Appiah Contamination

My take on Appiah's opinion of Globalization is that he believes it to be inevitable. Expanding on that idea, its something that has been going on for all time and everything we know to be traditional customs or practices of culture, at one time or another were innovations themselves. That innovation caught fire and popularity in that culture and was thus proliferated by man and this is true across the globe. That innovation inevitably subverted an existing mode of thinking, technology, or tradition. But, reflecting on that is there anything, which is really original and free from Appiah's "contamination"? How are we to champion human innovation whilst trying to maintain and preserve cultural heritage and where do we draw the line? Also, who
There is a great example in his essay where he is talking about the traditional West African clothing that some people have come to love so much because they believe it radiates an authentically African quality. Its an ironic fact that the traditional clothing is modeled after dutch cleric clothing and the missionary fashion of the 1700s - an extension of one of the many arms of colonialism itself. So how do these things coincide? Appiah tries to dawn an understanding of the complexity on the reader by illustrating the stark polarity in our divided efforts. Some want to "progress" at any cost and other's want to preserve at any cost and all those found in the middle are the infinity of Grey possibilities- a true cultural fabric that goes everywhere and anywhere that humanity deems it should go. A good portion of Appiah's essay has to do with human goodness and practicality. To him we will always seek to keep the good and do away with the bad no matter where it comes from. So, contamination is impossible to prevent and why would you want to keep on making your traditional clothing when it is cheaper to start wearing t-shirts? We must adjust to the
Kwame Appiah talks about, we must wrestle with the idea of diversity and its value. We cannot expect people to be the same, we cannot enforce it upon people either, and it’s completely unethical to do so. Why do we value diversity so much? Do we secretly fear the overly globalized world of the future and the identity crises we will face there? What will our lives be like and will corporations annihilate our individuality once and for all? I don’t think that’s the case. Humans are innovators, creators, and regurgitators but we never spit it back at you the way you gave it to us. That is the secret behind change, especially cultural change. Culture, which is by definition, the shared beliefs system of a people applied to all aspects of shared and personal life within that people, depends on the participation of the individual. One person in any given culture is always the unit of measurement in that culture by which you are able to understand and measure the culture. One person can change and so the culture at large has begun to change or diversify or evolve. What makes us change, what drives