some people are excited for the opening, because they love the product, but do not have any stores near. One boy sees a man called the “Ambassador” and believes he does this all over the world, opening up McDonald’s in places there are none. He becomes excited and wants to ask the man what his job is like, along with an autograph for the occasion. However, when the boy is told that the “Ambassador” is just a government official, he is disappointed that his assumptions are wrong and walks away. I believe that Mr. Thomas Friedman misinterpreted this encounter dearly. He tries to make a point out of this that this boy represents his developing country, and that when he realizes something is American, his attitude becomes negative. HOWEVER, this store he has become so excited for is only there because of globalization... Americanization, if you will. The boy wants to meet the American that opens these stores and get his autograph. When the boy becomes sad, it is only because the boy found