Friendships and Cultural Homogeneity

I Followed My Stolen iPhone Across The World, Became A Celebrity In China, And Found A Friend For Life

This article is written by a Buzzfeed staff member named Matt Stopera who tells a story about an international friendship formed over his lost phone. He breaks it up into three chapters. Chapter one talks about how he lost his phone. Someone stole his phone at a bar and he had accepts the fact that his phone is most likely lost forever. Later that year, pictures start popping up on his photo stream. The pictures were of a man by an orange tree (later to be known as Brother Orange). Matt figures out that his phone was stolen and sold in China so he deletes the old iPhone believing that it will end there. In Chapter two of the story, Matt talks about how he posted his story on Buzzfeed. Twitter nation then takes it upon themselves to find this man. Once they did, Matt and Brother Orange began contacting through social media every day. They soon decided to meet in person. Chapter three talks about Matts arrival to Brother Oranges hometown of Meizhou. He then realizes how truly famous him and Brother Orange have become in China. They are treated like royalty. There are press conferences, endorsements, travel ambassador appointments, visits to temples and in general, a large amount of publicity focused on emphasizing the supposedly wonderful relationship between China and the United States. It ends with Matt telling the readers that a documentary has been made about his amazing experience.

I chose this article because it reminded me of the lecture we had on cultural homogenization.  In The Drawbacks of Cultural Globalization Reading Akande talks about how African culture has become culturally disoriented and its reaction are to

1)     exaggerated attachment to an often reinvented past in the name of tradition and culture; or 

2) attempts at wholesale adoption of anything and everything foreign (Akande).

This made me think of how incredibly eager the Chinese were to have Matt endorse their products and to come visit their businesses. I don’t believe that this story would have become as popular in China if it did not involve an affluent and influential western county like America.  At the same time, it brings into question whether this whole interest was really centered on economic and not cultural homogeneity like Fukuyama argues in Economic Globalization and Culture. This story helped put the relatively unknown town of Meizhou on the map and also helped Brother Orange himself with a tough economic situation. I believe that this article has aspects of cultural homogeneity and cultural heterogeneity.