"'Please believe me, the Human Defense Union is sincere about "human" meaning everyone. This is not a matter of race prejudice.'
"[Dagny] doubts that." (pp. 474-475)
So do I. Lunarians campaign for Lunar independence. Terran Moondwellers organize against them, even threatening to form a militia, and call themselves - the Human Defense Union. Further, the speaker in this dialogue, Stepan Huizinga, describes the Lunarians as "'...alien...'" (p. 474)
A while ago, in this country, there was an English Defence League. It was not simply a patriotic organization open to all Englishmen and women...
Dagny remembers Guthrie saying:
"'Xenophobia isn't pathological in itself. A degree of it is built into our DNA, and is healthy. Not all men are brothers. The trick is keeping it under control, and setting it aside when it isn't needed.'" (p. 475)
Here I disagree with Guthrie. The trick indeed! When is xenophobia needed? Unfortunately, in my experience, opposition to anti-immigrant xenophobia is all too frequently needed. On the other hand, I do not find myself experiencing a "degree" of xenophobia and having to keep it under control.
2 comments:
Xenophobia is to the collective what the immune system is to the individual.
A hyperactive immune system will kill you: an overactive one will cripple and torment you.
An under active one leaves you as a helpless Petri dish for every opportunistic parasite/aggressor that comes along, and you will be eaten alive.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolute agreement! You beat me to saying similar things in a far less pithy way. That senile bungler "Josip" and his puppet masters are inflicting an underactive immune system on the US!
Ad astra! Sean
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