Word: insularity
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...great American pacifier is our love of stuff and our ability to fashion our own insular worlds through our staggering selection of things to buy (even if we can't actually afford an SUV). But consumer America is different from political America. In consumer America, diversity of preference is not just tolerated. It is mandatory. The market has created reasons for us to be finicky and dissatisfied about anything--cable TV, pasta sauce, running shoes, yoga programs. It depends on you to like zesty Italian and me to like chipotle ranch and someone else to like low-sodium raspberry honey...
...great American pacifier is our love of stuff and our ability to fashion our own insular worlds through our staggering selection of things to buy (even if we can't actually afford an SUV). But consumer America is different from political America. In consumer America, diversity of preference is not just tolerated. It is mandatory. The market has created reasons for us to be finicky and dissatisfied about anything - cable TV, pasta sauce, running shoes, yoga programs. It depends on you to like zesty Italian and me to like chipotle ranch and someone else to like low-sodium raspberry honey...
Some argue that the unique position of the U.S. allows it to be more insular: The countries in Europe are physically and influentially small while America spans the width of a continent and boasts global authority. But that ought to be a reason for Americans to be more concerned with the rest of the world—not less. Our economic and political decisions have the potential to have a global impact. That’s a lot of responsibility for a country branded as only interested in its own well-being...
After all, E3 is the insular annual confab of the video-games business, devoted to sound and fury and ever more realistic ways to annihilate the undead. (Resident Evil 4: Kill zombies with guns! Dead Run: Kill zombies with cars!) The Sims 2, by contrast, is a poignant, witty and fun interactive story about life, love and aging. Its high-scoring moments revolve around birthday cakes rather than body counts...
...Oreal. He went to work for the company in 1969, fresh out of management school in France. He became CEO in 1984 and chairman in 1988. Once in charge, he set about globalizing beauty. He is one of the few non-French to thrive in what remains an insular corporate culture. Along the way, he has transformed a once modest French firm into the world's largest cosmetics company, whose products sit on shelves from Melbourne to Moscow. But he has proved most adept at staying one step ahead of his customer. His key to being a successful business leader...