It is by no means a coincidence that at the turn of the twenty-first century, lands as far away as the cliffs of Saint Helena and as culturally disparate as the markets of Accra came to be gently governed by the English word.

Such hegemony rarely, if ever, comes without exertion. What many now attribute to Providence was in reality a joint effort between not only inspirational, potent clusters of imagination but the tremendous propagative force of sails, sterling, and steel. Holly humming in Walkmen; Keaton reeling through Imperators—what of either without the bayonets that cleared their paths?

We find ourselves now on a playing field, domestic and international, increasingly ruled by self-perpetuating ideas. As the sails were doused and the rifles stowed, today’s digital information channels took the helm of dissemination. Consequently, contagions injurious and virtuous alike bleed through borders and demographies at a pace hitherto unprecedented.