Wednesday, April 13, 2016

What World Do They Live In?

An interview with a small German party that is exploiting fears of the migrant crisis is most interesting to me for one indication of how the German elites, as represented by the Der Spiegel interviewer, think:

The world is globalized and Europe is united, but the AfD is focused on the term "nation." Why?

The world is globalized? What does that even mean?

Sure, there is a lot of trade and communication. But great divisions still exist despite this exchange of goods and ideas and even people.

But the world still is organized on the basis of nations. People have different languages, cultures, societies, likes and dislikes, religions, institutions, and economies. These differences matter.

Recall we have the United Nations as the global club.

So what is the point of saying the world is globalized as if that makes the nation concept itself obsolete?

And in what way is Europe united? Yes, the ultimate goal is for Europe to be a political entity with European member nations mere administrative subdivisions of the Wholly Euro Empire, but nations still exist and still exert their influence to sometimes resist the European Union--even if just symbolically--and sometimes to go around it to pursue national interests.

A better question than why the AfD focuses on the nation would be why Der Spiegel and the people who think like them don't seem to recognize the nation.