As a naturalized US citizen, I am very certain that nobody ever asked me to “commit to the idea” during the naturalization process. Moreover, nobody ever mentioned “the idea” and I don’t know what it is. I have a strong suspicion that if one were to poll 100 random Americans about “the idea”, we’ll get 6 different answers and 94 confused stares.
I also believe that people who talk about “the idea” and “a propositional nation” are clinical choo-choos.
What is a nation? The territory or is it the people? I think that it is the people.
Raymond R
LikeLike
It’s clearly the people but the new orthodoxy seems to believe that it’s not even the territory. It’s the word (not even the concept but only the word) “idea “. Once you say this magic word, you can dispense with both the people and a well-delimited territory. Our home is the word. And it’s a very vague word, at that.
LikeLike
In SA it was the language you assimilate into. Since the 19th century, English has been the dominant commercial language, which meant new immigrants who learned English had a big advantage over local Dutch speakers.
This also applied to black English speakers like Mandela. One of the most significant parts of anti apartheid protesting was about imposing Dutch in education rather than English.
LikeLike
“new immigrants who learned English had a big advantage”
Cause they had an exit…. which means English is not a good language to bind a society together unless you have other stuff as well (what has SA got?) or a national standard that’s distinct from others (does SA have that)?
LikeLike
Because they could get jobs in the cities. There just aren’t that many farming jobs left these days.
LikeLike
” they could get jobs in the cities”
I understand the logic…. but still… It’s hard for me to think of SA as a… country. It’s a place where a bunch of different groups with little to nothing in common live alongside, not with each other.
Or am I very wrong about that?
LikeLike
True enough, but we still dwarf the rest of the continent economically despite ridiculous mismanagement, so there is a neverending stream of people who want to move to SA.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1754859602386530&id=deshl.rikhotso.1
LikeLike
Actually, this is likely why the UN was created by a South African. Forget one country. How can we have a world full of different people with no way to resolve their differences?
LikeLike
“why the UN was created”
“Doesn’t”different people with no way to resolve their differences”
Well… how’s that working out? We’ve already started WWIII, SA is on the side of the New Axis (russia, china, nkorea, iran) and things are just getting worse.
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Leave a comment