One of our own tells Foreign Affairs magazine contributor the way it is.
Reader: “Professor Muller, you say in the current Foreign Affairs edition:”
“Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. But in fact, it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit, it is galvanized by modernization, and in one form or another, it will drive global politics for generations to come. Once ethnic nationalism has captured the imagination of groups in a multiethnic society, ethnic disaggregation or partition is often the least bad answer.”
Reader: “I don’t believe it is accurate to say that “Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics.”…..
Item: The dominant media culture and the corporate entertainment culture embrace every claim by ethnic nationalists that is made unless it is by one of the diverse white European non-Jewish & non-Muslim ethnicities. Claims by Jews are respected which are explicitly ethnic nationalist all the way down to marking ordinary food products in grocery stores as well as financial & military support for Israel. Claims by Muslims are given great respect (foot-washing sinks, etc.) with no great outcry, either. The only kinds of ethnic nationalism that are belittled are those by the non-Jewish & non-Muslim white European American peoples.
Item: There was no great outcry or ridicule when the US military beat down Serbian claims over Kosovo to enhance ethnic nationalism.
Item: There is no great outcry or ridicule when Hawaiians claim “state-within-a-state” rights in Hawaii, or when Native Americans do much the same.
In fact, we have the situation in which some ethnic nationalism in politics is applauded, and some ethnic nationalism in politics is condemned or belittled. While there is no organic or inherent logic in the dividing line, it is easy to identify which will be applauded, and which will be condemned or belittled.
D.M.