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 New lipstick on a old pig! January 8, 2009
A transparent attempt to justify the new colonialism. In the 16th century it was the great nations of Europe, in the 21st it is the multinational corporation. It is still exploitation of the haves by the have-nots, just a lot of new lipstick on the same old pig!
 Interesting, but overly optimistic January 6, 2009
I think it's too optimistic for today's world. I mean, geez, how long ago was this written? So far, things aren't getting better like he seemed to think they would. It's all good for India but sucks for the U.S. Except he acts like it's good for all of us.
Thomas Friedman is one of the most phenomenally stupid people who has ever achieved public prominence January 1, 2009
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you want a good review of *The World Is Flat*, google these words: Matt Taibbi flathead. Here are some gems:
-Friedman is describing a flight he took on Southwest Airlines from Baltimore to Hartford, Connecticut. (Friedman never forgets to name the company or the brand name; if he had written The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa would have awoken from uneasy dreams in a Sealy Posturepedic.) Here's what he says:
"I stomped off, went through security, bought a Cinnabon, and glumly sat at the back of the B line, waiting to be herded on board so that I could hunt for space in the overhead bins."
Forget the Cinnabon. Name me a herd animal that hunts. Name me one.
-By the end--and I'm not joking here--we are meant to understand that the flat world is a giant ice-cream sundae that is more beef than sizzle, in which everyone can fit his hose into his fire hydrant, and in which most but not all of us are covered with a mostly good special sauce.
-This is the intellectual version of Far Out Space Nuts, when NASA repairman Bob Denver sets a whole sitcom in motion by pressing "launch" instead of "lunch" in a space capsule. And once he hits that button, the rocket takes off.
Thomas Friedman is a hack and a moron; and it does not surprise me in the least that those who bought his book also bought Malcom Gladwell's stuff. They are both mental midgets who pander to the same crowd of ignorant, grasping PC yuppies who put just enough effort BSing their way through high-school and college and just had enough family connections to land upper-middle-class corporate gigs and are now seeking to justify themselves by reading a book about how they're at a new vanguard and to get their children, who will have unfortunately regressed even lower than they--a leg up in the Braying New World. Any book that doesn't require them to know or learn anything or to think at all is suitable.
If you have a modicum of intelligence, this book, as well as anything else written by the monumental idiot Thomas Friedman, is a waste of your time.
 Wow! We Need to Change. December 27, 2008
Purchaed as a gift, but plan to read, also. I know we will be changed by it.
Keep in mind... December 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
That this is a journalistic work, not an academic. This is not meant for intellectuals or professors, nor is it meant to be an analysis of, well, anything. It is simply subjective "gotcha" reporting. Friedman has done what he has always done best..find people to quote and make catchy slogans. I rate this 1 star because this is neither good for people wanting an introduction to political economy or people who have already built a firm foundation in the realm: As a starting point this will build a completely misleading and false foundation, as an ending this is laughable.
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