Libertarians, My Libertarians!
Cruel to be kind means that I love you . Because, while I think you are mistaken, your hearts are in the right place -- yes, even you, Silas -- unlike some people . This Breitbart fellow (discussed in the link above), by all appearances, deliberately doctored a video of Shirley Sherrod to make her remarks appear virulently racist, when they had, in fact, the opposite import. I heard that at a recent Austrian conference, some folks were talking about "Callahan's conservative turn." While that description is not entirely inaccurate, I must say that a lot of these people who today call themselves conservative give me the heebie-jeebies.
My comment was said already perfectly by N.H. in the comments under your article,
ReplyDelete" As I understood it (may be mistaken), ethno-nationalism is nation as defined by ethnicity; a common ethnic ancestry. The central significance of that shared ethnic heritage is exactly what distinguishes the term from simple nationalism – which defines nationhood by common citizenship."
It kind of figures that you would jump on the juiciest misinterpretation of what I wrote!
DeleteI very specifically said what *I* meant by it. And the next day, Marie Le Pen, supposedly one of the leading ethno-nationalists, said (from memory) "This has nothing at all to do with race: it is about being French culturally. Anyone who comes here should plan on becoming French."
But I guess some people just have race stuck in their heads!
You said, "“Ethno-nationalism,” as I understand the term, asserts only that we, who are living here as citizens, are Americans, and that the foremost end of our government is to protect us and our rights."
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice idea, but that is not the definition of ethno-nationalism.
From wikipedia "Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethno-nationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity." From Stormfront.com (a white nationalist site): "Ethno-Nationalist. I believe every nation, every ethnicity and every culture the right to a homeland to preserve their heritage. With that, I believe a multicultural state has the right to exist independent of the nation's from whence the people came. Whether a nation of multiculturalism can survive an Ethno-Nationalistic world, is unknown. But, being that everyone has a right to hold their own view, an independent multicultural state is necessary to preserve real freedom. That multicultural state should exist with out waging war on other states/nations for holding different political views and for not participating in national genocide. I believe every ethnicity should be governed by one of their own, in their own state."
From faithandheritage.com "Ethno-nationalism is a belief system that affirms a traditional Christian understanding of families, tribes, and nations. Ethno-nationalism holds that nations are defined and rooted in common heredity, and that the foundations of a nation are based on common ancestry, language, culture, religion, and social customs."
So while I like your point, I don't think that is what the term means in common usage.
Common usage is disputed. Marie Le Pen is supposed to be a leading ethno-nationalist. She just said her position has *nothing* to do with race.
DeleteI am *putting forward* a definition, and contending that this is what the term *should* mean. I would uses "racial nationalist" for the examples you cite.
Maybe my definition will lose out. But you can't "refute" my definition by saying someone else has another one.