5 ms·

I think it's obvious that the policies you highlight as being 'enlightened' are not universally popular, and also create instability. Off shoring and massive i

I think it's obvious that the policies you highlight as being 'enlightened' are not universally popular, and also create instability. Off shoring and massive immigration are never popular with the working and lower classes, these are popular with the higher classes who desire cheap labor for their rent seeking operations. This behavior is neither liberal nor democratic and is rarely the product of a broad base democratic effort; its not as though the immigration politics of the modern west emerged after popular outcry- they are entirely top down efforts. In this regard we can say that they might be enlightened from a certain perspective but are they really democratic?

Zigurd 5y ago
Bashing immigrants has been an effective advertisement for nationalism. But is nationalism an effective cure for any problems?
- throwawaygal7 5y ago
  Bashing immigrants and bashing immigration are different ; Usually accusations of the former serve to allow the later. I would point to China as an example of nationalism paying dividends.
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  The author presents nationalism as an ideology that is ever-present; but that is amplified by hyperglobalisation. I think he's right about that. In fact I think nationalism is a reasonable response to damaging interference from foreign powers and international institutions. What else can people do, when they lose their jobs to offshoring and trade agreements, and find that everyone in their neighbourhood is now talking in foreign and competing with them for housing? All they can do is demand that foreign interference and immigration be brought to a halt. I'm not advocating nationalism; that way lies war. But hyperglobalisation has failed, and needs to be reversed.
barrkel 5y ago
> Off shoring and massive immigration are never popular with the working and lower classes, these are popular with the higher classes who desire cheap labor for their rent seeking You simultaneously mischaracterize what I wrote and assume that you speak for multiple classes of people, universally, world wide. You're wrong about what I wrote and you're wrong in your assumption of the universality of your opinion. I didn't say anything about off shoring or massive immigration. There's majority support for lots of qualified categories of immigration, and it's not based on rent-seeking higher classes. Sometimes it's mutuality (e.g. EU free movement), sometimes it's competitive (e.g. football players), sometimes it's self-interested (e.g. doctors), sometimes it's ethnocentric, etc. Please don't pattern-fit what you read to your pet trigger phrases.
- throwawaygal7 5y ago
  We must be talking past each other ; I spoke of immigration to replace or replenish the working class labour pools - then you point to other sorts of migration entirely.

Zigurd 5y ago

Bashing immigrants has been an effective advertisement for nationalism. But is nationalism an effective cure for any problems?

throwawaygal7 5y ago
Bashing immigrants and bashing immigration are different ; Usually accusations of the former serve to allow the later. I would point to China as an example of nationalism paying dividends.
denton-scratch 5y ago
The author presents nationalism as an ideology that is ever-present; but that is amplified by hyperglobalisation. I think he's right about that. In fact I think nationalism is a reasonable response to damaging interference from foreign powers and international institutions. What else can people do, when they lose their jobs to offshoring and trade agreements, and find that everyone in their neighbourhood is now talking in foreign and competing with them for housing? All they can do is demand that foreign interference and immigration be brought to a halt. I'm not advocating nationalism; that way lies war. But hyperglobalisation has failed, and needs to be reversed.

barrkel 5y ago

> Off shoring and massive immigration are never popular with the working and lower classes, these are popular with the higher classes who desire cheap labor for their rent seeking You simultaneously mischaracterize what I wrote and assume that you speak for multiple classes of people, universally, world wide. You're wrong about what I wrote and you're wrong in your assumption of the universality of your opinion. I didn't say anything about off shoring or massive immigration. There's majority support for lots of qualified categories of immigration, and it's not based on rent-seeking higher classes. Sometimes it's mutuality (e.g. EU free movement), sometimes it's competitive (e.g. football players), sometimes it's self-interested (e.g. doctors), sometimes it's ethnocentric, etc. Please don't pattern-fit what you read to your pet trigger phrases.

throwawaygal7 5y ago
We must be talking past each other ; I spoke of immigration to replace or replenish the working class labour pools - then you point to other sorts of migration entirely.