The Myth of Cosmopolitanism....... Ross Douthat

[mystery-ak]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/opinion/sunday/the-myth-of-cosmopolitanism.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4&rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article

The Myth of Cosmopolitanism


Ross Douthat JULY 2, 2016

NOW that populist rebellions are taking Britain out of the European Union and the Republican Party out of contention for the presidency, perhaps we should speak no more of left and right, liberals and conservatives. From now on the great political battles will be fought between nationalists and internationalists, nativists and globalists. From now on the loyalties that matter will be narrowly tribal — Make America Great Again, this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England — or multicultural and cosmopolitan.

Well, maybe. But describing the division this way has one great flaw. It gives the elite side of the debate (the side that does most of the describing) too much credit for being truly cosmopolitan.

Genuine cosmopolitanism is a rare thing. It requires comfort with real difference, with forms of life that are truly exotic relative to one’s own. It takes its cue from a Roman playwright’s line that “nothing human is alien to me,” and goes outward ready to be transformed by what it finds.

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[sinkspur]

One little irritant with NY Times and WaPo articles:  When we go to the link to read the rest of the article, that counts against our ten free articles per month.  That's why I refuse to go to these articles because I like to post from the Times. But I post more of the articles from the Times and the WaPo so readers don't have to go there.

[EC]

The Telegraph is the same (you get three free reads per week). It gets annoying since the Telegraph is actually a decent paper in terms of actual reporting.

[Oceander]

Just FYI:  the great battles between the nationalists and internationalists took place in mid-century Europe, eventually spilled over to the rest of the world, and are collectively known as WWII.  Communists were the internationalists, fascists the nationalists.  Their common thread being socialism.

Didn't work out so well then, and won't be any better, and could be a lot worse due to technology, this time. 

[HonestJohn]

Just FYI:  the great battles between the nationalists and internationalists took place in mid-century Europe, eventually spilled over to the rest of the world, and are collectively known as WWII.  Communists were the internationalists, fascists the nationalists.  Their common thread being socialism.

Didn't work out so well then, and won't be any better, and could be a lot worse due to technology, this time.

Both Hitler and Stalin hated cosmopolitans.  The only difference between the two was that Stalin called people "rootless cosmopolitans".

Google the term.