I recently had an essay published in the American News regarding immigration and national security. It is posted on this blog. I received this interesting note in reply.
Mr. Blanchard,
Sounds like you would like societies to be harmonious, stable and undivided.
Given that our species is predatory, by nature -- that we are tribalistic and territorial, by nature -- then societies that have the highest potential for being harmonious, stable and undivided are mono-ethnic, mono-religious societies.
Multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious societies are the recipe for creating societies that are unstable, divided and discordant.
Sincerely,
Jill Henrie
www.amren.com
I am replying to Ms. Henrie here.
First, I would not like societies to be "harmonious, stable and undivided." A harmonious and stable society is inevitably a declining society, unable to adapt to changing circumstances. A vital, vigorous society is always turbulent, for the same reason that an organic body or a lawn mower is turbulent: dynamism is impossible without vibration and friction. As for the ideal of an "undivided society", no such thing ever existed. Even the human body and mind is divided, and often divided against itself. My brain does not always want what is good for my liver.
Second, the idea that "societies that have the highest potential for being harmonious, stable and undivided are mono-ethnic, mono-religious societies" is, historically speaking, flatly false. Japanese society was all those monisms in Medieval times, yet it was a platform for constant wars between Samurai lords. Ancient Greek societies consisted of people who spoke the same language, had a common racial descent, and belonged all to the same religious cult. Yet, as Thucydides tells it, they murdered each other with reckless abandon. I happen to agree with Ms. Henrie that our species is predatory, tribalistic, and territorial by nature." But I can follow that to its logical conclusion: that no human society will ever be free from faction. James Madison taught me that.
Third, the history of the United States shows that a "multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious society" can work better than any alternative. E. M. Forester wrote: "we are all of us mongrels; the trick is to learn not to bite one another." I pointed out that, despite the disharmony, instability, and division of America's multiplicity of factions, we have maintained the most prosperous and most free society the world has known, and have always stood together against our foreign enemies.
Besides, finally, the dream of a "mono-ethnic, mono-religious society" is a delusion. My paternal Grandfather had a French name. My maternal grandfather, an Irish name. My grandmothers both had German names. Who am I going to kick out?
Sincerely,
Ken Blanchard
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