In defence of Xenophobia and Nativism

A Judge’s Message to the Xenophobes

By the Editorial Board, March 5 2016 (LINK to editorial)

". . the xenophobic politics now inflaming the presidential primary campaign [and] . . venomous nativism coming from Donald Trump . ."

Of course, xenophobia can be nasty, as can nativism, but both are inherent to human nature, which is very tribal. 

Clearly, our tribal nature needs to be controlled in an acceptable and civilised fashion, but this is not what the Editorial Board is advocating. Instead they are DEMONISING it, and with it, human nature itself.

Not so long ago it was human sexuality, i.e. particular forms of it (now deemed a private matter and no business of the state) that was demonised, and before that it was our propensity (inherited from Adam and Eve) to disobey divine, i.e. priestly and state authority, which was demonised as "original sin" and, we were told by the priesthood, would lead to eternal damnation, unless we submitted to church/state authority and ideology.

Human tribalism and prejudices (perfectly natural, in favour of one's own tribe, race or ethnic group) are the new "original sin", which only submission to state ideology and authority (now firmly in the hands of "progressive academia", who are heirs of the medieval clergy) can save us from eternal damnation for, not as heathens or heretics, as in the past, but as "racists", "nativists" and "xenophobes".

Xenophobia is just one side of a single coin, on the other side of which is love of the familiar and one's own.

We should be working WITH human nature, not DEMONISING it as a source of spurious moral authority, power and personal advantage.