06-06-2020, 08:29 AM
A few thoughts about xenophobia.
I do not consider myself particularly hateful towards the people of Russia or China. I can see the ugly times that led them towards revolution. I can feel pity for them for having had to endure Stalin and Mao. I can think poorly of their leaders and elites autocratic decisions to expand, and point out a need for containment, for the Domino Theory. Autocrats are quite willing to see the people suffer for their own gain.
But that does not mean I hate the people. I distrust the policy of their leaders, yes. But I do not particularly hate the people. I feel this shared among the folk I’ve talked to, though I acknowledge Massachusetts as perhaps biased on this.
This was once much less true of the US. Back in the Gilded Age we had an attitude regarding blacks, natives, Asians, the latest wave of immigrants from Europe, most anyone not lily pure, and some that were. Expanding it to the Hun at need was easy. It was us vs them with them being expandable at need.
This started to change when the Chinese became our ally in World War II. It expanded again with the civil rights movement. With the protests we are seeing today, it is expanding even as we speak.
So naturally I am suspicious when someone tries to predict wars depending on an Industrial Age understanding of xenophobia and ignoring the factor of leadership and elite gain in prosecuting a war. Xenophobia has changed. The leaders and elites, alas, have not. War is still a racket.
I do not consider myself particularly hateful towards the people of Russia or China. I can see the ugly times that led them towards revolution. I can feel pity for them for having had to endure Stalin and Mao. I can think poorly of their leaders and elites autocratic decisions to expand, and point out a need for containment, for the Domino Theory. Autocrats are quite willing to see the people suffer for their own gain.
But that does not mean I hate the people. I distrust the policy of their leaders, yes. But I do not particularly hate the people. I feel this shared among the folk I’ve talked to, though I acknowledge Massachusetts as perhaps biased on this.
This was once much less true of the US. Back in the Gilded Age we had an attitude regarding blacks, natives, Asians, the latest wave of immigrants from Europe, most anyone not lily pure, and some that were. Expanding it to the Hun at need was easy. It was us vs them with them being expandable at need.
This started to change when the Chinese became our ally in World War II. It expanded again with the civil rights movement. With the protests we are seeing today, it is expanding even as we speak.
So naturally I am suspicious when someone tries to predict wars depending on an Industrial Age understanding of xenophobia and ignoring the factor of leadership and elite gain in prosecuting a war. Xenophobia has changed. The leaders and elites, alas, have not. War is still a racket.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
