Borders may be senseless, but is nationhood senseless?
Nazism was killed by the collective revulsion of, in part, its pursuit of racial purity. However, what will be the result when, for example, in a century from now the native population of France will not be ‘French’ because the birth rate of the people they are allowing to settle there from far away lands is far above replacement and the birth rate of the ‘indigenous’ peoples, the ‘native’ French, is less than replacement?
After all, in a different venue, we will bend over backwards and spare no effort to protect the Indigenous Peoples of the Third World, yet are busy pursuing policies that guarantee that some nations will cease to exist as we know them today.
In mentioning language, I never said or even implied it was being destroyed. The reason it is important is the cultural and national aspects. After all, the French are so careful about their language, they have a government department dedicated to keeping English words from creeping in. Germans may speak French, may live in France and may prefer French wine, but how many Germans want to actually be be French or have their children grow up French instead of German? Not many that I know.
The cultural and social difference between our LA riots and that of the “youth” in France or Belgium are very important. The first difference is we are not trying to hide who rioted in LA. The European government and media just cannot bring themselves to say who exactly these “youth” are, but we know them to be the children of Muslim immigrants. More important, I don’t have the slightest worry that the person who rioted in LA wants to take over my country, and impose Three Questions on me: convert, submit or die.
Please be careful about assuming what Americans know or don’t know, or even what they obviously don’t understand. I am an active investor in several European markets and have had business connections in Europe for over 30 years.
Let me quickly add that it is a pleasure to welcome a intellectually active European to FR. I think the grand theme on this forum is liberty: of the mind and of the soul, liberty from fraud and from people who deny meaningful facts.
Nationhood is of course not senseless. Nevertheless there are for sure more important things than nationhood. As a German I might be in a special situation. The political denazification that was (and still is) especially driven by the US for understandable reasons had the side effect that the national pride of us Germans was and still is systematically destroyed. Therefore many of my compatriots are more willing than others to give up the old structures to change it into something better. We have no reason to hold on to something we want to leave behind. The Germany after the 3rd Reich was never carried by emotions. We had some nice moments but they are not enough to create national pride like in the US i.e.. Even the reunification was something quite unemotional for most Germans. I am from southern Germany and someone from Switzerland or from the Alsace i.e. is ethnically much closer to me than someone from Berlin. Now Germany is still the most important nation in Europe (the French, the Italians and the Brits will see that different ;-)) because of its economic potential and its number if inhabitants. And... ...you have it as a nation that is no "nation" in the classical sense anymore. Beside of this special German trend you have a broad political class of informed and leading Europeans from other countries who are simply convinced about a more united and integrated Europe. Those who are fiercely against it usually are those who lack information and who demand the protection of acquired (socialist) possessions. The thing is that a "new" Europe is the fundamental chance to overcome dumb national socialism. Within the old frames this will be impossible. We west-Germans i.e. have to pay 45 cent of every Euro that is spent in eastern Germany because of dumb nationalism (we do not stand behind anyway - that was Kohl's crazy idea) and dumb socialism.
However, what will be the result when, for example, in a century from now the native population of France will not be ‘French’ because the birth rate of the people they are allowing to settle there from far away lands is far above replacement and the birth rate of the ‘indigenous’ peoples, the ‘native’ French, is less than replacement?
The French made many fundamental faults and they have a severe problem with their north Africans. Nevertheless islam is the religion of (here in Germany) a 3.7 % underdog minority. In France we talk about 6 to 8 % to my knowledge. Muslims are the people on the bottom of our society. They lack the education, organization and intelligence to be a real danger. You should understand that those muzzies clean our cars and cook our doener kebab but will not take over our government. Most came to Europe for economic or colonial reasons. Therefore they have neither the interest nor the brains to saw off the limb they are sitting on.
Furthermore we Germans found out that i.e. the women with Turkish origin do not multiply more that their "German" sisters if they are out of the 2nd or 3rd Generation. Those women also discovered the wonders of birth control for their personal reasons. Since we do not have any notable Muslim immigration since the mid 80ties the proportion of Muslims in the German society is quite stable.
We have indeed -just like the French- a major problem with punctual muslim ghettos. A problem we have to do (and are doing already) something against. Nevertheless this has nothing to do with some future immigration. The thing is that we want no social underdogs anymore but educated and skilled people without any religious or political extremisms to immigrate into Europe. This is what we are looking for.
I am well aware that our society will change because of that. Nevertheless this is not different in the US. In a few years you have Spanish as a 2nd language in large parts of the (southern) states.
Germans may speak French, may live in France and may prefer French wine, but how many Germans want to actually be be French or have their children grow up French instead of German? Not many that I know.
Quite a few. My uncle i.e. married a French wife, is living near Paris and has 4 well educated kids. One of his daughters received a post graduate scholarship for making her doctor in Canada recently. Since France provides much better childcare and better possibilities for females to work and being mother at the same time especially many young German girls are heading for France. Furthermore in the boarder region we have some immigration to France because the prices for land are much cheaper there than in Germany.